abhinaya chowdhury
Here's my 2 cents on why employees may tend to hate HR
1) HR is the face / executor of right sizing initiatives though management at large would have made the decision about the same
2) HR is the function which acts as a controller when policy exceptions are brought forth, thus turning down the exceptions, ensuring parity
3) HR talks ethics, integrity, discipline in all possible forums of outreach and initiates corrective actions when it calls for it
4) HR's role is to be eyes and ears of management & employees. Hence, employees tend to be cautious while HR is around
5) All said and done, HR is an evolving function in most organizations and the role of a generalist is not too clear. So, one is sure to think why someone doing skip meetings and resolving policy queries is given such importance in the organization and the ambiguity could lead to apathy.

From India, Hyderabad
e4aa59a43135b2e224fdf5e2a
1

My dear friends HR and Non HR,

I think, we have delibrated this debate for quite some time, and lets start something new now.

As mentioned in my earlier view too, whatever the HR does, it will not get its share of credit.

You all plz don't forget, that our job is not to handle sales, accounts, manage operations, but to take care of Human Beings, who most of the time do not behave like one.

Arrogance, attitude, reluctancy to accept change is a common factor which most of us face, but we cannot go by this condition, becoz being in HR we have to enforce this change in the form of policy to the employee's. Once it is done, we also face the brunt.

Now the non HR team, can you tell us when it comes to firing your subordinate or team member -on whose shoulder you go and cry or atleast ensure that you or the company is not getting into a legal problem?

When you don't want a employee to be promoted or transfer him whom do you go to?

Now you will tell me - its you job you have to do it!!! So the answer is the same, we have to make policies inline with the business needs and you duds have to abide to it? You like it or not?

It cannot always be that you can only have the carrot, the stick will also come once in a while.

So acknowledge if not appreciate HR for its job, else there would be no promotions/salary hikes/transfers/training and other activities in any organization.

Preeti Nar

From India, Delhi
Siva Balamurugan
3

Dear All

Having been exposed to the styles of both PSU and private one my comments are given below:

HR department has been an offshoot of Personnel & Administration of yester years, where the total control of an organization was completely vested with the department. They were donning the dual roles of rule makers and implementing authority; logically speaking it is unfair.

A policy is framed based on the laid down rules of the prevailing time and or on the past experience of the organization. P&A personnel were always trying to defend the policies in currency rather than reviewing it with a humane approach. Because, according to them, if one person has been extended some facility others may also ask, and we would be having a tough time in considering all the claims. Unfortunately, to avoid a genuine claim they may quote some interpretation and simply reject it out-rightly. Even if somebody questions the authority of P&A their requests were turned down citing various norms and procedures, and occasionally citing delayed submission, which is absurd. Even judiciary admits delays with valid reasons. And plenty of rules, amendments and various interpretations make the life of commoners miserable. Moreover, the P&A personnel(Except a few in the top) were never had any idea of business and its strategies. Hence, loss of efficient and important personnel due to red-tapism was not felt immediately, where the employment opportunities were very rare.

Whereas, the today’s HR is totally different. It is transparent and everyone has to keep abreast of all the developments occurring in the business otherwise their existence will be questioned or they will be lost in the fast moving world. Nowadays, the HR has been restricted to a supportive function as most of their job have been outsourced. Current HR personnel are mainly doing the recruitment and training.

Inspite of all these improvements if at all a HR person is blamed, it is purely incidental and such personnel have to be weeded out to safeguard the professionalism. Whether it is controlled one or a liberalized one, a humane approach in line with the business goals of the organization is ideal and that is what is required from a HR personnel. Meanwhile, user department have also to understand the importance of the polices of the organization and try to follow it; after all, collective approach can alone make the organization to reach its target effectively.

