To wonder what 'HR' actually do??

[Glennin911]

Just that really. Always get the impression it's a made up department full of busybodies. What can they possibly be doing once payroll has been done and everyone has a contract?

[ChocolateRehab]

I'm in education, too (not school, though) - big organisation - and HR are a bunch of chancers, here.

They don't provide or organise any training - its all done by specialists in different academic or support departments.

They dont draft or update many of the policies - again, managers in other areas of the organisation do most of that

They dont provide support to employees - never heard of an employee confiding anything in HR.

They are like little shittting-it lapdogs to senior management. We have been through two restructures in recent years, and at the consultations with staff, they always seem ill informed and really flustered, and just nod at everything the managers say.

They arent actively horrible people, but they're not helpful. They take an age to get back to you and can never seem to provide any information you might need.

I've been with my organisation for three years, and the only real contact I have had with them has been when I was underpaid for 8 months and they had to sort it out...and they still managed to make it feel like it was my fault

Maybe there are really forward thinking, hard working HR depts elsewhere? I am willing to be convinced...

[AugustaFinkNottle]

They make sure that employment law is complied with and hopefully prevent the employers being taken to a tribunal

If only. I was at a meeting a couple of years ago where the issue came up of whether someone on maternity leave should be offered the chance to apply for a promotion. Her own department wanted her to, everyone else in the room was fine with it, but the head of HR said very firmly that it couldn't happen. When it was pointed out that it was an equality issue, she got very shirty indeed and almost threatening to everyone who dared to say so. The extraordinary thing was that the people who were telling her that were employment lawyers, yet she still insisted that she knew best.

[boredofusername]

advising managers, managing difficult staffing issues.

alternatively defined as "letting bullying managers do what they like and not dealing with difficult staffing issues"

I've had some very bad experiences with HR "professionals". If you want to work in HR you've got to be robust and prepared to tell managers they can't just sack people. Some do seem to be very good, some are absolutely useless.

I totally agree with this: "IME they are there to enable the bosses to exploit/bully/sack the workers whilst staying out of court"

[caroldecker]

Doreen Decent HR will set up a strategy to motivate the workforce/get the best people for the lowest cost. EG things like flexible working hours/WFH can be much more valuable than money to many employees, so ensuring the right IT is available and managers support these policies can be very valuable to a company.

[ilovesooty]

If anyone on my company flouted equality law like that they'd be out of a job.

Perhaps naivety was the wrong word to use but I'm very surprised that anyone really thinks HR is just "high end admin".

[HermioneJeanGranger]

In my experience, our HR department are pretty good. When I had depression our HR manager was a big support and was really helpful in adjusting my hours etc. so that it fit around my counselling and medication requirements.

However, I know other people have different stories and I do wonder whether it's down to how well you get on with the managers involved and whether your complaint is considered (by them) to be genuine or whether they view you as a bit of a moaner/time-waster. That's not to say everyone who has had bad experiences IS a time-waster, but maybe that's how they're viewed.

[DoreenLethal]

Doreen Decent HR will set up a strategy to motivate the workforce/get the best people for the lowest cost.

They may well do that. But their actual role is to keep the company out of court. I've been a Director of 4 different companies, I know what the role of HR is. It's to stop the Directors being hauled up in court and the company having to pay out money on claims.

[NewLife4Me]

It depends on the organisation, company, size etc.

I have only studied the various roles, not sure if anybody has mentioned this but manpower planning.
making sure you have the right amount of workers, well trained.
to be able to judge what/ who you will need in the future organisation plan.

Hark me

[wasonthelist]

You could equally say why does the Finance Director get paid so much? He's just processing money in and out of the business and keep tabs on how much they've got. Surely it's just glorified counting? ;-)

I do say this - finance people are paid a crazy amount considering it's a really regulated area anyway.

