Feeling Stuck in a Passive HR Role: Should I Stay or Move On? Seeking Advice from Seniors

Hi all, I have taken up the HR responsibility for the company where at times I feel an admin person can do the needful.

Reasons for Frustration

There is a lot of micromanagement leading to delays in concrete decisions, and a lenient and soft outlook towards everything like policies, procedures, development activities, systems, etc. There are big talks of HR terminology, but no strong-headed decisions are taken. I ended up following up for days with no concrete information. I am feeling frustrated and feel like leaving, but on second thoughts, I end up giving myself a second chance. I do small bits of HR setup, read, upgrade, and acquire information.

Seeking Advice from Seniors

Now I need to know from seniors: should I quit as I do not want to end up stagnant, or should I stay back? There's no pressure to leave, perform, or be accountable. But I feel guilty of holding a senior position and not being able to use my expertise effectively. Please share your inputs. 

I won't suggest you quit the job out of sheer frustration. The situation you have elaborated on is prevalent in the majority of industries. The HR personnel wear two masks. When they are outside the office, they wear the HR mask, and when within the factory premises, they put on the mask of typical P & A and get engaged in disciplinary proceedings, grievance redressal, general administration, etc.

It's better to wait for the right opportunity and switch to a new job. My best wishes are with you.

This is the tragedy of being in HR in India, especially if you happen to work in some SME. This is because business leaders in India never understood the importance of the HR function. Neither will they understand it in the near future as well. I say so because a large number of business owners are MBAs. When MBAs don't understand the importance of HR, who else will understand?

Yes, job hopping could be a solution, but then what is the guarantee that you won't jump from the frying pan into the fire?

As a solution, I can recommend you study the systems and processes of your company and find out the gaps. Identify the loss of revenue because of these gaps. Secondly, measure the revenue loss due to gaps in "knowledge and skills" among employees. Make a business case out of this and present it to management. Just check whether this opens the eyes of your management. But then again, you may end up casting pearls before swine. In such a case, it's better to jump to a new job. Why cast pearls before the same swine again and again, by the way? Find a new one. At least you will have the satisfaction of exploring multiple options for your pearls!

Regards,
DVD

Thanks, Apoorva and Dinesh, for your feedback. I agree with Dinesh that there's no guarantee of a new assignment. Also, job hopping would look bad on a resume. I will keep you posted on the updates.

Thank you, Abdul, for your personal insight. I hope that one decision did not hold your career back. You are right. After getting some valuable inputs from this site, I am looking at the whole situation with a lighter head and accept that we need to slow down at times. Growth can be lateral too. As someone said, even bad days give good experiences.

Thanks again.