That HR are useless in whatever setting they’re in?

[MiffyMiffed]

Bear in mind, that people don’t usually have to deal with HR as a new starter all that often, unless they’re serial job jumpers.

I started a new job for NHS 4 years ago and it took HR 6 weeks to process my paperwork. I had to actually ring them up and tell them I was starting on so and so date so send the paperwork to my new manager ASAP. They managed to do it in 5 mins after the phone call. 🙄.

Now I’ve got a new job, different setting, in a university. Again, absolutely useless. I’ve been emailed forms to fill out and send back. I emailed on the first day to confirm whether they wanted them back by email. No reply. So filled out forms online and sent them back. 3 weeks later I’m being told to post them. Then I’m told to scan a picture and send it. Next day I’m told everything has to be by hand. Tomorrow I’ll be told something else.

I’M SO FRUSTRATED.

I think you've probably just had bad luck. I've worked in a variety of settings, from a university to private sector businesses, and HR has mainly been decent. I reckon it's the luck of the draw!

Couldn’t agree more. I applied for an NHS job 6 weeks ago. Heard nothing. Got an email 4.30 yesterday to invite me for an interview on Friday, no time or location given. I had to confirm my attendance online by 9am this morning or they would assume I wasn’t coming. Couldn’t reach anyone on the phone as the phone number provided is incorrect. Just to note, I am also 40 weeks pregnant and have 2 preschool aged children.

Who can confirm their attendance at a mystery location at an unknown time with one days notice?

Well that’s shit then! . I feel like I’m having to do so much running around just to start a flipping job and I don’t have the time to do this everyday.

Pleatherandlace, that is shit too and exactly what I mean. All this chasing and emailing is frustrating and ridiculous. They seem to think we don’t have jobs or a life so have time to run around chasing up what’s happening.

NHS HR is hopeless, its so bound up in procedures, tick box and red tape. 8 weeks from interview to start followed by another 6 weeks until I got my email and log ins. Beyond useless.

I’ve never experienced decent HR, either.

In my current organisation they are utterly incompetent.

@Pleatherandlace the time and date thing is shit, but the two young children and pregnancy thing is not their issue...

I’m an NHS HR director. My team doesn’t manage recruitment as that is handled centrally on behalf of several organisations. My team is as frustrated as everyone else by that particular process. On the upside it means my team are able to excel at other aspects of HR work.

It's not HR, it's all admin functions in large organisations. It doesn't make money or meet targets so it's usually understaffed and underpaid.

So in your first example, your manager hadn't told HR you were starting but you blame them for that?! And now you claim they think you don't have a job when you are working for them?!

Yes, new starters deal with HR - it's usually how they hand their details in and HR have a number of checks to make along with payroll and pensions. Universities (and the NHS) are huge employers with a lot of staff to deal with. Sorry you are frustrated, but as a former HR worker myself your first scenario (someone turning up at HR that you haven't heard about) happens more often than we'd like.

I don't think that you having two bad experiences means that all HR departments, in every single industry, must be useless. You've been unlucky. The HR manager where I work is excellent. There are competent and incompetent staff in every profession.

I appreciate that my life circumstances are not HR’s problem, but what I’m trying to say is that everybody has something going on in their lives. Who can just drop everything at the drop of a hat to attend an interview the next day or faff about faxing/posting/ hand delivering documents like the OP?

@Pleatherandlace dropping everything last minute is how they decide who really wants the job 🤷‍♀️
Unfortunately they can't take everyone's individual circumstances into consideration but have to look after their own interests and only bother with those they deem to be the most committed candidates

I've never had decent HR either. Been at same place (a University) for 7 years, had 4 different jobs and they've always messed up contracts etc. and I've had to chase. When I needed help with a bullying issue they were less than useless.

When I needed help with a bullying issue they were less than useless.

That’s what trade unions are for.

YANBU. Over the years in diff jobs I've been paid 2months late after giving ID/ bank details etc on day one, given maternity related info 5years out of date & threatened by same female Head of HR with disciplinary as pregnant & put on bed rest , been sent a job contract for my boss with his salary details, instead of my contract & regularly get sent personal health info for an employee with the same name but different email address (IT were careful to make them different for confidentiality). Those are just the standout ones. There are plenty more. A lot of the middle manager HR when we chatted socially seemed to have no prior HR experience or qualifications but had 'moved up' from admin roles in same place & 'training' was non existent (not denigrating anyone who has recognised HR quals or is highly experienced).

So in your first example, your manager hadn't told HR you were starting but you blame them for that?! And now you claim they think you don't have a job when you are working for them?!

Completely misunderstood me on both scenarios 🙄.

The first example, my new manager HAD notified them I had got the job. It was THEM being slow about processing paperwork and giving me a start date. I had to tell THEM to send paperwork over to my new manager, so I could start on the date I wanted to. My manager wasn’t at fault. They can’t do anything until HR have gone through relevant checks and sent them back paperwork.

Second example, I was being sarcastic. They think we have all the free time to chase them up on paperwork when I don’t have that much time at all when they should know that I’m still employed by someone else until I move over to them.

I've never really had issues with HR in my roles (except for when it comes to job grading argh) my DH in the military however........diabolical. He's been at several postings and every one of them was as bad as the previous, they've cost us a fortune over the years in their mistakes. When we have a query we study the JSP (policies, very long!) in depth before contacting them to be pre-armed as it's the only way we can get any level of confidence in what we're being told.

Oh except for the HR admin assistant who lost my job application, thankfully they had to re-recruit due to lack of candidates and I was able to re-apply and found out my previous application was never forwarded to the team hiring, that was pretty monumental. I got the job and I guess that's a human error...but quite a big one in terms of how it could have affected me. Can't blame HR professionals as a whole for that though lol.

HR exist to protect senior directors, the organisation etc.

took me a long time to realise that.

How does dropping everything prove commitment to a job? Surely it denotes someone with nothing of note in their lives - a responsibilityless deadbeat? Or someone willing to fuck everyone over for their own selfish goals? Neither scream ideal employee to me.

I would say that the NHS and educational establishments generally don’t have efficient admin functions IME. Outsourcing and shared services need to work properly but it’s a shame this is reflecting on your experience.

However, HR is not an admin function and I think still has a hard time shifting this perception and people mix the two. Additionally, HR is made up of soooo many different parts.

I work in a niche area of HR and we do wonderful things for the business We are very well respected and seen as strategic contributors and advisors. So for me it’s easy to defend HR. That doesn’t mean we don’t have some eejits. But they are found everywhere.

HR exist to protect senior directors, the organisation etc.

took me a long time to realise that.

It’s part of the role. But absolutely not the sole focus. I’d say 40% of my team’s work currently is on staff wellbeing, 40% on management support and 20% on process stuff.

"staff wellbeing" my arse.

lucky I'm old enough not to go into high blood pressure over that one.