Do YOU love HR? I do.
Well…maybe it’s more that I “like” HR. Perhaps it’s that I “have a REALLY strong attraction” for HR? Something. I dunno.
But look…if I didn’t like love ‘have a really strong attraction’ for human resources there’s no way I could have done this gig as long as I have. I would have hung it up by about year 3; which was, let’s be frank, quite a few years ago.
Now I’m as quick as anyone to call out the foolishness and foibles of misguided or ill-informed HR practitioners. My blood gets to boiling when I hear tales of HR dropping the ball. I despise the humorless bureaucrats who use an HR Policy Manual as a shield or like to regularly employ the phrase “legal makes us do it.”
But those sorts of HR practitioners are fading away; I truly believe that. We are, as a collective body, more informed, more creative, more inquisitive and extraordinarily plugged into our respective businesses.
Yet, a bitter after-taste still lingers; akin to rancid coffee on one’s tongue. We continue to battle misconceptions, stereotypes and, well, jokes.
A long-serving assistant personnel manager shared an office with his boss for 20 years. He was always puzzled by the fact that every time the boss was about to sign a letter he would slide open the top drawer of his desk, peer in, and then slide it shut before picking up his pen and appending his signature.
Eventually his boss retired and he was elevated to personnel manager. His curiosity could be contained no longer.
He slid open the drawer and there, stuck to the bottom was a piece of paper, blank except for the line: “2 Ns and one L.”
(hat tip to Mary Faulkner for the joke)
Certainly some of us are misunderstood. Most assuredly some of us are working for a CEO or Owner who views HR as either fluff (parties! picnics! cheer camp!) or a necessary evil (terminations! lawsuits! benefit administration!).
Some of us are just plain doing it wrong.
So let’s talk about it.
Join me for today’s SHRM #nextchat (3 PM ET) for a twitter chat we’re calling HR, Be Human. Be Awesome. (click through on that link for the questions we’ll be discussing).
Let’s debunk some myths, chat about what misconceptions drives us crazy, and celebrate all there is to like love have a really strong attraction to in the human resources profession.
I get this. So often, I encounter those who don’t understand or respect employees in human resources. I also encounter others who think anybody can do it. It’s not that simple!