Why is the HR department always full of gits?

MrMiyagi

Hello,

Has anyone else found the HR department of their company to be full of conniving people?

Thank you.

Biggins

Had a bad day today?

congo_90

Other than saying phrases like "going forward" and "good job, Danny". No. I like em. Up until they sacked me. They got a bit strange then..

nicegirl

Absolutely! I agree with you completely. If ya need any employment advice give me a shout, I know enough about it all at this stage myself :rolleyes:

starbelgrade

I like Hard Rock departments. Good tunes they have.

stepbar

Pests.

Schism

Oh it's all fun in games until some funds get misappropriated then they're down on you like a ton of, errr, HR representatives... I swear to God those funds were just resting in my account.

Millicent

Actually OP, I have noticed this. The people who are supposed to be looking after the staff, in my experience, tend to be jumped up assh0les who will step all over anyone to get ahead. Dunno why this is but from my experience, they tend to be the very ones who are screwing you over.

ballsymchugh

the great news is you can do a masters in human resource management. just so you can learn how to do pie charts and write p45s very neatly.

TheZohanS

congo_90 wrote: »

Other than saying phrases like "going forward" and "good job, Danny". No. I like em. Up until they sacked me. They got a bit strange then..

Ah maybe you didn't have any "blue sky thinking" or didn't understand that "it is what it is"!

InkSlinger67

Never really had a problem with anyone in HR in any job TBH. They do like their buzz words though....the bastards! :mad:

Darlughda

I think that since the fall of Eve, the world has not known what to do with evil women with sweet smiles.
So, since the replacement of the 'personnel' department in companies by the ominous sounding 'human resources', these aforementioned evil women have thrived and flourished, and they are usually women, although there is the odd shrivelled penaled man among their ranks.

Oh, how they love their ranks and hierarchy. The things they know about you in your FILE! They wear full make up and 'suitable' clothes for their work, but the evil longing to fire you is always lurking at the back of their eyes....

dyl10

HR departments have chips on their shoulder's

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EmUidIgTDTo/Swa1fNbV25I/AAAAAAAAAVo/Xv2m_mXQxzY/s1600/chip-on-shoulder.jpg

Cheap Thrills!

Darlughda wrote: »

I think that since the fall of Eve, the world has not known what to do with evil women with sweet smiles.
So, since the replacement of the 'personnel' department in companies by the ominous sounding 'human resources', these aforementioned evil women have thrived and flourished, and they are usually women, although there is the odd shrivelled penaled man among their ranks.

Oh, how they love their ranks and hierarchy. The things they know about you in your FILE! They wear full make up and 'suitable' clothes for their work, but the evil longing to fire you is always lurking at the back of their eyes....

:eek: I know!

They walk amongst us....!

Jaxxy

Darlughda wrote: »

I think that since the fall of Eve, the world has not known what to do with evil women with sweet smiles.
So, since the replacement of the 'personnel' department in companies by the ominous sounding 'human resources', these aforementioned evil women have thrived and flourished, and they are usually women, although there is the odd shrivelled penaled man among their ranks.

Oh, how they love their ranks and hierarchy. The things they know about you in your FILE! They wear full make up and 'suitable' clothes for their work, but the evil longing to fire you is always lurking at the back of their eyes....

This is so very true. I worked in HR for a while for a number of different companies in a temporary capacity. Oh they're all over you like flies on the proverbial in the beginning, but do something the might be deemed "inappropriate to the current working environment" or something that could "upset the balance of harmony in the office" (I've had these words actually said to me before, harmony? Wtf?) and you get the distance and the cold shoulder and the saccharine, disingenuous smiles and the reassurances that they "understand."

Tbh it's one of the reasons why I left HR. At the last place I worked one of the HR admin staff (who had some ridiculous title I can't remember) suggested I have a read through my predecessor's personal e-mails. Apparently they were entertaining and "illuminating" and the girl who had done the job before me was as such a "weirdo." Because she quit.

