I cannot stress strongly enough to everyone: HR is there to keep managers out of trouble. I had someone once put it to me this way: Why is it that when musici

I cannot stress strongly enough to everyone: HR is there to keep managers out of trouble. I had someone once put it to me this way: Why is it that when musician has problems, his or her manager gets fired, but when an employee has problems, the employee gets fired? The reason is: the musician is paying the manager, the employee is not. It's the chief officers who are paying for the manager. A manager's job is the manage the issues of the officers. They pay the his or her salary. The way companies manage employees is to flat out lie about that relationship. Those who challenge the obvious (i.e. harassment, pay issues, etc) are the ones who are let go. If you speak up, always be willing to accept the possibility of the axe.