Is It a One-sided Love Story? (A perspective of Human Resources)
One side of the Story
If you ask HR professionals why they love their HR job, they will give you a million reasons, such as: 1
- Interacting with People: Many HR managers enter the field because they enjoy working with people. HR professionals enjoy making new acquaintances, strengthening old ones, and interacting with new people.
- Serving Others: HR is very much a service position in many firms. The HR manager is frequently in charge of ensuring that the rest of the organization runs smoothly. Giving career guidance, creating a maternity plan for an expecting woman, or advocating for someone in need are all examples of this. There are numerous methods to assist and serve those in your immediate vicinity.
- Having an Influence: HR executives assist in hiring a highly skilled individual who goes on to build a significant product or service. They may distribute and learn from employee surveys to make adjustments that better match the company with its employees. Alternatively, they provide recommendations on changing and strengthening the company culture. Whatever way they do it, HR managers continually create value for their organizations.
- Continuous Learning: HR managers gain a lot of knowledge about business, organizational structure, employee engagement, data, technology, and employee perks, among other things.
- Solving Problems: HR professionals are problem solvers. Many HR professionals enjoy the challenge and appreciate that their work involves critical thinking. Yes, like any other job, HR entails some monotonous tasks (paperwork does not vanish on its own), but most of their time is spent resolving actual issues.
- Engagement and Culture Building: Building a culture can take many forms, and the HR manager will be involved in almost all of them. This could include helping to plan business events or celebrations and assisting in the design of the office and staff workspaces. This is the part of the work that many HR managers like the most. They can step back from the daily grind and think more strategically about how to provide the best possible experiences for the company's employees.
The Other Side of the Story
This is actually one side of the story. Yet, the other side of the story reveals what seems like a love-hate relationship. HR is seen as a valuable leadership partner when it comes to labor concerns. Managers and employees equally question what the function is accomplishing for them now that things are running more smoothly. HR is that function that many employees try to strike relationships and friendships to remain on the " safe " side.
In 2018 The data from this study were informed by a January 2018 online survey of 1,024 individuals who are currently employed full-time, over the age of 18, and located in the U.S. This research was generated by BambooHR.2
1. Executives have the most positive view of HR
2. Organizations with highly capable HR teams have other positive employee outcomes
It's definite that some people will have a favorable view of HR and others won't. According to this survey, the outlook is mostly positive the more you move up the hierarchy, which sometimes means HR efforts are not favorably viewed the more people are struggling on, the lower steps of the ladder. Among the reason employees state a negative view about HR:3
- In all contact, HR personnel appear to take the company's side, never the employee's.
- HR personnel appear to enjoy putting employees in trouble for minor transgressions.
- Even though they urge, "Tell me what's on your mind!" HR people are not trusted.
- Human resources personnel sit idly by as inept and abusive bosses are promoted and abuse employees.
- HR professionals frequently "know HR" but do not know the company for which they work.
- Instead of actively removing hurdles for their staff, HR people frequently spew policy.
- HR professionals are viewed as political and more concerned with their position in the company's hierarchy than the team's well-being.
- HR professionals spend more time discussing policies, benefits, and other announcements than they do discussing culture, fear, trust, conflict, or any of the myriad million human concerns that happen in any company.
- HR professionals frequently struggle to perceive the "human side" of any issue, from a time-off request to a pay-grade variation or a hiring problem, instead of focusing on keeping every process standard and error-free.
There seems to be a gap between what HR professionals seek in their job, think of themselves, how they view their role, and how they are actually perceived by the people they claim they enjoy serving and communicating with.
1 Eddy, 28 Aug 2020, 9 Reasons why HR Managers Love their Job, Accessed 3 Mar 2022, https://eddy.com/9-reasons-why-hr-managers-love-their-jobs/
2Bamboo HR, 31 July 2018, Perceptions on HR infographic, Accessed 5 Mar 2022, https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/perceptions-of-human-resources-infographic/
3 Forbes, 27 Jul 2016, Liz Ryan, Ten Reasons Everybody Hates HR, Accessed 3 Mar 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/07/27/ten-reasons-everybody-hates-hr/?sh=194772f75af4
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