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I disagree with the "mostly harmless" take in the article. HR is the group everyone, regardless of where they stand in a company, must be the most careful in d
by seneca 4y ago
I disagree with the "mostly harmless" take in the article.
HR is the group everyone, regardless of where they stand in a company, must be the most careful in dealing with. They are beurocrats and, in modern western companies, are becoming ideological commissars.
One of the strongest suggestions I would make to anyone going into white collar work is to avoid HR as much as possible, and be extremely careful of everything you say to them when you do interact with them. For leaders, be very careful about how you let HR grow. Keep it as small as possible and do not let it get into the business of controlling your culture.
- none_to_remain 4y agoYep. This article says HR works for the company's interests, not yours. I think instead maybe HR works for HR's interests.
- throwaway98797 4y agoHR loves hiring more HR the growth rate from 1 HR to 10 HR is slower than 10 to 50.
- elil17 4y agoIf someone's going to drive company culture, why shouldn't it be HR? They seem well qualified to do so. For example, someone in HR would be in a good position to do the research to figure out if work-from-home improves productivity or employee happiness, and they would also understand the tax and legal implications of a possible work-from-home policy.
- csa 4y ago> If someone's going to drive company culture, why shouldn't it be HR? Because HR people are natives of HR culture and only have second hand knowledge of what “engineering culture” or “finance culture” or $WHATEVER culture is, much less what makes a good/healthy/productive engineering or finance or $WHATEVER culture. I will also add that, while there are a few very talented HR people (and the good ones are freakishly good), most folks in the HR field ended up there rather than sought it out. They are not collectively the most talented or ambitious group of people, and the field often attracts ideologues who sometimes have dysfunctional perceptions of the world we live in.
- dogman144 4y agoWhat? How are they well qualified to do so. Culture comes from leadership and leaders. When this doesn’t happen, you get all sorts of organizational issues. HR are not leaders. Culture isn’t productive and clicks per hour research or something you can suss out from forced company fun sessions. This is a root of an issue in corporate America where management (and it’s offshoots like HR) is considered the mindset, and really it’s about leadership. Leaders set culture, build companies, grow visions. Managers execute that. Some managers can actually lead. HR supports it. When people hate working at places, it’s always back to a lack of leadership in some way.
- garmain 4y agoExactly
- 7952 4y agoSurely the correct qualification for that kind of research would be some kind of science background.
- CoastalCoder 4y agoScariest moment at the growing startup I work for was HR approving an engineering requisition. It may have been just a case of everyone doing whatever tasks are needed, but I gave the engineering director an earful afterward.
- jacobr1 4y agoWhat made it scary? The recruiting and onboarding teams in HR have been some of the most helpful folks I've worked with a manager.