What’s the Value of Human Resources Anyway?

As I build the next big thing in digital media, and I plan the departments, teams and people, I’m forced to put value judgments on those bodies in cubicles.

Although none of us wants to be just a number, end of the day in business, often that’s what we are.

I've never had great experiences with any Human Resources team. Personally, I've met some really nice, friendly and creative people on those teams. Unfortunately, when it comes to actually doing their jobs, they aren't very nice, friendly or creative – or worse – they use those attributes to their personal advantage.

Isn't it odd, that when major Fortune 500 corporations do mass lay-offs, you rarely, if ever, hear about anyone from Human Resources getting a pink slip?

Note that I've never been laid off from a Fortune 500 company, so this isn't sour grapes – I’m merely stating the facts.

Headlines scream about thousands of front office (that means administrative, secretary-type gigs) getting the boot, middle management, even the occasional C-Level executive, but I can’t remember when I've heard of anyone in the Human Resources department being let go.

It makes some sense, naturally we’ll all do whatever we can to protect our income, and if you happen to have an inside scoop on a massive hiring or firing phase within a company – which Human Resources does – you’ll use that to your advantage.

Though Human Resources is supposed to manage the most valuable resources any company has – it’s people.

However, they don’t do that very well. Most people I've worked with in Human Resources are not people persons. They don’t communicate well with others, lead people on, and are horrible at managing time leaving things – often really important things – to the last minute or after-the-fact.

There was one company which I worked at for quite a while, and from the moment they offered me the job, I just knew their Human Resources department was a pickle of problems.

When I was first offered the job, the hiring manager offered me the gig, and said human resources would be in touch over the next day or so with the paperwork. A week passed and I hadn't heard back from anyone, so I called the hiring manager, asking if there was a problem?

She was notably upset with the Human Resources team, said they should have called me by now, and said she’d get someone to call me by the end of the day.

Another couple of days pass, no call from Human Resources, but the hiring manager did call to confirm my start date.

I explained I still hadn't heard anything from Human Resources, she apologized, and said let’s clear this up now. The hiring manager conference called us all together. Right there on the other side of the phone, the director of Human Resources, the highest member of the Human Resources team for that company, promised to email me the paperwork before the end of the day.

The end of the day came, and went. I waited until mid-day the following day before following up. Again I called the hiring manager, explained I hadn't received anything, and asked her for advice.

She must have stood over the Human Resources director’s shoulders, because within 10 minutes, I had received the email.

It was a standard offer of employment template, welcome package and employment contract. I know it was a standard template, because none of it was completed. It said NEW HIRE NAME where my name presumably was to go, and NEW HIRE ADDRESS where presumably my address was to go, and NEW HIRE this and NEW HIRE that in all the other fields.

Sheesh – over a week’s worth of waiting for a standard templated new employee on-boarding package, and it wasn't even filled in – at all.

Although I was asked just to read it over,  print it out and sign it, I did the lazy Human Resources director’s job, and filled in the NEW HIRE fields with my information. Then I scanned and emailed the completed documents to my hiring manager. I didn't want to email Human Resources, because I didn't trust their team – and this was a company I hadn't even started to work for yet.

My first day on the job went smoothly, so too did my second. Then on the third day someone from Human Resources popped over to my office, to welcome me and say hi.

In all the years I've been in the workforce, no one from Human Resources pops over just to say “hi.”

We chatted for a moment, usual small talk about the job, how I was finding it, and my team. Then he asked me if I had a moment, to create a profile for their online employment tracking system, used by people outside of the company, who are applying to jobs.

He said because I heard about the job through someone else, and emailed my resume, they didn't have me on file, but wanted to update the database.

I was a little concerned, thinking maybe my job was on the line after only a couple of days. He re-assured me that everything was fine, but they like to have everyone who’s applied to work at the company in the same database.

“Just to confirm, I work here, right?” I asked.

He agreed – but still said I should be in the job applicant system.

I don’t know what Human Resources departments do, but I’m pretty sure it’s not people management, because shouldn't they be entering all their information into their own systems and forms?

I know they are supposed to be experts at employee/employer relations, employment law, and employee retention and recruitment.

But in all my experiences with them – and the story I've told in this post is just one of many horrid examples – they don’t do their jobs well – if at all.

So, as I build a digital media company from the ground up, I’m forced to ask myself – do I really need a Human Resources department?