“Let’s face it. HR is powerless to help women who are harassed.”
“It’s a sad state of affairs, but very few people are shocked to hear that sexism and harassment still happen in the modern work environment. Even fewer are shocked to hear that HR did nothing about it. The lack of outrage at HR, in particular, breaks my heart. We should know better. There should be consequences…
At its core, HR exists to protect the company against employee-related risks. Shareholders and investors want executive leadership teams to improve productivity while keeping wages low. Business owners and leaders need a way to monitor and manage employee activities while retaining distance from the workforce. And most bosses want to keep their hands clean and outsource the emotional labor of managing people to someone else.
That’s where HR comes into the picture. We once had unions as mediators and guardians of the workforce. They were concerned about issues such as fair pay, health insurance, and safety compliance. The rise of the modern human resources department corresponds to shrinking union membership in America. Someone had to respond to worker needs and to keep the trains running on time. It’s an unglamorous job with matriarchal overtones, which is why managers don’t want to do it. Cue the modern HR lady…
At most companies, HR is an administrative department that has no real authority beyond our four walls. At our best, we are business partners and advisers. At our worst, we are babysitters and police officers. Final employment decisions rest with the leaders who truly run your company.”
I’ve only had one HR experience, and it was just an exit interview, but it still managed to be extraordinarily disappointing. The woman interviewing me asked if there was anything that could have been better about my time, and I avoided the question but she pushed, so I gave her a watered-down version of my feelings of alienation as a black woman in a very culturally white/male space… and the HR representative reacted with defensive irritation. Which is exactly what I had expected, and why I hadn’t wanted to say anything to her in the first place.
I don’t know if I know anyone who has had a good experience with an HR department (though, of course, I’m in my 20s so I don’t know that many people who have had to use theirs).
