Human Resources

[cbrunny]

Has anyone ever had a positive experience with Human Resources? If so, please tell me about it. I've had nothing but negative experiences with ours over a period of many years. I've lost faith that it, as a profession, has any redeeming qualities of any kind.

 

[corwin]

HR is awesome, semi-hot chicks to flirt with anytime you feel like it and they get rid of the slackers, what's not to like?

 

[Texashiker]

what's not to like?

They are back stabbing bastards who fire people in order to justify their job.

 

[Sixguns]

No, I could ask all the girls in HR the same question and get 4 different answers. Its like they are all in their own world.

 

[corwin]

They are back stabbing bastards who fire people in order to justify their job.

You've got the wrong HR people then...and I'm really curious to know how your HR decides who gets fired? While they may carry out the firing the supervisor/manager should be the one who actually decides

 

[SaurusX]

They're really good at shredding all of those pesky incoming resumes.

 

[KentState]

I've yet to see an HR department that is anything more than puppets for the senior management team. There have been some stand-out individuals in my experience, but they didn't last long trying to stick up for the employees.

First example was the HR Director in a three jobs before my current one. Most of the members of my team were paid well under market value. She went to battle on our behalf with the VP of the department. We all received market adjustments and a lot of the members are still with the company averaging 10+ years. She however burnt out and only last six months.

Second example was two jobs ago. There was an employee that the CEO just had a bullseye on. The CEO/owner just flipped on people without much cause since scapegoating seemed to be his passion. Anyways, the HR VP built a really strong case to keep the employee and rallied up support from the staff. This put the HR VP in the owner's cross hairs and while the employee kept his job, the VP was fired soon after.

 

[kranky]

We've had great HR folks and we've had less-than-great ones. If you've only had bad ones, I suspect that the executives are intentionally seeking out that type of HR person, which does happen. Some places want HR to be the "bad cop" in all situations.

[edit: just like in KentState's example]

 

[cbrunny]

I don't doubt that they're puppets of Sr. Admin. They often make "decisions" that are very important to the lives of the employees, but have zero transparency and no accountability to the employees in any way. They're not responsive, except when correcting administrative errors (frequent).

I'm nearing my wit's end with them. Just received another piece of poor decision making with zero justification yesterday. I'm reasonably confident that if I actually told them how I feel honestly, security would show up to escort me out. Gotta keep cool while I fight their incorrect decision....

 

[nageov3t]

I can't recall a bad experience.

when I have a question about payroll or benefits, or need to schedule vacation requests, I just send the HR people an email and they get my shit done. /shrug

 

[cbrunny]

I can't recall a bad experience.

when I have a question about payroll or benefits, or need to schedule vacation requests, I just send the HR people an email and they get my shit done. /shrug

That's peanuts though. I don't give them credit for knowing the base elements of their jobs.

I'm talking about poor policy decisions around new hires, salaries, hiring practices, interview structures/formats, policy for determining raise eligibility, cost of living increases, our entire merit structure, etc.

Things that matter.

 

[Texashiker]

I'm talking about poor policy decisions around new hires, salaries, hiring practices, interview structures/formats, policy for determining raise eligibility, cost of living increases, our entire merit structure, etc.

Things that matter.

Like hiring new people with zero experience at a higher pay scale then those that have been there for several years.

 

[nageov3t]

That's peanuts though. I don't give them credit for knowing the base elements of their jobs.

I'm talking about poor policy decisions around new hires, salaries, hiring practices, interview structures/formats, policy for determining raise eligibility, cost of living increases, our entire merit structure, etc.

Things that matter.

what are the specifics of your case?

HR doesn't handle most of that in my company beyond pre-screening resumes and forwarding them to department heads.

 

[Texashiker]

what are the specifics of your case?

HR doesn't handle most of that in my company beyond pre-screening resumes and forwarding them to department heads.

Your question was not directed at me, but I will give you an example that happened to my wife.

My wife had 3 supervisors - 1 direct supervisor who worked in her office, then 3 remote supervisors who would visit the office from time to time.

One supervisor would tell her to do something, then the next would chew her out for doing what the other person told her to do.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

They are back stabbing bastards who fire people in order to justify their job.

I've always wanted to see an experience where an HR person escorts out someone, they get back inside - and then their manager escorts them out... ohhhh thats gotta be juicy I would want a lawn chair and popcorn just to see that shit and the face of the HR person turn 180.

 

[clamum]

what are the specifics of your case?

HR doesn't handle most of that in my company beyond pre-screening resumes and forwarding them to department heads.

Same here, as far as I can tell (been here a year today actually). Never had a problem with them and they've been very helpful whenever I've needed help.

