Are All HR Departments Useless?

[Markbnj]

It just struck me that people (including me) dislike HR because they are the Internal Affairs Unit of corporate life.

 

[chitwood]

not a fan of our HR.

One lady we have here... omfg. She is dumb as a fucking brick.

I was in the dismal situation where I had to sit through a 'seminar' hosted by this woman about updates to the company's infonet. She spent 10 minutes telling a large group of grown adults how to click on hypertext on a website.

 

[jagec]

I generally am okay with the HR people I've dealt with. They do paperwork so other people don't have to.

80% of HR paperwork only exists because HR exists, and the rest of it is the kind of paperwork that HR screws up on and wastes more real-employee time than if the real employees just did it themselves in the first place.

 

[PenguinPower]

80% of HR paperwork only exists because the government exists, and the rest of it is the kind of paperwork that HR screws up on and wastes more real-employee time than if the real employees just did it themselves in the first place.

Fixed that for you. Also, agree with your second point which is why I'm a huge advocate of employee self-service.

 

[Anubis]

not a fan of our HR.

One lady we have here... omfg. She is dumb as a fucking brick.

I was in the dismal situation where I had to sit through a 'seminar' hosted by this woman about updates to the company's infonet. She spent 10 minutes telling a large group of grown adults how to click on hypertext on a website.

I work with grown adults with PHDs who couldn't tell you what a hyperlink is

 

[IndyColtsFan]

In my 20+ year career, I think I've met 2 HR people who were worth a crap. The rest have been brain-dead idiots.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I have an HR degree, though it only took a handful of electives to secure that second major... Prior to business schools even offering HR degrees, most individuals working in HR were the rejects that couldn't cut it elsewhere. In most cases, you have a few executives that are good at dealing with labor issues/legal issues/union issues....and the rest of the office are just paper pushers putting in their time. Being in an office that processes a lot of records, you're going to get a mixed bag of results.

My wife's office has had a lot of issues with their HR side...she calls them often about payroll issues, tax deduction, and retirement contribution issues. If she makes a change to anything, it sometimes takes 5-6 pay cycles before things are handled correctly.

 

[PenguinPower]

I have an HR degree, though it only took a handful of electives to secure that second major... Prior to business schools even offering HR degrees, most individuals working in HR were the rejects that couldn't cut it elsewhere. In most cases, you have a few executives that are good at dealing with labor issues/legal issues/union issues....and the rest of the office are just paper pushers putting in their time. Being in an office that processes a lot of records, you're going to get a mixed bag of results.

My wife's office has had a lot of issues with their HR side...she calls them often about payroll issues, tax deduction, and retirement contribution issues. If she makes a change to anything, it sometimes takes 5-6 pay cycles before things are handled correctly.

Within the past few years a lot of business have evolved to the point where HR is either acting as the SPOC for those departments, or has very little to do with those functions. Payroll is increasingly becoming a department that falls under Finance or is outsourced. Benefits is usually a separate department that usually falls under the CHRO or is outsourced.

I think that many of the opinions in this thread are held because they work in an organization stuck in the 20th century, work for a small company where they have a "one man" HR shop, have no idea what HR really does, want to hate on HR because it's cool, or some combination of the aforementioned.

 

[DesiPower]

Yes, yes, yes, please yes, fuck yes... biggest bottleneck in the corporate world... words cannot describe who lame, lazy and inefficient they are.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I had an HR rep at a former job who got caught sticking up gas stations with a shotgun after work. Not sure how much time he ended up getting. I thought he was a pretty nice guy too haha.

 

[Smoblikat]

Ive had exactly 1 HR person who was a maniacal little bitch, she tried to get me to get my boss fired and I wouldnt play along, so she hated me forever because of it. Other than that every time I have called HR they have been extremely helpful.

 

[Pulsar]

It just struck me that people (including me) dislike HR because they are the Internal Affairs Unit of corporate life.

Not really. I dislike them because most of the people I've had to interact with are simply despicable pieces of worthless crap who do nothing to add value to the company. They are parasites. They eat into my profit sharing and do nothing worthwhile.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

HR is a gatekeeper. The longer they can keep you at the gate, the greater their power. This wouldn't be intolerable if they didn't keep trying to build new gates. However, risk management is far more detrimental to operations than HR. They've reinvented an entire industry and pay structure out of whole cloth by leveraging HR, corporate legal departments and, the fear of litigation. They are Joseph McCarthy incarnate. They are worse than accountants who make operational management decisions.

 

[It's Not Lupus]

I know a friend of the family so to speak that works in HR. He has a wife and kids, is over 30, but at times acts like a trash-talking bully and makes jokes only high schoolers would find funny. I don't understand why he picked HR as a career.

 

[rcpratt]

Poor Penguin is just getting beat on.

 

[PenguinPower]

Poor Penguin is just getting beat on.

Doesn't bother me. Most people in my department are actually liked by the majority of employees at my company. I feel bad that everyone here seems to work at such crappy companies.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Doesn't bother me. Most people in my department are actually liked by the majority of employees at my company. I feel bad that everyone here seems to work at such crappy companies.

Surely, it's not news that "crappy companies" are the norm? That policies and practices from these companies set the bar for everyone? The 'bar' being anything that reduces costs for the company.

 

[ctbaars]

HR people are smart and do really well with the tools they are given.

 

[Gibsons]

I've had mixed experience with HR over my career. Some have been fantastic, others were absolutely a waste of space. I find in larger companies they tend to be a little better but what you're describing is just an idiot user and there are no shortage of them.

That's been my experience too. Seems like a weird distribution. Some are very good, some are maybe (sometimes definitely) worse than an empty chair. Not so many that are just competent.

 

[Gibsons]

HR people are smart and do really well with the tools they are given.

... you work in HR?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I think that many of the opinions in this thread are held because they work in an organization stuck in the 20th century, work for a small company where they have a "one man" HR shop, have no idea what HR really does, want to hate on HR because it's cool, or some combination of the aforementioned.

Or it could just be that the vast majority of HR people we've dealt with were morons.

 

[drum]

(insert department here do their best) with the tools they are given.

ftfy.

They are probably understaffed just like most other depts

 

[Phoenix86]

HR mostly exists as a CYA for businesses in order to reduce the probability of successful lawsuits against them by their workers, or ex workers. They rarely serve any other purpose IMO.

HR's purpose is to protect the company from employees. While many of the things they do seem "for" the employee, it really so the employee gets what they are supposed to get so they don't sue the company.

In that regard, most HR departments are at least competent.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I think all HR departments HAVE to be clueless, it's a condition of existence. Any HR department that was competent would see that it was a waste of time and money and would shut itself down for the good of the company.

 

[rcpratt]

Doesn't bother me. Most people in my department are actually liked by the majority of employees at my company. I feel bad that everyone here seems to work at such crappy companies.

I think you'd be sad to know how many of us work for large, Fortune 500 companies. Unfortunately, most of us don't fit in your "one man HR shop" or "stuck in the 20th century" excuse. Well, to clarify, our HR department is certainly stuck in the 20th century. But that's the only part of the company that is.