Hey fellow HR professionals! 👋 What are some red flags or indicators you’ve come across that scream “it’s time to start looking for a new job” from an HR operational level? 🚩
Here are a few things to consider:
– Lack of support from upper management 🙅♂️
– Inconsistent or unclear company policies 📝
– High turnover rate within the HR department 🔄
– Limited opportunities for growth or professional development 🌱
Have you encountered any of these red flags? How did you handle the situation? Share your experiences and any tips you may have for navigating a less-than-ideal HR job environment. Let’s help each other out! 💡
When the people leader lacks progressive HR experience going up the ranks. You’re going to be dealing with someone who has never done what you do and will have wildly unrealistic ideas about what is involved with your job.
Had one company open another LLC based out of Florida so they did not have to e-verify. Hired bus loads of people without legal documents.
They also expect you to be an office manager / party planner.
Family businesses. Worked for a company where the husband was the CEO and the wife was the President. It was awful.
If the person interviewing you is not in HR and describes the job as “not bad” and “easy”. I was hired by the plant manager to be an HR dept of 1. I was always given random tasks/errands. It’s not like I had nothing to do, I kept busy with my HR work. They just had no respect for the position and thought my time was less valuable than everyone else’s.
(At smaller organizations) If they all worked together previously at another org. My previous org had 5/5 of the People leaders all previously work at the same organization…. What reputable People team would do this?
High turnover in the position. Just left a job – I was 4th in that position in 18 months. Funnily, they only told me of two during my interview. The most recent was explained away because she moved states. I made the mistake of assuming the one before her had been there for years because that was the impression they gave. Place was a nightmare.
When the head of HR has no HR experience nor education. Only in the role because they have been with the company for a long time.
“Last person was only here for 6 months, they weren’t a good fit”
Guess who was terminated in 6 months
Accepted my current position presuming it was a Monday-Friday gig. Quickly did the pay for those hours, sent my acceptance and was told that they actually only had enough money to hire me for three days. Been hoping the last two years that they would actually pay me, but just got offered a job interview with much higher pay and being more of a generalist so jokes on them?
I would say if they can’t tell you clear objectives for the role or department, that would be a sign HR is more of a paper work function with no strategic value.
I would be more on the hunt for green flags. Seek a boss who will support your growth and doesn’t seem like a jerk.
Another thing I wish I noticed on the job hunt process earlier. In hr, we have the flexibility of working in pretty much every industry. Think of it this way, not really a ton of demand for plumbers in the tech sector or vice versa. We are needed everywhere. This understanding plus the realization I had embarrassingly late in my career – not only am I HR, but I am also in fact an employee. Meaning, some industries are known for being great others not so much. Do everything you can to get into a good industry, or try to avoid getting trapped in a bad one. Retail, for example, long hours, low pay, no holidays, not for me! Despite my first hr job being in the retail sector.
If you want to travel the world, target international companies. If you want high pay but don’t care about stability, tech!
When I was early in my career, times were tough and I took what I could get. I’m happy where I ended up but I had some definitely rough experiences. If this happens to you, do your best to learn the real lessons. The “why we don’t do that” lessons. It will be some of the best learning experiences of your life if you approach them with the right mindsets.
The head HR person being someone in finance or ops.
when companies use the term “we are family”. Companies need to stop that. And its even worse when someone’s family member passes and they don’t offer any bereavement.
When the head of HR’s background is mostly talent acquisition
My personal favorite from an awful job experience was having a manager tell me: “we’re not doing FMLA” after an employee disclosed she had CANCER and would need ongoing treatment.
When I politely explained that we would certainly be “doing FMLA.” He lost his shit and sent me a nasty email with everyone possible copied.
I replied all with links to FMLA regulations and encouraged him to reach out to Congress if he had any further objections.
If I can answer for myself as external counsel, a huge one is when the client tries to leverage an employee being undocumented. I fired a client who started out asking me legitimate compliance questions and then asked for a call where he had his brother on the line and wanted me to advise them both on how to get their undocumented maids/nannies to “sign a paper” so they couldn’t sue for unpaid overtime. NOPE.
Your team talking shit about ex employees during team meetings…I couldn’t believe it when my team started doing this. Old colleagues as well.
HR being under finance head / Ops. Senior leadership thinking they could just bypass HR processes (Perf Reviews, Hiring, Engagement, Redundancies) and only involve/consult HR last minute 🙃
When leadership can do things like fire and unfire someone in the SAME meeting and then blame HR for it in front of the person who was supposed to be let go for performance.
Shit if I knew how to spot them I wouldn’t be working here.
Unreasonably long probation periods
They talk shit on the last person in your position
The director of HR asking about your love language in the interview
When there’s been a lot of turnover. If it’s across different areas of HR then I’d say it’s the company, not just the manager
Someone in a position of HR leadership openly making racist and other discriminatory comments.
When they’ve waited too long to hire HR. Professional HR should be brought in between 25-50 employees. Any later shows they don’t value the function.
“We’ve done it this way for years.”
When the top HR job is a rotational or developmental assignment for succession candidates.
When the HR Manager used to be over the companies fitness and wellness program. Then hires someone who was an office manager and stated she had SHRM and HR experience, when they don’t.
During the interview process, I asked for more background/insight on HORRIBLE recent Indeed employee reviews regarding the culture, etc. Answers weren’t AMAZING, but as a recently acquired company, it also made a bit of sense. First day on the job I was told “We TECHNICALLY didn’t lie to you, BUT….”
Supervisor was also offended when I pointed out (on my first day) that none of their labor posters had been updated since 2007.
TWOTHOUSANDFREAKINGSEVEN. That was literally 17 years ago and TWO YEARS *PRIOR* TO THE STATE’S CURRENT MINIMUM WAGE LAW.
I lasted 7.5 days. About 7 days longer than I should have, honestly.
They want to delay payroll or other “illegal” activity.
An OPs leader who tells you they did HR before so they know “how it’s supposed to work”
Also an entirely brand new team but the leader has been there a very long time.