Regards

Balamurugan Sivaprakasam

Head- HR, ICIL-MM Nagar

From India, Madras
balkishan.sharma
Dear Meenakshi,
It’s very true but at some extend I do not agree with you because it depends on the person how to deal with the employees. HR job is very perceptive job and we will have to keep the balance between Management and employees and build up the constructive thoughts amongst the employees towards the organization.
Regards
Balkishan Sharma


nagaraj1946
1

dear koul
first i don't know what kind of industry u r working. in the absence of that, it is very difficult, to comment.
in manufacturing industires, where union is present always the HR is the scape goat. the union has no guts to talk to higher management, so only option is HR, other departments just esca[pe saying they are not part of the decisiosn taken by the HR
- in other industries like software, i have not much knowledge, probably, if the HR functrions its work in time to the neeeds of the employees, there may not be much problem. but all said done, after the CEO or MD, it is always the Finance department who wants to have a say. so they will see that the HR does't come up in the hierarchy.
there may by many more reasons, as satted that i have not much expereience in other industries
nagaraj

From India, Bangalore
tariq.qureshi
May I ask what were the so worse policies - the timing? The leave policy? The travel policy? The internet usage policy?
What was not the worse policy. Lets take one at a time. The timing: Yes this is an issue. In my previous organization, I was working as a team lead in BPO and use to do night shifts. Due to nature of the work and team managment related work, I had to stay back often late after my normal shift hour. I never got a penny for staying back but by chance if I got late the next day I did got penalized for that. When I asked my manager he told me "HR Policy". When asked HR they said it is implemented to encourage the reporting on time but when asked that what about staying back after shif, no OT for that? then HR replies, it is your job to finish your work so it doesnt matter if you are staying back.

Leave Policy: Again related to what I mentioned above. You stay late no reward but you are late then you will get one PL deducted.

Appraisal Policy: I don;t know why your appraisal was delayed - did you ever ask them?

As I mentioned I use to do night shift, but when it was the time for appraisal, if I had to meet HR, I was asked to come in day time and to make it better, in afternoon. When asked why, the answer was HR cant stay late. Does the HR thinks that an employee can work 24 hours? Is it even humane? Now coming to appraisal, once the entire cycle of appraisals were done it use to take 4-5 months for HR to finalize the incerement and declare it. Four to five months?? The reason given by HR was, we have 1000+ employees so it takes this much of time. My question is that when you know it will take this much of time then why dont you start your work a bit early, why HR was reactive then proactive. Ok there might be some delay but this much time is just too much and every time we had an appraisal, the time increased further however surprisingly the employee strength decreased. Later I came to know that it was not because of workload that appraisal was delayed but because to save money, so that if some one leaves in between they wont pay him as per that appraised pay out. Disgusting, because appraisal was done for the work he did so he should get what he worked for. This was the reason of delay. Even worse, the promotions will not be announced as well because of the same reason but yes they will ask the employee to keep working on the same designation unofficially. I have seen my manager send an email requesting HR to announce promotion but still same delaying tactics.

Whether they are superior to you or not - should ot be your problem. If you have an issue - sort it out. And for your kind information - a Supporting function does not mean that you can walk over them... And no HR tends to forget that,.Probably thats your issue. I dont know what kind of people you have come across, but if this is the under estimating attitude you have with anyone (regardless of an HR!), dont expect people to be good to you buddy. And please dont tend to forget, that he is also another employee like you who has his own limitations specified by the management

Now you say that HR is just an employee like you etc etc.. If you agree by what you have said then tell me why HR behaves like GOD when they are just a SUPPORT staff. Why dont they admit the fault when they are at fault. Why dont they admit the short comings. When asked they will always cry about limitations but will never work on making it better. HR seems to motivate employees and help them, I have seen employees working for more then 24 hours at a stretch but I never saw any HR coming to them and asking them if they are comfortable or not and have never seen any HR talking to any manager about this. IS HR blind? This is the same HR who will enforce policies which are not realistic and will go at length justifying them. and when they will have no answer they will say, what you said' "We are an employee and are doing what have been asked to do"
When I changed my job and move to another company in another city, I asked them to help me in relocation, they said it is not possible for them to ask each and every individual employee if they can have a room partner. They are correct but least they can out a notice at a notice board? they didnt do that , why? they didnt want to take out a printout and save paper and save trees by not doing that?