Naturally I declined. I mean why the hell would I want to read through someone's e-mails? It's not like she was cheating on me or anything.

That being said you can get the few rare gems in HR. The people who actually go out of their way to help you out and aren't as interest in covering their own arses and making sure they constantly smell like roses. You can sniff them out pretty quickly; they're the ones who get twisted at all the work dos and make eejits out of themselves singing karaoke in front of the entire staff.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

I think, for the most part, in any business, that unless you know how to do it yourself, then the person doing it could do it better.

Millicent

Sean_K wrote: »

I think, for the most part, in any business, that unless you know how to do it yourself, then the person doing it could do it better.

You'll have to trust me when I say, not where I work.

I love this quote from the movie Go, it sums up exactly how I feel sometimes.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139239/quotes?qt0266102

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Millicent wrote: »

You'll have to trust me when I say, not where I work.

I'd be inclined to agree based on personal experience but I can't help a penchant to play devil's advocate.

MrMiyagi

Millicent wrote: »

Actually OP, I have noticed this. The people who are supposed to be looking after the staff, in my experience, tend to be jumped up assh0les who will step all over anyone to get ahead. Dunno why this is but from my experience, they tend to be the very ones who are screwing you over.

Jumped up assh0les - exactly, because they think they have the power

I think HR staff have too much time for scheming, lets be honest what do they actually do?

MrMiyagi

ballsymchugh wrote: »

the great news is you can do a masters in human resource management. just so you can learn how to do pie charts and write p45s very neatly.

Sounds like that type of work could be outsourced €/10

Dravokivich

here's a good'un for ye...

I work with a recruitment / IT Outsourcing company that provides staff for call centres of a major corporate IT Service provider.

they decided to cut down a team within 1 of the departments. here's the kicker though...

...HR and the relevant Team Leaders didn't have any productivity reports in place to see who was worth keeping and letting go... so they had them all take a "Tech Test" which had stuff on it, NOT relevant to the job this dept were doing. (2nd level remote desktop support team being queried about 3rd level Server / Networks support).

so those that failed it were told... right we've got a couple of positions avail at the same level you were working at in another dept... but... you've got to apply for that... do their "Tech Test" and go for interview...

I mean seriously... that actually happened. HR for a recruitment agency... who's job is to make sure you've got a job...were making people redundant while knowing there were similar positions available and telling them to apply for their job... to keep their job...

a bleeding shambles...

zootroid

There are a number of professions I have always disliked, HR is one of them. The others are recruitment and auctioneers. I don't think I'm alone in thinking this way

Dont be at yourself

HR and recruitment agencies will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

conorhal

I think it's for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they have to stand apart from the other employees, it's the nature of the job, you can't be really pally with the rest of the employees because you can't pal around with somebody one day and give them the shaft the next.
I feel a little sorry for them in that respect. They have to keep themselves to themselves and it leaves them looking a bit aloof. A friend of mine worked in HR and hated it, she's a really friendly sociable type and found it hard, she said you had to be such a cold bitch sometimes and she didn't like it.

The second reason however has been touched upon in an earlier post.
The shift from a 'personnel' department to a 'human resources' department was very much an ideological shift in employer/employee relations.
Now employees are viewed differently in that rather than managing people, they now manage rather dehumanized resources.
HR departments are these days, as often as not, little more then corporate enforcers. They exist to ensure that all I's are dotted and T's crossed in terms of corporate responsibility when dealing with employees, not to help them, they are there for the protection of the company only and to ensure that when management want to shaft you there is an agreed contractual process in place that endemnifies the company against employee rights.

Lux23

They are ok in my company, there are loads of them though. Half of the my company is being let go and the moment which half of HR team will be cut too so at the end of the day they are in the same boat as we are.

