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Fellow HR folk – are you happy?

Maria

I’ve made some bleak observations recently with certain key trends coming through:

  • HR professionals (especially at mid and senior levels) are “open for new opportunities” on LinkedIn although more often than not they have only started their recent role in 2018 or 2017 (I saw this via recruiter licence)
  • A phrase I keep hearing from my more experienced peers and leaders is “Well it’s always the same in HR” or “That’s HR for you” on things like always being managed by Finance for some reason (i.e. Finance knows nothing about HR but always has the final say, and everyone in Finance is paid higher than HR), having to go with bad management decisions, being actively disliked by all employees for bizarre reasons, getting silly comments like “Oh HR is here I better shut up” when you’re trying to have lunch
  • Managers not owning up to any unpopular decision making and blaming everything on HR “HR said you couldn’t get more money”, “I gave person X more money 2 years ago and now person Y is peed off, but HR didn’t make the right decision then” etc
  • HR always being bottom of the pile for any budget decisions or pay rises, always the scapegoats, last in line, first in, last out “because that’s HR for you”

These are depressing. They happen over and over. You change a workplace and history repeats itself. My HR friends are not happy, my HR colleagues always muddle through, every week is a power struggle, politics everywhere, everyone is complaining all the time (staff, that is). We take crap from anyone and everyone every day. You never win or get any credit. Is it just me?

I am aware of the need to build up resilience, I am aware that I am not here to make friends, rather my mission is to make the organisation a better place to work and support our leaders with their decision making. Yes. The work is never easy, especially the higher you move in HR and I have felt it for a while. But do you ever get to enjoy it? What is rewarding about it to you? The rewards seem so scarce and precious sometimes, that it’s easy to lose sight of them in the daily struggle.

My questions are…

Does anyone feel the same?

Does it get better? If it doesn’t what do you do?

Is it the same in any other profession (in terms of degree of difficulty and emotional impact) and I am just blindsided by HR?

Have you worked in an environment where you truly were prepared to stay for years and enjoyed the role and the organisation (in HR)? Or is this unrealistic? (reference to all HR people already looking for a new job even though they started this year)

Any tips on raising own morale?

Is it worth challenging the phrases around “I know it’s not fair but it’s always the same in HR” if they are said to me in 3 different workplaces in a row?

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  • Hi Maria,

    I read your post yesterday and it has been rolling over in my head all evening, so I thought I'd reply, for what it is worth.

    HR is a hard job. There's no doubt about it.

    No-one comes to HR to tell them what a great day they have had. No-one jumps out of bed every morning and frets about how they are going to make MY day better.

    And there are times when this can be wearing. What is particularly hard about stand-alone HR roles as well, is you don't often have another person to help with this burden. There often aren't people in the business it would be appropriate to talk to about these things, and so they build up and one day you start wondering if there is more to life than dealing with other people's crap.

    I've been there and I suspect it will continue to be a place I visit occasionally, regardless of where I work. I've worked in many different sectors, with loads of different people - some have been ACE and some have NOT. But everything, regardless of whether it is a good place, a bad place, with good people, with bad people, they will all have their moments because no matter where we go, or where we end up, we take our human with us. And so does everyone else. So I do not believe there is a utopia out there where we will love our jobs all day every day, or even a role where we can be 100% fullthrottleamazeballs every single day. Because people are people. And that means that sometimes they can be complete you-know-whats, and sometimes they can REALLY be you-know-whats.. but you know what? That's OK. Because for me, HR isn't a big bang crash overnight shift. It's glory in the little victories. It's winning the world over, one person at a time. It's knowing that of all of the 99% of rubbish, there's that gleaming pearl of 1% where you have made a real difference to someone.

    So forget about the whizz-bang everyone falls over because you're so amazing. Look for the glimmers in the dark corners... because my biggest "wins" are not on my CV and there's no blue plaque on the wall.

    Tips on raising morale?
    Change your outlook. Consider this a social experiment. Each day as it comes is a day where you are learning, acting on information, condensing and moving on. Don't own the nonsense, don't make it personal. Learn, go home and enjoy your life.

    Find an HR buddy. There's loads of us here. You've reached out already. I found a real life flesh and blood HR buddy while I was interviewing a while back and we got on. We don't particularly know each other, still don't really, on a personal level, but we exchanged numbers and we meet occasionally for a drink to chat. We talk about work and it's good because there's nothing like getting another impartial HR point of view on work "stuff".

    Get a set of lovely stickers. I'm not even joking. And a diary. And every time something good happens, put a sticker in your diary. Am I 7? Nope. But as you say, its hard to remember the good things when you're up against it all the time. We have short memories when it comes to remembering niceness and we can dwell on the dark.

    Be as pleased with your sticker as you would have been when someone gave you a sticker when you WERE 7.

    Smile lots, and relax.
Reply
  • Hi Maria,

    I read your post yesterday and it has been rolling over in my head all evening, so I thought I'd reply, for what it is worth.

    HR is a hard job. There's no doubt about it.

    No-one comes to HR to tell them what a great day they have had. No-one jumps out of bed every morning and frets about how they are going to make MY day better.

    And there are times when this can be wearing. What is particularly hard about stand-alone HR roles as well, is you don't often have another person to help with this burden. There often aren't people in the business it would be appropriate to talk to about these things, and so they build up and one day you start wondering if there is more to life than dealing with other people's crap.

    I've been there and I suspect it will continue to be a place I visit occasionally, regardless of where I work. I've worked in many different sectors, with loads of different people - some have been ACE and some have NOT. But everything, regardless of whether it is a good place, a bad place, with good people, with bad people, they will all have their moments because no matter where we go, or where we end up, we take our human with us. And so does everyone else. So I do not believe there is a utopia out there where we will love our jobs all day every day, or even a role where we can be 100% fullthrottleamazeballs every single day. Because people are people. And that means that sometimes they can be complete you-know-whats, and sometimes they can REALLY be you-know-whats.. but you know what? That's OK. Because for me, HR isn't a big bang crash overnight shift. It's glory in the little victories. It's winning the world over, one person at a time. It's knowing that of all of the 99% of rubbish, there's that gleaming pearl of 1% where you have made a real difference to someone.

    So forget about the whizz-bang everyone falls over because you're so amazing. Look for the glimmers in the dark corners... because my biggest "wins" are not on my CV and there's no blue plaque on the wall.

    Tips on raising morale?
    Change your outlook. Consider this a social experiment. Each day as it comes is a day where you are learning, acting on information, condensing and moving on. Don't own the nonsense, don't make it personal. Learn, go home and enjoy your life.

    Find an HR buddy. There's loads of us here. You've reached out already. I found a real life flesh and blood HR buddy while I was interviewing a while back and we got on. We don't particularly know each other, still don't really, on a personal level, but we exchanged numbers and we meet occasionally for a drink to chat. We talk about work and it's good because there's nothing like getting another impartial HR point of view on work "stuff".

    Get a set of lovely stickers. I'm not even joking. And a diary. And every time something good happens, put a sticker in your diary. Am I 7? Nope. But as you say, its hard to remember the good things when you're up against it all the time. We have short memories when it comes to remembering niceness and we can dwell on the dark.

    Be as pleased with your sticker as you would have been when someone gave you a sticker when you WERE 7.

    Smile lots, and relax.
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