Hating HR
A conversation over brunch this weekend, paired with my yearly reflection of career goals, sent me down a wormhole of search engine results for an explanation behind why people love to hate HR.
During brunch, I was introduced to a friend of a friend. We had a great time talking about Black love, food, traveling and living the city life.
And then the dreaded question was asked: "So what do you do for work?"
Begrudgingly, I quickly said that I work in human resources, hoping that we could move onto the next topic swiftly.
But nope. Without a beat, the friend started her next statement with "you know why I hate HR?" and proceeded to tell me about an incident when the HR specialist in her last company wronged her.
I love my job, I love working in human resources. I chose to transition into HR from being in operations/general management only a few years ago so I didn't just stumble into this profession. I liked that I could still work with people and be part of strategic goal-setting while also being the voice of employee concerns.
Unfortunately, taking a leap into HR also meant that I would be the listening board, the verbal punching bag, to someone's rant about how HR staff are incompetent, untrustworthy and only supportive of the company's best interest; usually proven with stories from their personal experience(s) with HR.
What I like about this article from The Shortlister is that it explains the sentiments toward the HR department while also sharing that this hatred may be unfounded, or at least unfair. And in the end, it sums up how I wish people viewed HR:
"A bad company produces lousy HR" (Shortlister).
Toxic work culture breeds a toxic HR department. Yes, there are incompetent HR professionals out there. Yes, there are HR staff members making sure to cover their own behind over their coworker's. Yes, HR is concerned with acting within the interest of the employer.
And unfortunately, this can be said about almost any department or function out there, if the work culture produces the kind of behavior that pins coworkers against one another and places profits over employee development and engagement.
My career goals have been to find ways to bring value to the lives that I touch. How do I listen better? How do I show up? How do I fight for what's right?
I begrudgingly told that friend that I work in HR because unfortunately I knew that many people hate HR and loves to tell me just how much. It's emotionally draining to hear your profession being put down and stamped on by someone who you've just met. To know that if you defend your profession, you're only adding to the fire of their perception. But this hatred also makes me want to work harder to become a great HR leader, a compassionate coworker and a driver of change.
Credit: https://www.myshortlister.com/insights/why-do-we-hate-hr