DualFrontDiscs

Millicent wrote: »

The people who are supposed to be looking after the staff, in my experience, tend to be jumped up assh0les who will step all over anyone to get ahead.

They're not there to look after the staff. They are there to look after the Company's interests (as it relates to staff). There's a difference, possibly subtle, possibly not.

Caoimhín

I despise the term "human resource" and while im at it "consumer" zaps my spirits.

ocokev

Had a job interview once and instantally disliked the HR person & the job.
"When he asked how do you act under pressure?
I replied "Sh*T I wasn't expecting that question do you mind if I go for a smoke" got up and left.
That showed him.
Bring back the BOOM

Glenster

I've never had a problem with anyone from HR. They all seem like lovely girls, wherever I've worked.


Maybe this just comes down to the fact that I've never been fired or reprimanded for bad behaviour in work.


Saying HR's are gits is like saying the police are gits, they're only gits if you keep getting into trouble.

DanGlee

The place where I worked (before being made redundant) has about 6 HR muppets who mostly smile falsely at you. I met one out and about once and she was asking about stuff (being nosy) and we got onto the topic about how sh1te the company was to work for and how most of the managers were pretty incompetent at their jobs (one in particular) and she didn't like it, was all defensive... to be honest, I'd say she would be the first to go when its HRs turn in the line of fire.

But one thing that really vexes me and a few other people is that for the past year all this company has done is make people redundant, yet they hold on to 6 HR staff who as far as I can see just sit on their lazy, nosy, fat arses bitching and back stabbing all day! So basically what happened is the skilled workers are out the door, but these lot, because they are close to the VP are all safe! Its a disgrace! :mad::mad::mad:

Oh, just remembered a classic actually from a meeting with HR about a salary survey that was carried out throughout the company and this HR "director" muppet came in, mouthing about how its not all about money and probably some tripe about enjoying your work etc, but all we wanted to know was how much an increase we were all getting (as the whole company was grossly underpaid in the IT scale of similiar roles throughout Ireland. She said "I don't know how much I earn, I don't even look at my pay cheque" because she just does her job because she loves it... The fat bitch loves pies alright, but I'd hesitant a guess she blagged about 80k for his consistent HR bull**** she sprouted on a daily basis. We all left that meeting in shock, disbelievement and lots of laughter... Unfortunately she's still there to this day, rimming the VPs hole!!!!

Deep breaths DG... calm!!!

andreab

Yeah I think everyone I know has had a problem at some stage with HR.

Don't think they understand the Confidentiality rule. I went into HR one day, I had been diagnosed with epilepsy, as an accountant it didnt affect my work at all but I wanted to have it on my file incase they needed to contact my emergency person if something happened at work. I specifically told her I did not want everyone to know and that there was no legal requirment for me to tell her but for my own reasons I wanted it put on my file.
The next day at work I had every manager in the place coming over to me and giving me their condolences for what I was going through, these were people that I had no contact with in my day to day work and they felt it was appropriate to talk about my medical condition in the midde of the workfloor in front of all my colleagues.
Needless to say I lost the rag a bit and later on was called into HR to be repremanded for my conduct cause I told people to mind their own business, I immediatly flipped out even more because she stood there telling me she had a right to tell everyone cause it was in the companies best interest to disclose this

So I sat there and listened and got up when she was finished her little speech and left. From that day onward I refused to have anything got to do with her. Since then I have left the compnay and on my last day she was meant to conduct an exit interview but she was too busy to see me so it was cancelled. This women then took 4 weeks to give me my P45 and other information I needed for my new job. What a joke, the should rename HR to TU (TOTALLY USELESS)

Rented Mule

Millicent wrote: »

Actually OP, I have noticed this. The people who are supposed to be looking after the staff, in my experience, tend to be jumped up assh0les who will step all over anyone to get ahead. Dunno why this is but from my experience, they tend to be the very ones who are screwing you over.

Don't ever think that the HR department is there for you.

