The other day, as I was fastening a floaty scarf onto the handle of my over-sized slouchy handbag, I thought to myself “I feel positively bohemian!” Naturally, this association with boho-chic popped into my brain with an accompanying vision of the Olsen twins.
But bohemianism, as a social and cultural movement, is about much more than fashion or home décor. Originating from the French bohème, the term was originally used to describe non-traditional lifestyles in the mid 19th-century, especially of artists, writers, journalists, musicians and actors in major European cities.
Often portrayed as embracing free love, frugality, and simple living, a bohemian (informally referred to as “boho”), is someone with artistic or intellectual tendencies, who lives and acts with minimal regard for conventional rules of behavior.
Are there HR bohemians? Is Boho-chic HR a thing? Can it be? And what, pray tell, might that look like?
The Belief System
Boho HR is for those who believe that HR should be more about people and less about policy. HR where we have more improvisation and less institutional script. Flexible, eclectic, and intuitive, it trusts good judgment over rigid rules. It’s not anti-structure – it’s pro-human.
Boho HR is when you believe:
- The annual performance review isn’t sacred.
- Hiring can be relational, not transactional.
- Employee experience is a mood and a rhythm – not just a NPS.
The Look
Boho HR is like Ella Emhoff who refuses to shave her armpits which has led her to become the representation and symbol, to many, of the end of civilization. The discomfort isn’t about her – it’s about the unspoken rules she refuses to follow.
Boho HR makes people squirm in the same way. It doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It means it’s visible.
Boho HR doesn’t wear a lanyard and probably makes the people who love 5-page Dress Code policies extraordinarily uncomfortable. It’s HR that smells a little like cedar and maybe burns sage at the end of a hard week. And no, that doesn’t mean it’s soft. It means it’s considered. It means it’s built for people who are motivated, multi-layered, and real.
When you’re the only one painting outside the lines, some people will assume you don’t know how to draw. That’s the cost. But the payoff is a day-today existence that makes you feel ALIVE again.
The Design
Boho HR is intentional – not accidental. It’s about rejecting cookie-cutter systems in favor of something more fluid and more human. It’s not about being different for the sake of being different though; it’s about being honest about what truly serves people – and calling out what doesn’t.
Choosing the Boho path means letting go of a certain kind of corporate validation. Boho HR doesn’t win awards for compliance efficiency. It doesn’t post perfectly timed LinkedIn thought leadership (3 times per week! Timed for maximum engagement!!) posts. Boho HR is the one likely to say “We decided not to rank people this year,” or “We rewrote the handbook in plain language.”
Boho HR might get polite smiles in a room full of traditionalists while being told “that’s interesting” … in a tone that feels more condescending than curious.
The Style
Sometimes, if you’re a Boho HR professional, you’ll be the only HR pro you know who isn’t benchmarking everything. You’ll want to tell a story when everyone else is citing data. You’ll want to ask how it feels before someone else asks how it performs.
And you’ll wonder if you’re the weird one.
You’re not.
You’re just building from a different center.
You’re creating HR practices that flow like a good playlist and settle into your soul like a deep breath. Practices that honor art and imperfection. Systems that support people rather than stifle them.
HR can look like a painting. Or a poem. Or a floaty, pre-Raphaelite gauzy top paired with worn-in leather boots and a top hat.
That’s Boho HR. And if you’re out there doing it? Keep on keeping on.
*****