 

[cbrunny]

Well, I'd prefer not to get into too many specifics, but here are some cliffs for this case (not the multiple others):

- Ontario, Canada. BPS. Non-Union, non-management, but good quality job with educational requirements (I hold three degrees) & lots of potential for upward movement.
- Been here for 4 years
- Submitted an updated job description for re-evaluation (aka - a raise) since job has grown dramatically over recent years. Now includes a higher degree of influence regarding strategic direction of organization, and staff reporting to me among other things. Others in my area did the same with significantly less increase in responsibility and received a bump - they received justification, but the justification was poor.
- zero raise. zero justification. way more work.

This is one of many clusterfucks.

 

[xBiffx]

HR, worst misnomer of all time.

 

[PenguinPower]

Has anyone ever had a positive experience with Human Resources? If so, please tell me about it. I've had nothing but negative experiences with ours over a period of many years. I've lost faith that it, as a profession, has any redeeming qualities of any kind.

Yes. Every day.

They are back stabbing bastards who fire people in order to justify their job.

On the contrary, terminating the employment of individuals makes my metrics look bad, which makes my team look bad. Some turnover is necessary, and most bring it on themselves, but the lower my turnover rate the better my team looks. I justify my team's job through measurable data.

They're really good at shredding all of those pesky incoming resumes.

Shredding things is fun.

We've had great HR folks and we've had less-than-great ones. If you've only had bad ones, I suspect that the executives are intentionally seeking out that type of HR person, which does happen. Some places want HR to be the "bad cop" in all situations.

[edit: just like in KentState's example]

Very true. A lot of HR professionals are stuck in the old "personnel management" and "administrative process" junk that gives HR its stigma. The need for these types of professionals has been fast dwindling, and those who refuse to change are finding it harder to find employment.

I've always wanted to see an experience where an HR person escorts out someone, they get back inside - and then their manager escorts them out... ohhhh thats gotta be juicy I would want a lawn chair and popcorn just to see that shit and the face of the HR person turn 180.

We had that happen recently. The individual is going to court on trespassing charges.

 

[Mixolydian]

I've never had to deal with HR.

 

[Doppel]

Mainly a joke profession of losers, the corporate equivalent of a realtor.

 

[nageov3t]

Well, I'd prefer not to get into too many specifics, but here are some cliffs for this case (not the multiple others):

- Ontario, Canada. BPS. Non-Union, non-management, but good quality job with educational requirements (I hold three degrees) & lots of potential for upward movement.
- Been here for 4 years
- Submitted an updated job description for re-evaluation (aka - a raise) since job has grown dramatically over recent years. Now includes a higher degree of influence regarding strategic direction of organization, and staff reporting to me among other things. Others in my area did the same with significantly less increase in responsibility and received a bump - they received justification, but the justification was poor.
- zero raise. zero justification. way more work.

This is one of many clusterfucks.

gotcha... in my company, that would have been handled by my boss, not HR.

each year, the department heads get X amount of dollars to dedicate towards merit raises/bonuses for their team and it's at their discretion how they assign the money.

 

[PenguinPower]

Mainly a joke profession of losers, the corporate equivalent of a realtor.

Agreed.

Let's take payroll and throw that back to the Finance group.

Benefits administration can go to...uh...sure, the Finance group.

Sourcing...let the individual hiring managers take care of that. They aren't busy enough.

Staffing and onboarding...the individual departments can take care of that whole process. Again, they aren't doing anything productive for the company.

Employment law-related issues...we'll just put some attorney on retainer for $500/hr to answer every questions and ensure that supervisors are being consistent.

Learning and development...screw that. Our talented employees are awesome because the hiring manager took care of everything bringing them in.

Change Management...why the hell would we want to change?! We're awesome!

Compensation...let everyone dictate what they should make. Not a single person in the world overvalues their position in relation to the company as a whole.

Succession Planning...who needs it? I'll just choose someone when the time comes.

Performance management...as I said before, everyone is already awesome!

Employment data/reporting requirements/administrative functions...our department admins can take care of that. And for that whole company-wide reporting...they can just designate a point person and wrap that up in an instant.

 

[Farang]

It's like asking if anyone has had a good experience with their spouse's divorce lawyer. HR's job is not to serve you it is to manage you in the best interests of the company. Deal with it.

 

[cbrunny]

It's like asking if anyone has had a good experience with their spouse's divorce lawyer. HR's job is not to serve you it is to manage you in the best interests of the company. Deal with it.

The best interests of the company include having important people satisfied with their levels of compensation. Even my direct boss, and her boss, and his boss thought I'd be getting a bump!

Edit: it's a pretty big organization, hence the ladder.