They are there to protect the company from you.

problemchimp

I can't believe HR departments still exist. After all their main job is recruiting people for jobs. Hardly out the door with work at the moment. Let them clean the toilets instead of twiddling their thumbs. Having said that they probably are good people underneath it all.

recylingbin

HR departments are normally full of people who have an Orts degree.
It figures that most of 'em are a bit 'tarded.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

ballsymchugh wrote: »

the great news is you can do a masters in human resource management. just so you can learn how to do pie charts and write p45s very neatly.

Got one?

DualFrontDiscs wrote: »

They're not there to look after the staff. They are there to look after the Company's interests (as it relates to staff). There's a difference, possibly subtle, possibly not.

Well they are there for both the staff and the company. They have staff welfare to look after too.

ocokev wrote: »

Had a job interview once and instantally disliked the HR person & the job.
"When he asked how do you act under pressure?
I replied "Sh*T I wasn't expecting that question do you mind if I go for a smoke" got up and left.
That showed him.
Bring back the BOOM

You say that crap in an interview and you're surprised? Why did you take a dislike to the HR person so fast?



This is the area which I would like to go into. I can relate to people here and their hatred for the HR department. Many of them simply have not got a clue, lack the training and the education, they do not have a connection with other human beings. How these people can be in charge of a HR department is beyond me, it must be their bítchy back stabbing ways that got them there.

In the service industry, HR should prioritise front line staff, and managment should come second. Keep your staff happy, however you can, and business will be much better. Many HR departments today treat their front line staff like crap, min wage, little or no perks, no promotions, no training etc etc. What you have to realise is that the HR departments today are not filled with people fit for the job.

ocokev

Haley Nutritious Bead wrote: »

You say that crap in an interview and you're surprised? Why did you take a dislike to the HR person so fast?

Before the interview we were waiting for the manager ato sit in with us and he started going on about the lovely weather and would it be worth it if he traded his merc in for a convertable. Then he asked me where I lived and started on about his new house was 3000 sq ft and his garage 1000 sq ft, but he was paying for it in cash....... need I say more?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

ocokev wrote: »

Before the interview we were waiting for the manager ato sit in with us and he started going on about the lovely weather and would it be worth it if he traded his merc in for a convertable. Then he asked me where I lived and started on about his new house was 3000 sq ft and his garage 1000 sq ft, but he was paying for it in cash....... need I say more?

He's cocky and has a fcuking massive ego. Or maybe he was showing you how much money you could make if you take the job Either way, I wouldn't let it get in the way of getting said job though

Theta

ocokev wrote: »

Before the interview we were waiting for the manager ato sit in with us and he started going on about the lovely weather and would it be worth it if he traded his merc in for a convertable. Then he asked me where I lived and started on about his new house was 3000 sq ft and his garage 1000 sq ft, but he was paying for it in cash....... need I say more?

Should have gotten the address and turned it into 4000 sq ft of ash!

ocokev

Haley Nutritious Bead wrote: »

He's cocky and has a fcuking massive ego. Or maybe he was showing you how much money you could make if you take the job Either way, I wouldn't let it get in the way of getting said job though

At that time I had a job so I didnt mind.
I wouldn't mind if he was to jazz up the job and sell the company to me, but i wouldn't put up with a pr**k like that.
I know people who work there, and everybody runs when he approaches.
One of the complaints people have of him is the amount of people he hired and fired because they were not suited to the job.:mad: Thats part of his job is to find suitable canditates, not just pick anyone test them for 3-4 weeks then get rid of them.

Jaden

HR are evil, and need to be treated as such. They exist as a mechanism to protect the company from employees, and are generally staffed by receptionists who have crawled up the career ladder, and people who have failed in careers with recruiters.

HR draft (read: they write down management's opinion on) policies, and then refer to every single instance on a case-by-case basis, thereby justifying their jobs.

