Fellow HR folk – are you happy?

I've loved and hated every job I've done - there are good times and bad times everywhere

In addition to the sound advice from David I would also say that HR only ever gets its place at the management table if it can demonstrate that it can add value to the company that others around the table cannot add. That means that in addition to being excellent at our speciality we also must acquire a thorough understanding of how the company actually works and how it makes money.

Given what we do, we are one of the rare functions that permanently interacts with the totality of the operating and functional activities of a company - a fantastic opportunity to get to grips with how the company really works on a day to day basis. Once we understand these functions we need to learn to speak their language (marketing isn't finance, finance isn't engineering) and their preoccupations within the specific  context of our company. Only then can we start to contribute to delivering what is really needed and gain the confidence of these other that we are not only adding something but that we are talso aking into account their different contexts.

Does anyone feel the same? Occasionally.

Does it get better? If it doesn’t what do you do? Yes, it gets better as you persist in implementing improvements, but it's slow going.  The nitro-charge for culture change and real improvements in HR and company performance comes from senior-level buy-in, and I find that it's when an HR team lacks that top-level support that progress is most tortuous and painful.

Is it the same in any other profession (in terms of degree of difficulty and emotional impact) and I am just blindsided by HR?  Yes, all professions have their frustrations.  As far as the emotional impact goes, we build up a tolerance to the impact of difficult conversations, dismissals and being the point of contact for employees who think they've been shoddily treated.

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) No, but I have naturally itchy feet.

Any tips on raising own morale?  Life needs to be about more than your job.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if your job isn't a means to an end that has little or nothing to do with your job, you're probably doing it wrong.  Whether it's to fund your traveling, support a hobby, or be a pathway to something bigger, you need something more than work to make work worthwhile.

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? Absolutely, it is!  This is the refrain from cowardly managers doing nasty things to their employees and blaming it on HR.

This is a really good post.

On a personal level, I have worked in a couple of places that I was not very happy. I therefore changed organisations and now I am really happy with where I am. I think its like all other careers, with good and bad days and also dependent on the organisation and as others have said, what you make of it too.

Personally, the experiences I have had have led me to be more resilient, proactive and not afraid to challenge. I think these skills have come more from the not so happy experiences, so every cloud has a silver lining and all that!

As someone who fell into HR by accident, it's taken me a long time to properly accept it as part of my identity. I'm sure I'm not the only person who still has days (mid-forties) where I wonder what I might be when I grow up.

When it comes down to it however, I think that attitude has served me pretty well. I've worked in lots of different organisations and got a lot of different experience. I've managed other departments alongside HR, and got a useful bunch of broad skills in related areas (marketing, fundraising, business development, facilities management etc), and while I wasn't paying attention I got quite a lot of 'people' experience.

It means that the job I'm doing now, I really do enjoy (most of the time). I like the people I work with, I like trying to make their organisation a better place for them to work in, and I like being the person they trust with their problems. Most of the time, I know I am making an appreciable difference, and that feels good.

It may of course help that I'm currently working somewhere that has never previously had an HR function - so there isn't that "HR is to blame for everything" mentality, and if it now develops then the fault is entirely mine!

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.