HR needs more camp.
Not camp as in “offsite team building” with trust falls and s’mores (though I support snacks as strategy). I mean camp – as in theatrical, ironic, glitter-drenched camp.
The kind of camp Oscar Wilde showcased, Susan Sontag dissected and Bianca Del Rio perfected. A style defined by exaggeration, artifice, and a healthy dose of “this is way too much and I want more!” Camp thrives on the extra. It celebrates the performative, the dramatic, the deliberately tacky. It is not earnest – but it is expressive. And oddly enough, it might be just what HR needs.
Why? Because our profession isn’t exactly known for being beloved. Trusted? Maybe. Feared? Often. But beloved? Rarely.
And maybe that’s because we’ve spent too long chasing professionalism at the expense of personality. We’ve internalized the idea that respect is earned through seriousness, structure, and strategic neutrality – when it should be our innate ability to connect, to surprise, and to show humanity that makes us memorable and welcome.
So what if we let a little camp into our HR practice? Not gimmicks, not performance for the sake of distraction – but a deliberate embrace of the exaggerated and the unexpected?
Here’s what we might do…
Own the Theater of Work
Camp doesn’t hide the artifice. It leans into it. And honestly? So should we. HR is already theatrical – we just pretend it isn’t. The rituals, the “journeys,” and the annual reviews that are more script than substance. The onboarding videos. The overengineered competency models. The sheer theatrical performances built into every single job interview.
It’s ALL a bit ridiculous and a little absurd.
So instead of clinging to false formality, what if we called it what it is? What if we leaned IN, made it intentional, and celebrated the absolutely freaking surreal pageantry of corporate life – with a wink and a knowing nod?
If you’re going to ask people to bring their “whole selves” to work … you better be ready to show some flair of your own Shannon!
Be the Department of Irony and Playfulness
Camp isn’t afraid to laugh at itself. And HR shouldn’t be either. We’ve become so obsessed with saying the right thing, in the right tone, with the right bullet-point precision, that we’ve forgotten the value of humor as a humanizing tool.
Playfulness doesn’t dilute your credibility. It signals confidence. People trust departments – and leaders – who can take the work seriously without taking themselves too seriously. A well-placed meme in a memo about your drug testing policy that you send out on April 20th? Some self-deprecating jokes whenever you roll out the NEXT iteration of a boring (yet necessary) policy? A signature theme song for the HR Team that plays anytime you walk into an all-hands meeting? Yes please.
Mix the Classics with the Chaos
Camp thrives in the mashup of high and low culture – the unexpected collision of opera and drag, Shakespeare and soap operas, sequins and spreadsheets.
HR, on the other hand, can be just a bit…precious. HR folks tend to be overly enamored with ensuring corporate “professionalism” and “appropriate” behavior while ignoring the cultural currency – the realness – that animates a workplace and the people inhabiting it.
So mix it up. Reference Gallup and The Real Housewives. Talk about employee engagement in the same breath as “White Lotus.” Discuss your time-to-fill metrics while jamming out to Pink Pony Club. Grab your strategy from HCI learnings and the Mercers of the world, but bare your soul through low culture. You’ll be more accessible, more approachable, and a hell of a lot more fun.
Find Charm in the Cringe
Every HR pro has a graveyard of well-intentioned programs that flopped harder and faster than a Netflix pilot. But Camp teaches us that failure doesn’t have to be fatal – and quite the contrary – it can be fabulous!!
The horrific Leadership Retreat you ran that devolved into a situation only a few steps above the Lord of the Flies? The company Holiday Party that everyone left by 8:30 PM because the band you hired was the worst 90’s cover band in existence? These aren’t just missteps. They’re stories. They are FUNNY stories. And funny stories give texture to your culture and humanity to your work.
So stop worrying about being perfect and worry about being memorable. There’s something disarming – and deeply connective – when you show up imperfectly and own it.
Embrace the Earnest Absurdity
Not all Camp is calculated. Some of it happens when someone earnestly tries to create “magic” at work and instead creates a budget PowerPoint with Comic Sans font and a flying toaster gif.
HR is full of unintentional camp. The motivational posters. The awkward wellness week slogans. The inspirational quote calendars next to a disciplinary warning form. The “I Love HR” coffee mugs brought home from the recent SHRM conference. And you know what? That’s fine. It’s real. It’s totally cringe AF… but it might just be kind of beautiful.
Instead of trying to sterilize the weirdness out of HR, perhaps it’s time to curate it. Amplify it. Let it be part of your personality – not something to apologize for.
The Final Act
Camp isn’t about abandoning substance. It’s about delivering that substance with a little sparkle, a little exaggeration, and a knowing smile.
Do the HR things right – be strategic, ethical and competent. But also – be unforgettable. Because HR is also about presence. It’s about extravagant personalities, flamboyant style and unconventional theatricality.
So go ahead HR. Be too much.
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photo credit: Alan Light – licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
