When it comes to trusting HR, employees generally buy into various stereotypes popularized by the mainstream media and project their worst fears onto them. At other times their skepticism about the Human Resources department is grounded on solid reasons such as bad experiences. Mostly however, these fears are unfounded and seem to portray a general lack of understanding of their role at the workplace.
Once an employee has lost favor with the HR staff, winning their trust back becomes an uphill battle: you not only have to fight the stereotypes, you also have to undo your own mistakes. Bitter experiences with one company’s HR staff can influence an employee’s perspective of the entire profession in a negative light.
Here are 5 reasons why employees hate the HR department
HR employees are usually untrained
The role of HR has grown in complexity over the years, essentially having woven itself as an integral part of any company. They now carry out tasks such as evaluation of the business’s rate of return (ROI) and working on assignments which are directly tied with its financial wellbeing.
Their role evolved from merely being the policing arm of the executive staff at the workplace to carrying out important tasks such as paying employees, recruiting new employees and dealing with employee benefits. One can argue that HR tasks primarily had to do with administrative and financial functions of the organization.
HR staff has shown a dishonest attitude
According to a survey by webexpenses, more than a quarter of people from HR have overclaimed on expenses, have stolen items at the workplace and more than 30% have even lied about having a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment.
Indeed, most of these ‘dishonest’ workers cited that it was normal to be dishonest at work (50%) and 13% of them believed that their own bosses are not above breaking the rules, which apparently justified their own dishonest practices.
Most of the time, HR will side with the manager
When it comes to disputes between managers and employees, HR is known to side with the managers for the vast majority of the time. This makes employees extremely wary about reporting any harassment cases, because more often than not, this dispute against the manager will backfire and strike them back.
HR gives preferential treatment
A common fear that employees have about HR staff is preferential treatment to staff based on their rank in the organization. The playing field among workers is generally not level at the workplace, and HR staff further try to rack up the odds against your favor by ingratiating themselves with the more celebrated workers. This inevitably serves to create an environment of hostility and alienation within the ranks of the organization.
HR does not add to the bottom line
The human resources department hasn’t been traditionally associated with contributing towards the profitability of the company, and while this perception may be a little unfair, it is not entirely unfounded. In order to command respect at the workplace, it is important for the HR department to demonstrate their ability to bring in revenue.
There have also been cases in which HR does contribute significantly to the growth of the company, but such efforts tend to get downplayed by the perceived notion that their’s is a redundant task.