Her biggest achievement was introducing a policy on acceptable patterns for tights
^ This. I worked for a small organisation that tried to introduce a load of similarly pointless and time-wasting policies. One was the demand that in spite of not paying mileage, or fuel, or company cars, or a car allowance, they were going to demand to see everyone's driving licence, insurance, etc. When I queried this, it was apparently to reduce the risk of the company being sued if one of use turned out to be banned/uninsured etc. I asked if there had ever been such a case in a company like ours where any driving was purely incidental and it went a bit quiet. Some policies are "compliance" make-work with no actual foundation.

[SellFridges]

It all began to make sense to me when I read something that said HR are there to protect the company. They're not there to support employees - that only happens if there is something in it for the company.

Ours seem mainly concerned with what they're wearing, so I suspect they spend a lot of time thinking about that.

[TomTomKitten]

So funny...

You obviously haven't had to work with Directors, Op.

[UnderTheGreenwoodTree]

IME HR are the middle-men between high management/directors and employees. It obviously depends on the general ethos of the company/establishment and the personalities of the people involved as to how well it works, and what the culture is like in the whole company.

The company I worked for before I went on ML were pretty good, and worked hard to hear employees out and do the right thing, but they were a small Scandinavian company - very up on good employee relations.

Before that, I worked for a London Investment Bank - in a huge team where the HR Director was on the Board. It was horrific, very political, back-biting and blame-shifting. I was so pleased to get out of there.

[wasonthelist]

You could equally say why does the Finance Director get paid so much? He's just processing money in and out of the business and keep tabs on how much they've got. Surely it's just glorified counting? ;-)

I do say this - finance people are paid a crazy amount considering it's a really regulated area anyway.

Her biggest achievement was introducing a policy on acceptable patterns for tights
^ This. I worked for a small organisation that tried to introduce a load of similarly pointless and time-wasting policies. One was the demand that in spite of not paying mileage, or fuel, or company cars, or a car allowance, they were going to demand to see everyone's driving licence, insurance, etc. When I queried this, it was apparently to reduce the risk of the company being sued if one of use turned out to be banned/uninsured etc. I asked if there had ever been such a case in a company like ours where any driving was purely incidental and it went a bit quiet. Some policies are "compliance" make-work with no actual foundation.

[TheWitTank]

I worked I'm HR for 6 years and it was the most challenging, mentally exhausting job I have ever done. I was busy every minute of every working day (and some). It was for a company with thousands of employees, so assisting with payroll took hours, alongside keeping policies up to date and legal, disciplinary procedures, general administration, being everyone's confidante/shoulder to cry on/advice giver (had a line outside the office some days!), holiday management, note taker for meetings, event organiser -the list is endless. Was a good job though!

[icetip]

I'm HRD for a large organisation (5000+ staff). Currently my colleagues are working their socks off with a range of complex statutory and strategically-driven issues.

By way of example, we're dealing with auto re-enrolment for our 4 pension schemes, handling a huge restructure affecting 1500+ staff, recruiting 100+ new posts for a subsidiary overseas company, managing a number of disciplinary and grievance matters including dismissing a bullying manager (yes, this happens) and an under-performing member of staff (who claims he is being bullied, he isn't he's just not very good - yes, this happens too).

And a whole raft of day-to-day stuff that includes getting people like the op paid properly and on time every month.

I could go on and offer more explanation, but I suspect the complexity might go over the head of the op (and a few others) who seems possessed by an unfortunate level of ignorance.

[dilys4trevor]

I'm an MD of a large company and I have been very unimpressed with our last two heads of 'Talent' (HR not a glam enough term anymore it seems).

The latest one is a horrendous busybody who recently cocked up just about everything she touched around a very sensitive issue recently that affected me personally. She makes error after error but she never admits mistakes. She then blunders into areas that don't concern her to kind of attempt to make up for it. Her team are the same. When pay is cocked up, the employee realises and the mistake is rectified, it is simply termed 'an adjustment.' It's not. It's an error - just say 'sorry'!

That said, I also know some senior HR people (as friends) who are clearly great. I do think in my particular game we struggle to get good people in this role. They end to be generic HR folk as opposed to people who understand what we do but specialise in HR. I assume one must need tons of training and experience to have a senior job in HR but i often wondered if it might work better for us to just see if any of our home grown senior people fancy a move into the area.

