When HR, Profits and Reality Meet...
Let's face it. If you've worked at any reasonably large business or other type of organization that relies on technology and employs people, you've heard some variation on the motto: "Our people really matter." What you've actually experienced is completely different.
When it's a matter of money or people - people are not #1. In fact, when it comes to the reality of money, people are often treated like 'number two.' As in the euphemism for what we do in a bathroom while reading a magazine after a high fiber meal. The people are just 'human resources' which are flushed away when they are no longer needed.
Today, most reasonable people hear corporate credoes like this and think (at least to themselves), "Gimme a break." [with eye-roll].
But here's something that is fairly clear to many people like me who have 'escaped' the corporate environment. One department that is (usually) immune to lay-offs and other impacts of ups and downs is 'human resources.' The market giveth and the market taketh away, but the HR dept. shall dwell forever in peace and safety. There is a reason that 'HR' is one of the least trusted, least popular, least credible and least liked professions in the business world. Doubt me, but Google "why people hate HR" for a rather sobering look at what real people really think.
If you are an employee, YOU get paid, 'managed out' and laid off by THEM. THEY do the paying, 'managing out' and laying off. So, the bottom line really is the bottom line. And HR is the keeper of the bottom line because people are the biggest 'cost center' related to the bottom line. Well, except for the HR people that is. They oversee the people, and the benefits, and the compensation, and the 'HRIS' technology that is used to manage all of that stuff, too.
So, it's no wonder that a lot of people are dissatisfied with their job. Or that they are disloyal to their employer and on the constant lookout for something better. There's quite a bit of turnover in the HR field. And please note: I am not placing the blame exclusively on HR. Businesses use these folks to do an often distasteful but necessary job in order to be profitable and insulate themselves from the uncomfortable, messy 'people stuff.' Somebody has to do it. I mean, it's a tough world out there, and ya got to make a living, right?
I spent 20+ years in and around HR, recruiting and corporate training. I'm now retired, with nothing to lose or gain by speaking candidly. This is just my personal observation. But a friend who also recently retired as a senior exec told me, "All I had to do to keep working for (unnamed huge corporation) was to have my spine, heart and integrity removed and get a lobotomy. Other than that, it was a great job that paid really well."
I truly hope that this article causes many good, honest people to think deeply about what really matters. This is the reason that a lot of people have left 'successful jobs' and started their own businesses. And I truly hope that a few large businesses will take this article to heart and tell the truth, in practice, when they say, "Our people really matter."
Russ Minary specialized in helping businesses with hiring, talent consulting and organizational effectiveness before retiring.?Visit his website at OnPurpose Enterprises for more information.