Why We Still Hate HR

A few years ago, while researching and studying in graduate school, I read an article titled “Why We Hate Human Resources” by Keith H. Hammonds. In his extensive analysis of HR, primarily from the point of view of a large corporation, he described HR as “an obscure bureaucratic force that blindly enforces meaningless rules, resists creativity, and impedes change. constructive”. Oh!

From my point of view, training female entrepreneurs, training women entrepreneurs and talking to job seekers, I have to say that we still hate HR. Let me tell you why.

HR folks still don’t get it. As a group, they still don’t understand what the company does, who the customers are, and what the main drivers of the business are. I base this assessment on calls I get from clients that start with the words “You’ll never believe what HR did this time.” The HR professionals I’ve spoken to over the past few years have a mind-boggling understanding of paperwork, regulations, and avoiding phone calls. However, once they look outside their own office, they seem puzzled.

There is still a bias towards “efficiency” rather than value. HR offices adjust to the number of training hours they provide, not the results delivered. They seem to collect job applications and process candidates in a way designed to demonstrate their own competence and not as a channel for needed talent. Automated systems can make it easier to outsource administrative HR tasks, but they don’t necessarily add value.

Most importantly, HR isn’t working for you yet. As a profession, HR still abhors exceptions, flexibility, and individuality. Maybe it’s the constant fear of legal action or maybe it’s too much work. Whatever the reason, HR doesn’t work for job candidates or current employees, and sadly, it doesn’t work well for companies that pay their salaries. The two HR-related tasks that have complained to me the most from my client base are performance reviews and the hiring process.

Get the Job – The Hiring Process: HR continues to create hiring and selection processes that are so standardized that they weed out candidates who don’t easily fit into standardized forms. The result, creative, flexible and entrepreneurial minded candidates never make the grade and reach the decision makers. HR primarily functions as a gatekeeper and probably filters out more talent than any of us could imagine.

Do the job performance review: Somehow, somewhere, someone needs to teach managers how to use evaluation tools and how to do good employee performance reviews. HR maybe? It doesn’t seem likely. It’s a complaint I’ve been hearing for years from entry level to middle management. Reviews are not done on time, or not done at all. Managers don’t seem to know what to say, how to train, or where to turn for help. It appears that completing the forms on time and not employee development is the goal of the review process.

The global economy is brutally competitive. To truly excel, companies need to hire the best talent, train it well and on an ongoing basis, and keep it. From what I see in my corner of the world, it is not happening. And that’s why we still hate HR.