Almost every single HR staff member I've encountered has deep rooted issues, which take mere seconds of conversation to surface. Ever wonder wny HR departments are 99% female? Answers on a postcard.....

EL_Loco

well in the 7 places I've worked I've met 1 HR person who was any good at their job.

like most things I suppose, some good some bad. (but in my experience mostly bad)

- not qualified
- as already stated, promoted from within from a non-HR job
- don't know the law and what impact certain actions have
- two faced in alot of cases, if you're going to side with the company just make it clear, don't be shoiting outta ya that you're fighting my corner.

I'm sure the list could get very long

ToxicPaddy

Ahh some HR arent bad, they just know that people in the office dont like them so they just act that way.. Ive met a few of them that were sound, others decided that I wasnt a good person to p*ss off as if they had a problem with their PC, blackberry, printer etc, I was the one they had to call to sort it.. So keeping me on their good side was always in their interest!!

However I have come across some that were completely useless..

One so called HR person in a small company I used to work for was the MD's PA who was suddenly promoted to HR manager (her previous job before was trainee hairdresser!! :rolleyes:).. bizarre to say the least but whenever any issue arose with an employee or anyone who had a problem, they were left in no doubt that no matter what happened the company was always right!!

She didnt have a bloody clue.. :rolleyes:

Tox

galah

here, they're mostly (and constantly) pregnant, so can't do much harm...

Pyr0

galah wrote: »

here, they're mostly (and constantly) pregnant, so can't do much harm...

Jesus, a pregnant HR ?! You'd be better off jumping out the windown than dealing with that monster.

flynnlives

rank up there with estate agents, absolutly pointless jobs

Raekwon

Alot of HR people I have met with worked in Recruitment Agencies once upon a time............I think that speaks for itself.

This can be the only reason that management keep HR hanging around the office

Jaxxy

Haley Nutritious Bead wrote: »

In the service industry, HR should prioritise front line staff, and managment should come second. Keep your staff happy, however you can, and business will be much better. Many HR departments today treat their front line staff like crap, min wage, little or no perks, no promotions, no training etc etc. What you have to realise is that the HR departments today are not filled with people fit for the job.

These days HR representatives are often confused for union representatives. There is a huge difference between the two; union reps are there primarily to ensure that the staff are looked after, HR reps are there primarily to act as a buffer between frontline and management. It can often be difficult to keep the two happy, but at the end of the day HR staff have a duty to uphold the policy of the company and will do so despite personal beliefs.

Thankfully I managed to escape a lot of the more unpleasant aspects of HR work. Having studied Employment Law I was in a position to offer impartial advice to anyone who needed it, whether said advice went for or against the company. I firmly believe that all HR departments should adopt this outlook but that is never going to happen. HR staff often develop a strange defensive stance when it comes to their company. It's almost like Stockholm Syndrome.

There are still good people in HR, even though they do seem very few and far between and often get caught up in the politics of their departments. They just have misplaced notions of loyalty. And often view themselves to be better or "above the riff-raff."

Stench Blossoms

I worked in one company had the best HR Team I've ever come across. One of the girls even would answer general HR queries if I emailed her now even though I don't work there.

I had an awful dealing with another HR person in another company who, like someone else said here already, decided to tell the whole office about a medical condition that I had, which didn't affect my job.

Think it's like an that in most departments. You'll come across the good and the bad.

CrazyRabbit

The 'Ireland HR Department' for my company is actually based in the Czech Republic. You can imagine how happy we were when that was announced. (note to Admins...add a sarcasm smilie)

Barnia

anyone know how much entry level HR people earn?

Hank Scorpio

I was told the head of HR had a problem with her phone before, so i expected it was an issue on the phone switch system.

I went up to her and asked what was wrong, she said there was a bit of a pull on the phone asked me to have a look at it.

The cable was caught underneath a few books she had left on the ground, THAT WAS IT!

That happened in my first job and gave me a good insight for working in the future with people involved in HR/Management.