Trust me when I say I'm not going to use this blog as a means to moan about work, in between frequent bouts of incommunicado-ism (is that even a word?!) But I've read quite a lot recently, and felt quite a lot recently, how little regard people seem to have for what I do (HR; incidentally, the thing people tend to go "Oh...Human Remains eh?" ...nudge, nudge, wink wink... as though I've never heard that one before; it's like when people do ambulance-siren noises when I tell them my name, then look proudly back at me as though they're the first ever to do that. Fun!)
I read an article in the paper the other day. The online paper; as I've mentioned before I am rather partial to the manic 'Have Your Say!' below-the-line comments featured after every article. This article was vaguely work-and-career related, and the first comment mentioned "HR fuckwits..." closely followed by lots of people agreeing that all HR people were indeed useless and crap at their jobs. So a nice easy read, then. I felt tempted to add a vial of cyanide to my morning coffee!
HR is a much-maligned profession...one of many things I've done in my life (call centre work, writing) that people assume anyone could do. But they can't. Well, at least not if you're any good at it, and here are some of the main reasons why:
1. Diplomacy has to be your middle name
If you work in HR, you have a role that is finely balanced between the people that run the company and the people who work for it. Therefore you are subjected to barrages of information every day that must be translated from one side to the other in the least destructive manner possible. In other words, you're constantly managing the expectations, wishes and egos of a lot of very different people. To say that this can be difficult sometimes is something of an understatement.
2. Adaptable communication has to be your game
One moment you're talking to the MD about potential redundancies or how to manage a tricky work situation; the next you're managing a disciplinary meeting with someone whose work isn't up to scratch; the next you're comforting someone who's just been criticised by their manager or who's just lost a grandparent or whose childcare provider didn't turn up so they need an unexpected day off. All of the people you've been speaking to expect that you will do something about it. And that's generally a good day.
3. You're constantly having to prove your worth to all and sundry
HR, like IT and general admin, tend not to do whatever the company does to make money, and so are often sidelined or thought to be useless. I veer between caring and not caring about that on a semi-equal basis.
4. People tend to assume your focus is "company first"
So... at the end of the day the company pays your wages. But your job is to ensure fairness, so a great deal of the time your focus is actually, believe it or not, people first. There are enough people caring about "company first"; mainly the directors and shareholders. If you're good at your job then you'll consider the people first - because somebody has to! - then find a nice diplomatic way (or if all else fails, the law) to ensure others at least consider them so that we can all get on with our work feeling nice and happy.
5. You can't have work friends
OK, get the violins out. And I have made work friends before so this isn't strictly true all the time. But making friends at the company you work for is fraught with problems...you know what everyone earns, how old they are, and details of some highly personal issues...and they know you know. Plus the very next week you could be in the unenviable position of having to put them on a redundancy list. So make sure you have a nice selection of friends in real life otherwise you might find yourself quite isolated.
(NB - I'm lucky in that I'm somewhat of a grumpy, unsociable cow in general so I avoid this issue, due to people not usually rushing to make friends with me in any case!)
I'm not saying I'm great at all these things myself - just that they're things that count for quite a lot. They're some of the reasons why I wanted to work in HR in the first place, because it's a role in a company that can be useful and rewarding on a personal level as well as a professional one. Fuckwits definitely need not apply.
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