We wear a Bulls Eye 24*7 for 2 Major Reasons, says Human Resources

The ‘Human Remains’ department… whoops! The Human Resources Department is one of the most detested units in an organization. Those ‘devious evil minions from hell’ as we fondly call can smile better than Miss America contestants, and are liable for doing all the dirty work and are always-always high on grist for the rumor mill. Let’s take a look at why people hate HR:

1. Human Resource is occasionally looked upon as the henchman for the senior leadership team to execute the following dirty work: Disciplinary procedure, LIFO, Nepotism, Redundancy, Suspension, and Cutting Benefits.

The result of which is that Human Resource is often labeled as a despised bureaucratic cult that blindly enforces nonsensical rules and resists empathy. The Reason? The Role of an HR professional in most companies isn’t clear amongst the workforce. Secondly, in most cases the hatred spreads further, especially when the HR division hasn’t built successful individual relationships with its employees which further acts as a catalyst in times of crisis. What needs to be done about it? Human Resource success depends on how much the leaders are willing to invest in partnerships when it comes to certain organizational functions. An HR, is whatever the Senior Management empowers it to be. Unfortunately, HR isn’t seen as one of the key drivers of business performance in many companies. In order to instill a positive company culture where atrocious theories are instigated during crisis, making HR the core of unanimous hatred, the company should instead leverage HR to become the voice of employees, and not just the henchman of crisp-suites.

2. So, when are any of these going to be more than just a KPI ritual or a PR exercise? Employee engagement, employee satisfaction, annual code of conduct certifications, waste of time survey or waste of company money survey that we fondly call them. Will they ever measure happiness?

Companies spend stupendous amount of time and money on surveys, making HR professionals the living mascots of those thick bunch of meaningless papers. It’s out there and happening with hundreds of companies creating an illusion of ‘we care’ sentiment. Why conduct them if there aren’t going to be any promising improvements? Hence, a majority of employees call such surveys unrealistic, and gracefully pass the opportunity of jotting down anything of value that could have made a revolutionary change, by leaving those papers blank. What needs to be done about it? Employees need to know that such surveys are time consuming on both the ends and are more than a chore. They must start seeing value in it: view it as a means to improve their workplace conditions in every single way that is essential. It needs to be seen as a focused and designed means to improve, and measure workplace culture and conditions. They should learn that it can be frustrating to hold valuable insights and get a cold shoulder because such surveys are normally viewed as ‘unrealistic’. Let’s face it, you need new leaders (most probably HR leaders), who can turn that ‘unrealistic world’ upside down, and make a major difference eventually but steadily. Companies must empower human resource teams to partner along the incredible journey, and develop a killer talent strategy and leverage to build successful and meaningful relationships within the company. After all, they are at the core of finding the best talents, nurturing them, fostering productivity, and creating the company culture where everyone thrives.