22 Is your HR job making you miserable?

Community Manager

5 Aug, 2024 14:00

Last month we were discussing What key challenges are you currently facing in your role?

One of you mentioned "the impossibility of balancing different priorities, when you have a genuine desire to do the right thing by the people you work with. I've always chosen to work in a relatively small organisation, so I'm close to the people whose jobs I support. For the first time, I'm thinking that I'd like a bit of distance!" (Which, incidentally, reminds me of this thread from the archive...)
Should HR have employees as Facebook 'Friends'?

Another community member said, "...with so much change in the business, it's so difficult to keep everyone feeling safe and secure, informed to the right level."

I know that so many of you find this Community a comfortable space to share your highs and lows with your peers, but it's almost two years to the day that I asked How are you all doing? after the worst of the pandemic.

We have been talking about this NYT article at CIPD this week... which has prompted me to ask that question again: how are you all doing?

So, Human Resources Is Making You Miserable?

HR managers... say that since the pandemic, the job has become an exasperating ordeal. “People hate us,” one said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/03/business/human-resources-professionals-workplace.html

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Stacey | 0 Posts

16 Aug, 2024 04:33

In reply to Alys Martin:
Thank you for your reply. I'm definitely on the look our for something that better aligns with my morals and values. I'm glad to hear things operate differently elsewhere too.
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Stacey | 0 Posts

16 Aug, 2024 04:39

In reply to Sophie:
I'm glad to know that there's other opportunities but did think this must be a small business thing. I got asked by my head of HR (an accountant) to do a sped up version of the capability process this week. They accidently told an employee anothers salary but still wont pay her the same as him. I'm constantly at a loss with them. They have paid my studies that's not a hindrance to me looking elsewhere. Thank you
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Tina | 0 Posts

19 Aug, 2024 14:37
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Marina | 0 Posts

21 Aug, 2024 13:51

In reply to Sophie:
The biggest challenge for me is that sometimes there is so much compliance, and processes in our job that all we do is blaming people when they make a mistake and we forget the human side. It feels like there is no room for mistakes , just blame and sense of guilt. As a very empathyc and emotional person I take everything to the heart and when a mistake happen I feel responsible at the point that I feel depressed, incompetent and not good enough to derserve this job. Employee quite often are disappointed with us and their expectations feels hard to meat.
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Lottie | 0 Posts

1 Oct, 2024 08:39

HR is not making me miserable, some of the tasks we have to do are not nice! But I welcome challenges and thrive on this role being so difficult with each day different. I am concerned about smaller businesses with all the employment law changes coming up and what the future holds for HR.

I think as HR professionals we need to push back a bit harder at some of the management decisions, we are all guilty of 'yes okay' and being scapegoated - we should be collectively taking a stand saying this is how we should do things, if you want to go against expert advice then that is on you. At the end of the day, we are paid to do our job with our expert knowledge. I still feel HR gets pushed back and not taken as seriously as other departments in many businesses.

I am lucky in my current role, but have worked in environments which do not take it seriously and honestly, I could not go back to that way of working.
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Judy | 0 Posts

13 Nov, 2024 13:43

I think HR is making me miserable. My background in HR was that I worked in the private sector in HR (or personnel as it was then) Admin and then took a break, funded my own Masters and subsequently worked in HR roles in the public sector. I took a career break to have kids and returned approx 5 years ago to work in an SME - totally out of my comfort zone but I enjoyed setting up systems and being the go-to expert on HR. Now I'm miserable and can't decide whether it's the lack of progression, the monotonous tasks, or whether HR just isn't for me and I should completely rethink what I want to do as a job. I feel like I'm undervalued both in terms of financial reward but also in terms of my expertise/knowledge. Wondering if HR is worth persevering with or if a whole new approach would help. I always remember when doing my Masters that one of the lecturers said you didn't need to be a 'people person' to work in HR as most of HR work is really negative and I can't help but agree at this point in time!
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Jo | 0 Posts

25 Nov, 2024 11:15

In reply to Stacey:
Stacey, my situation is exactly that of yours - and we too don't seem to have the foggiest idea about a business strategy (seemingly nobody in our entire industry does), the unpredictability of a hiring strategy that never succeeds, the alignment of my HR generalist (solo) role in my SME not aligning to our CIPD industry expectation or aspiration. I've spent the last 5 years mopping up after bad leadership decisions, against my professional advice (gleaned from every resource from my CIPD studies/CIPD website, ACAS, AIHR, etc). Every year they ask me why our attrition is high and yet as soon as our business struggles with profit, the DEI, the performance management, the psychological safe space, are thrown out of the window in preference of Command & Control. I feel passionately for my choice to work in HR but I constantly see/hear so many fellow HR professionals who just do not get any joy or value out of their role.
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