HR is same no matter wherever you go. Its not possible for me to give all the examples here about all the experiences I have but this should give you an idea of what I am talking about and this is not just me but there are many people out there who have felt the same.

If HR wants to be looked upon and not looked down then they should actually start working with employees and not against employees. If they are just puppet of the managment then they should accept it and least of all should not justify to what they are enforcing. But in case if they are justifying that policy then they should also be bold enough to accept the attitude of the employees towards them and should not cry that we are employee frndly and blah .. blah.. blah..


koul meenakshi
sir
That was a real good reply,thanks for clarifying all the aspects of HR which we can get only from experienced people like you,but the thing is that the company which we are working has no respect for its HR people moreover they have not given any power / authority to them due to which we cant do anything OR implement anything,in a situation like this it is quite frustating for the HR people because there are no rules and regulations for the employees,and even if some rules are there some of the employees dont follow it ,sometimes it happens that employee is on leave and there is no inimation..............still we cant do anything ,some employees dont punch regularly .............still we cant do anything........So here the question is of the power and authority which is absent in our organisation............another thing is that there is undue interference from all sides in HR ,for eg. if we do anything any work.
As far as the attitude is concerned Iam too lineant and soft spoken to everyone infact everyone of us...............is very employee friendly...........so just dont understand where we are wrong .................


From India, New Delhi
koul meenakshi
Mr Tarique
I think you are absoloutely wrong in judging HR people,so is everyone. The thing which disturbs me the most is that why do you people feel that we are superior???????? we are as good as the other employees .......... which i personally feel on my part , why the others feel that we have ego/attitude god knows ..........they dont understand that HR is such a dirty job because to deal with all the employees is a difficult thing which everyone cant do ,as far the help is concerned,it really does or it may depend on indivisual to indivisual,thats it i want to quote ................

From India, New Delhi
Ash Mathew
54

In resp to Tariq





a) Please understand what OT means. In manufactruing industries, when the order increases or additional units have to be produced, or even in additional work has to be completed in a short span of time - they extend teh working hours and employees get paid for that.



I have also been in a BPO - worked from evening 6:00 PM to next day morning 9:00 am during the initial stage...not because I had an extra load, its because the work has to be completed in that time itself.



You know how time matters in a BPO industry - a client may have a concall, or even your juniors may look upto you as their team lead and may not respect the reason for being on time.



I agree to whatever your HR has got to say - coming on time is very essential in a BPO.. and then you have not been given a new load right? As a team lead - you are expected to complete certain things on time. Otherwise, you could have still been the junior person right?





b) Regarding your appraisal - your HR is not teh ultimate decision maker - please clarify with your Ops Head. Because your Ops head is the person who decides who is billable to what amount.



You are a team lead - and you have all the rights to walk up to your Ops head and ask "Hello- May I know how much I am being billed for?"



Its not just you - as I mentioned I have also worked in a BPO (Recruitment outsourcing company) in my initial period.. I was not the HR then. Anyhow - my HR used to work for 12 hours. We used to have 2 hrs - one to take care of morining shifts and the other night shifts - on a rotational basis. So - my HR's were really good, and our appraisals were on time.. Not because of them ,but becuase my Ops head was good.



Anyhow- there was some amount of cheating involved (with the Management, not HR) as far as incentives were concerned.. So that part you need to sit with your Opeartions Head and understand. FYI - we in India are billed for close to $10 an hour. (this is not for a team Lead, its for a junior person - say the most minimum - so for you it must be higher)

This I came to know after I moved out of the BPO Industry :-) Late Information though...



c) Really - you are talking about limitations? Why dont you stop crying that you are working extra hours, when you are actually supposed to complete within a specified time and keep going? You cant - you have your own reasons to justify. Only you know the difficulty of your problems. Same way - only HR knows their difficulty.



Honey HR is not blind...HR will prepare all employee friendly policies, discuss with Managers/boss who nod their heads - and would later see their policies/draft in the trash.



Sweet heart - HR is not the policy creator.. Problem is you think that HR is GOD. Else- why do you think that HR can solve all your problems. They can help communicate the information (but there is a tactic for this :-) ) Rest is all left to the hands of your employer.