[JuxtapositionRecords]

Well if you think it's that easy for such big bucks why not go for a career change into HR then??

And the term 'glorified admin' really fucks me off. I work in an admin role and it is so demeaning.

[PunkrockerGirl]

I work for a charity. They provide an excellent service due to extremely dedicated staff. The admin staff are great.
I'm sure that if our kind donators knew how management spoke to us and undermined our role , they'd think twice about donating

[seastargirl]

I'm a hr manager, so obviously biased, but we are the people that will come out and see you when you're recovering from cancer to work out how you will get back to work. We're the ones who arrange a company payment when you can't afford your child's funeral costs. The ones who arrange gifts, cards, donations when people are sick, ill, have babies, raise money. We will consult with you on redundancies, but then spend our weekends proofing your cv and job application. We'll provide training for your current job and advice on how to fill in the gaps that you've fibbed about.

I have no doubt that some hr departments don't glorify the role, but I take pride in my job, I'm there for the employee and employer and make sure that everyone is treated as they should be!

[LurkingQuietly]

So ignorant and rude OP. What job do you do?

[susieb19]

Had to comment..
As in any profession you get good and bad
I had to complete 3yr post grad course whilst working full time to gain my CIPD ( professional awarding body). I then had to do cpd for YEARS to achieve chartered status.
Get sick of all the shoulder shrugging and palms up expressions and 'what do they do all day ' comments. If you don know what your hr team try asking them for some info. Approach them I'm sure they'd be happy to share with you. I can't comment on the skill level of your hr dept but give them a break. In a profession that welcomes high level, high achieving women why try and undermine it. It can offer part time flexi working and can be a real success story for working women if it's allowed to be. Instead it's portrayed as a load of bitchy nosey women sitting about all day.

Imho a GOOD hr team (like the ones I've run) are like a good gardener who you think does nothing. Take the gardener away and you'll soon be up to your knees in nettles that sting and weeds.

[treaclesoda]

seastar your company sound lovely, it is really heartening to hear that there are decent companies out there.

I've never heard of someone from HR contacting a sick employee unless it is to discipline them, or threaten them into coming back to work. I have a relative who is an HR manager who is very open about cooking up ways of firing terminally ill staff so that they don't have to pay out their death in service entitlement.

When I've worked in a large organisation HR have always been so terrifyingly ruthless and also above the rules that apply to the rest of the company. I can't imagine anyone going to them with a problem, I had no idea that people did that.

I've always yearned to work in HR, it is what I've always wanted to do. I would so much rather be one of them, on the inside, than someone who has to deal with them. Even the most junior HR staff wield such power over other employees.

[seastargirl]

Treaclesoda, that makes me really sad. HR is about employee engagement, which to me means treating employees well. If you want to get in to hr, please try, there are more people who are in it for the good over the evil! I'm sure there are people who think I'm horrid and dismiss without reason, but I know there are an equal number of people who think I really helped them or there family. Ultimately it's the same as lots of things, if the service helped you, you think it's great, if it didn't you think it sucks!

[JolseBaby]

Seastar you sound very good at your job and I am sure the staff at your company appreciate you (or they should if they have any sense!).

The HR at my last company were lovely - very helpful and approachable. They didn't always get it right but they very much set the tone and culture for the organisation, which was a nice place to work (most of the time). I don't think it's any accident that since the HR dept. was restructured, the company has lost a lot of staff - me included. The culture changed and the replacement HR team was very hands off with a real 'them and us' attitude. The manager was quite rude and the support team quite quickly ended up with a reputation for being untrustworthy - i.e. anything you told them would end up as common knowledge.

Good HR - in my experience - are doing the whole swan routine; looking serene but paddling like hell behind the scenes. Just because you don't see all the effort that goes into making everything run like clockwork, doesn't mean there isn't a lot to do. The responsibility is pretty key as well - can you imagine having 300 pissed off people in your office if you'd cocked up the payroll for the month?

[Pastamancer]

Head of HR at my last job told us very clearly that HR is not there to help employees in any way but to protect the company from the employees.