Why Do We Love to Hate HR Departments?

Within many organizations and companies, the chief role of its Human Resources department is to keep it on the straight and narrow, ensuring there are no conflicts between employees and companies that could result in the latter being sued.

To many people, this doesn’t represent a particularly positive reason to bounce into work every day, but Human Resources departments are necessary to make sure all runs smoothly in the complicated world of employee/employer relations.

Over the years, this has meant that the people that often work in Human Resources are the people that both employees and employers love to hate. It really shouldn’t be the case though.

Why Do Workers Dislike HR Departments?

If you’re an employee and you’ve previously not had very good experiences with Human Resources departments, then you’ll know the reasons why HR gets a bad name. Perhaps putting in a complaint about bad workplace practice went unchecked. Maybe employees who complained about their treatment by someone else in the company weren’t listened to properly. Or it could come down to matters of sickness absence not being considered fairly.

It needn’t be like this. There are methods and means in which communication channels can be opened effectively, without needing to wait for the next company employee survey to arrive so that everyone can air their grievances in one go. It’s up to both the employees of the company and the employees in the Human Resource department to work together to find suitable solutions, rather than working to a system of complaints and rebuttals that never seem to be sorted satisfactorily and can often lead to more ill feeling amongst colleagues — or worse, to workplace walk-outs.

Honoring the fact that everyone needs to work together for the greater good is one simple step on the journey to learning to love the Human Resource department. Working in a company does not require a system of ‘us’ versus ‘them’. The people who work in Human Resources are not the enemy, and nor should they be seen as such. If employees also try to remember that the people who work in these departments are often trying to do their best with sometimes limited resources and funds, it can go a long way to healing difficult divides and learning to work together.

The Main Reasons People Don’t Like HR Departments

What are the chief reasons that employees take a dislike to Human Resources departments? There are, as you would expect, many. Here are just a few of them.

Firstly, many employees incorrectly believe that Human Resources will automatically take the side of the employer, rather than the side of the employee. This can often create a feeling of fear and misinformation and can sometimes prevent the latter from raising an issue or complaint in case they’re not believed.

Employees often view Human Resources as ‘troublemakers’, and can see them as the group of people within the company that are the most likely to get them into a lot of trouble for seemingly minor infractions.

Even though they’re working in a position of trust, people who work in Human Resources are often viewed by other employees in the organisation as the type they can’t be honest with in face to face meetings. This is because they fear everything they say will be noted and acted upon.

Some employees feel that people in Human Resources departments can sometimes stand by whilst the people in management get away with treating the workers below them very poorly. As a result, there can often be a feeling that management will get preferential treatment — including promotions and pay rises — whilst other workers miss out.

Human Resource workers are often praised for their knowledge of HR, but then fall down when it comes to be being able to apply it to the specific business they’re working with. In other words, they’re unable to relate to the demands of the employees they’re supposed to be supporting.

Another common complaint is that Human Resources departments are far too familiar with spouting policy and do little to actually remove any stumbling blocks that employees face in their day-to-day work. This can then lead to accusations that the department is seen as a political hierarchy — one that isn’t concerned with the welfare of the team as a whole.

There are often complaints that Human Resource staff appear to not want to address company culture or the fears of employees because of the concentration on office politics, policies and benefits. This then means that they’re accused of being inhuman, or not caring much for the basic welfare of the employees they’re supposed to be serving.

How Can Human Resources Departments Improve?

What are the proactive steps that managers and Human Resources departments can take to make sure that they’re functioning properly and supporting everyone as best they can?

The first step is to take responsibility. Too many people in Human Resource management lead with a culture of fear, rather than breeding a culture of trust. They will focus on trying to keep employee complaints to a minimum, and making sure wages are kept ticking over, rather than improving.

Instead, they could focus on setting much more ambitious targets and then looking to try and find the best workers to help implement them — which would surely boost morale all round — and encourage workers to be much more open and honest in the event that problems do arise in the workplace.

It’s important to remember that Human Resources departments aren’t all bad! Some companies have thriving ones which ensure that everyone is happy and content, and that if there are issues, they can be raised in a safe, supporting community. Others, though, do sadly have a lot to learn. The biggest step any company can take is to draw all their employees together with their Human Resources departments to talk openly, honestly and thoroughly about what they can do to create a workplace that is tolerant, that works hard and most importantly, that works for everyone.