Remember - HR does not get to follow different rules. Change your attitude (not just to HR) but to anyone who is not able to grant you what you want. What you see around is not exactly how things are in the world. Esp in the BPO industry. This you will learn once you come out of the industry... Good Luck!

From India, Madras
tariq.qureshi
Meenakshi, I dont think what you have said is correct. Why dont you go and work as an NON HR employee and see how you feel towards the policies.

Ash: What I dont understand is that at one point you say HR is mere only an implementor and refuse to take blame for any policy or work done by HR then at very second instance you jump to supporting HR. Tell me what is it exactly. You cannot switch sides when it comes to take responsibilty for some thing bad and vice versa.

What you have mentioned in the reply is the very reason people dont like HR. Failing to take the onus, responsibility, adamant and not apologizing for any mistake on thier part and on top of it, always the first one to point fingers at others.

I never complained about staying back. At times I have worked for more then 24 hours at a stretch so, in your words, I am not crying about OT or staying back. What I was saying was that when I am staying back late then no HR is coming to me and asking why are you leaving late. But yes when I am late, I am getting an email from HR about coming late. This very attitude makes me upset that here I am working my arse off to complete the job and staying back for that and here is the HR who knows nothing about my job, my work and is simply interested in compliance and is telling me that I came late??? . Is this what you call employee motivation? I know people do take advantage by coming late but then you need to differentiate in who is taking advantage and who is not. But I guess now your reply would be that HR only sends email by checking the time logs it is not their job to check who stayed late and it is managers or top boss who clears this policy so HR was just abiding by the policy by sending email etc.. etc...


This very cold reply and such attitude makes people hate HR. I have this decency that if my team member stayed back then i will let him come late. As an HR I have time sheet with me so I can check with that and consult the manager before pointing out his late coming but no HR will not do this, instead they will point finger.

Same thing goes for this that I am working for 24 hours no HR will notice this but when I came late they noticed. HR for sure is blind for this.

Tell me what employee friendly policy HR prepares. The policies prepared by HR are company friendly not EMPLOYEE friendly and I am fine with this. But when the HR start claiming that the same policy is employee friendly then it becomes a problem.

About my appraisal, yes ops manager is the deciding authority but if you care to read the post again, nowhere i mentioned about the amount I got appraised or any issue with the appraisal. My question was that when from my ops manager everything is a go ahead then why HR is delaying the result? If you remember and have read the post, I specifically mentioned that I saw my manager sending email asking about the promotion/declaring the appraisal result. Will you please read the post properly before replying?

Again HR is not policy creator? right? but it implements the policy. So if he is implementing the policy and it is a success then who gets the credit HR? then if it is hated then why HR does not take the onus that employee hates them for implementing this policy?

Remember - HR does not get to follow different rules. Change your attitude (not just to HR) but to anyone who is not able to grant you what you want. What you see around is not exactly how things are in the world. Esp in the BPO industry. This you will learn once you come out of the industry

It is good that HR does not get to follow different rule but yes they dont get same problems as well thats for sure. Also, I am already out of the BPO industry and working as a manager in some diff organization. here as well HR is no better. They have this attitude which creates more problem then resolving one. Also, I never complained about not able to get what I wanted. Read the thread again, what I said (and it was clear enough to be understood) was that any delay should be proactively communicated, if any request is made, it should be responded to, if a question is asked, it should get an honest reply. But as you are an HR, you will not know about this.. correct? Tell me how come only an HR can make a HR understand about the noble job they are doing for employees and not anyone else?

the least, HR can be more transparent, be a apologetic, soft spoken, acknowledging and do a research before pointing a finger then only it can earn respect. Remember respect is earned not demanded. HR demands respects not Earns it. Talk to any non HR employee and you will get same issue. So either HR should earn respect or stop crying about the lashing it gets from employees and take it as a part of job. I can be wrong about HR but not every one. So if you really want to be a good HR then take some pain instead of being arrogant

and for next time, please do read the post before replying if you can.


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