Top 10 Reasons To Love HR

Like any good HR blogger, I read other HR blogs.  One I love to follow is Welcome To The Occupation written by Paul Smith.  Paul is this calm, cool and collected HR Director from Philly that I find addictive from a reading standpoint.  He recently wrote a post called “Why HR Is Hated” and it got under my skin.  I’m not saying that I disagree there are HR pros that employees dislike, even hate.  I just want to elaborate on his ideas and  share my observations on the things HR does that our people love:

10.  HR can be impartial–  Sure, some may confuse this with being “cold” but we’re not invested in the relationships as much as people working in the department.  We can come at a situation with a fresh set of eyes.

 9.   HR can teach the soft skills-  Many leaders go to school to learn how to be successful in business or whatever industry they choose to work in.  They don’t spend time in classes that tell them how to listen, how to be nice or how to show empathy.  That’s where HR comes in.  We can teach this all day long.

 8.   HR believes employees are unique individuals-  HR helps managers and leaders recognize it.

 7.   HR teaches how to give feedback, even if there isn’t a perfect performance tool-  The point is not to teach leaders and staff how to use the latest and greatest performance feedback tool.  It’s to encourage open communication.

 6.   HR Departments are flawed-  It’s true.  We’re just like other departments.  We have good workers and people who could do better.  HR pros have good days and bad days.  Good HR teams admit it and work to improve.  And, we’re not afraid to use our own performance or experience as an employee as an example with an employee or leader who may be struggling.  We’re all in this together!

 5.   HR helps document-  We help our leaders and even staff document incidents that occur.  This cuts down on the risk of something getting out of hand, or someone being treated unfairly or discriminated against.  Documentation can be a good thing.

 4.    HR can save the organization money-  We can cut your recruiting expenses down, reduce your training time and expense, teach you management skills to help retain good workers, negotiate great offers and promotion rates.  We may not generate revenue but we can sure supplement with cost savings.

 3.   HR is not for the faint at heart-  We do all the dirty work and get all the crazy stories under our belt early on.  Believe me, I’ve faced employees with weapons, I’ve been cursed at, spit at, yelled at, cried to, you name it.  I have so many stories I could never even share in print. Who else wants to take this on?  Raise your hand…. nope, didn’t think so.

 2.  Few do it well because….

 1.   It’s hard work! 

*Thanks to Paul Smith for letting me piggy back off his idea.  Be sure to check out his blog.