Three quick questions for the room:

1. Is HR generally a liability or asset to your company?

2. Can you think of three instances where HR's involvement has helped resolve a situation or solved a problem? After four decades of work as a manager, I honestly cannot.

3. How do you limit the damage done to your team's morale and performance by HR?

LOL on number 3


We have a pretty good internal recruiter that helps me team, but I admit that is a rarity for HR to be a net positive

Retire. After four decades you can afford to avoid the headache.

Our HR is generally very supportive. I might think their pre-screening of initial hire candidates is too intense given what I think our talent pool might be, but they have their reasons, and corporate likes it that way.
They're very helpful and knowledgeable about benefits and time worked coding issues.

HR is always the least intelligent part of any company. I find it always wants to be a "strategic partner" while you just need a JD posted or an interview scheduled.

Now HR is dominated by gays and Karens whose central focus are "rascist - I mean "resource" - groups and promoting tokens.

Oldbear83 said:

---

Three quick questions for the room:

1. Is HR generally a liability or asset to your company?

2. Can you think of three instances where HR's involvement has helped resolve a situation or solved a problem? After four decades of work as a manager, I honestly cannot.

3. How do you limit the damage done to your team's morale and performance by HR?

---

The HR Department at the company I started at right out of college was a happy place liked and respected by most all of the employees. Thirty years later it have evolved into a department feared by all and no longer respected by most all of the employees. It became a place you did your best to avoid. I think it is just a nasty side effect of companies becoming more corporate and rigidly structured.

*phew* - I thought this was going to be another Harry Reasoner thread.......

- KKM

{ eating pimento cheese sammich }

BID.

Back in the old days, it was the Personnel Department. Today, it is Human Resources that commonly refers to their workforce as human capital.

*phew* - I thought this was going to be another Helen Reddy thread.......



- KKM

BID.

Liability

VaeBear said:

---

Liability

---

That's the funny thing. HR obsesses with preventing Liability, but all too often that word best describes HR.

Ours is an asset. I guess the question is around expectations. I don't expect HR to represent the interests of the employees.

I expect them to navigate the human experience land mines. Ours does a fantastic job with onboarding, benefits and pay. I don't interact with them for anything else.

When there's a conflict (even one that will lead to termination), their primary responsibility is to prevent or liming the lawsuit.

HR: Our greatest asset is our people.

Employee: When was the last time you laid off your raw materials?

Our HR has a clear pattern:

1. Employee approaches HR with a problem
2. HR tells everyone involved to do nothing while they 'investigate'
3. Morale drops as situation stagnates for weeks
4. HR writes up one or more employees
5. Problem continues
6. HR terminates someone, complains that Management did not bring the problem to their attention soon enough
7. Steps 1 through 7 repeat

Our HR team currently does a great job, but if you hire the wrong HR people, they can destroy your company quickly.

Oldbear83 said:

---

Our HR has a clear pattern:

1. Employee approaches HR with a problem
2. HR tells everyone involved to do nothing while they 'investigate'
3. Morale drops as situation stagnates for weeks
4. HR writes up one or more employees
5. Problem continues
6. HR terminates someone, complains that Management did not bring the problem to their attention soon enough
7. Steps 1 through 7 repeat

---

Our HR has a clear pattern:

1. Oldbear83 approaches HR with a problem
2. HR tells everyone involved, including Oldbear83 to do nothing while they 'investigate.
3. Morale drops as situation stagnates for weeks
4. HR writes up one or more of Oldbear 83's employees
5. Problem continues
6. HR terminates the target but, complains that Oldbear83 did not bring the problem to their attention soon enough.

7. Steps 1 through 7 repeat :

Two observations:

1. It's more than my department

2. Employees start by asking HR for help, I am only involved when HR decides 'documentation' is needed.

Ghostrider said:

---

Our HR team currently does a great job, but if you hire the wrong HR people, they can destroy your company quickly.

---

Yes. Every now and then a company needs to cut the dead wood. The real danger comes when it is the dead wood that is wielding the chainsaws! Our Federal Government is the perfect example.