I worked for a company for 11 years. I consistently got “meets” or “exceeds expectations” during the first ten years. I was diagnosed with a disability in my last year and was fired for performance. I should have seen it coming. After I told them about my disability, all positive feedback I received was verbal and all negative feedback was in writing. They were clearly building a case to get rid of me.
This is a great reason to post all documentation for all to see. I did this to a bad boss and he ended up quitting! The boss got angry when people he met were coming up to him and getting angry with them! Also the HR rep ended up quitting because she discovered no one would work there!
I have come to understand, as time goes on, that "performance reviews" will often be used as a tool to advance/preserve employees that people in the company like, and get rid of people they don't like. I also received stellar reviews for several years on a job, until we got new management and I received the worst review possible. Mind you, I had never had performance discussions or been given any indication that I was not up to par. Nope, I was getting verbal praise, but they were building a case against me in secret. It's truly sad how often companies will weaponize their HR tools to play political games.
People should not have to feel a need to disclose a disability. There are plenty of "accommodations" which benefit many employees and people should seek to understand that some things may be difficult for some and not assume bad intentions. Unfortunately, that isn't always the reality, and I am sorry you have had to go through that.
A thing to remember: HR has access to your work email and can look through your inbox/outbox, calendar etc. Be mindful of who you email and what you say.
I've been telling people for the last 15 years never confide in HR. If you tell HR anything, you might as well get a bull horn and announce your grievance to everyone! If you ever meet with HR you need to privately record the meeting (check the legalities in your state of course) or document everything you can in writing. Leave a long paper trail, it will be harder for them to run cover for the company this way. ----Remember HR is NOT your friend.
I worked for a large corporation for over twenty years. Suddenly, I was moved into a new group with new managers. Eventually, I was taken into a small meeting room by a middle manager and was strongly advised to take a “retirement” package and leave the company. I reluctantly took the package and left. After I left, many of my coworkers were laid off and their jobs were offshored to India or Taiwan. The good news is that I did find a better job with a 40% salary increase.
Often times bad HR reps will still find the smallest reason to fire talented employees who are assets the the employer/ company overall tho. (Usually over personal issues or just straight up discrimination). The ones who go to the extreme unnecessarily are those that give HR a bad name. 🤷🏾♀️
I have had such bad experiences with HR that I cannot trust them anymore! To solve issues between employees and employers, I recommend recording all conversations. I started doing this and now employers are angry because everyone sees what they have done!
Man, I really wish I found this sooner. I had to deal with a wonderful little defamation and retaliation issue at work a couple months ago. I was being slandered by my boss to other employees. Myself and another coworker decided to reported it to our contract company. Our boss turned around and retaliated by making up a bunch of lies that could potentially break our contract agreement. My company basically threw me under the bus and did not ask for my side of the story despite me being the whistleblower. They were on the verge of firing me till I told them I would be contacting my lawyer about the situation, in which they turned around and backed off real quick. But now I'm sitting here knowing I have a target on my back because my company believed my boss. The positive is I have my resume all squared away and there are options, it's just a matter of covering relocation costs, which is why I'm buying my time with the company still.
There were complaints from our divisions of our company about us not meeting dress codes and working hours while generating 50% of the revenue. So after a remodel HR is being imbedded with us. No one is happy with more forced interaction with HR.
There are a lot of laws that protect the employees? Not in my book. And certainly not in the US. The consequences of a lay off for an employee are far worse than for an employer. The employer does not care how a termination will affect the life of an employee. In some cases, it can be devastating.
That's because, you are ignorant of labor laws in the U.S.! Listen to the attorney and learn, fool! You can sue the shit out of a company very easily in the U.S., if they fuck you in your ass!! In Europe, it's much harder! You have better benefits and labor conditions in Europe but the labor laws aren't really fairer or better than in the U.S!! Benefits and Conditions aren't the same, as labor laws! Don't confuse the two! Labor laws protecting employees in the U.S. are pretty strict compared to most countries!! I know this because I have a friend that is a domestic and international labor laws attorney. His name is Eric Bravo, Esq.
I did have one HR person who did want to help me, but she was mainly working for the company I worked for, and basically had to do what they told her to do. Including getting me fired, even if it meant having to lie on their behalf. She did shine through that she wasn't happy about the procedures put on her, but she still participated in getting me out eventually. I never saw this HR lady again, and I learned a great deal that day, that even nice people can be bought into doing the wrong thing. And yes, they are willing to tell untrue stories to give you reasons for making you redundant. The reason I was given was that a third party could do my job better and cheaper (untrue), but the real reason was because of my disabilities, and a grievance procedure I had to initiate earlier that year, because I was unfairly treated by management that could not be resolved between management and me. And yes, there were loads of things I could have done differently and I made so many mistakes, but when you are inside a burn-out, you truly lose perspective. Boy, was I a fool. And now, 5 months later, I am still looking for another job. I am aware I sound awful, but I am not able to afford the great courses Bryan is offering, but I am learning a lot from his channel. Thank you, Bryan.
The C-suite executives at our megacorporations chewed out the company for harassing HR. They said unequivocally the following: "HR does EXACTLY what WE tell them to do. They can do nothing on their own. Stop harassing them."
@@dhenderson1810 You're obviously an abuser. Guess in your world if a woman is being r@ped she should just "deal with the issue." If someone is being held hostage with a gun to their head they should just "deal with the issue." How about all these mass shootings, guess we should allow shooters free reign to continue shooting, because shooting an active shooter isn't the right way to "deal with the issue."
People should be scared to set someone off......D light you got the thumbs up because I agree with you. Sometimes extreme stuff has to happen to get people to behave better.
'Human Resources' is the most dehumanizing official business term of the corporate world that I can think of, and it's literally the name of the department that's in charge of the employees' rights within corporations. That's not a funny coincidence. That's what we are to them: resources that just happen to be human. As George Carlin so soberingly put it (about government, but in a similar respect), "They don't care about YOU, AT ALL, AT ALL, AT ALL. It's a big club, AND YOU AIN'T IN IT."
What is a resource and examples? A resource is a physical material that humans need and value such as land, air, and water. Resources are characterized as renewable or nonrenewable; a renewable resource can replenish itself at the rate it is used, while a nonrenewable resource has a limited supply.
Not all the bad employees started out as bad employees. I used to be a good employee. But now, I actively try to be the worst version of myself possible while clocked in. These people deserve the bare minimum, if not less. You pretend to pay me, I pretend to work. That's the game we play. I might try to be better at my next job. Depot how they treat me.n
Perhaps. When I sign up a contract for X amount of money and Y number of benefits, I don't expect to get [much] more and then blame the employer(s) when I don't. But if I get yelled at, humiliated, undervalued despite going above and beyond, wrongly accused and then ,proven innocent with the whole ordeal put under the covers, looked down upon for not being part of the upper esch... management, or if I see something that deeply disturbs my trust in these people and their "better judgement" (one of the chief reasons I quit my last workplace is because a member of our team died and there was not a single honor moment or word said about them afterwards - it was as if they never existed as a human being, just a number in someone's spreadsheet) then you can damn well be sure that I will first "quiet quit" and then actually quit.
I like going into every interaction with HR, thinking that they hate me and that they're an entry-level lawyer for the company. This puts me in the correct mindset to deal with them.
I have never been "supported" by human resources. Their job is to treat human beings like resources, i.e. commodities. So of course the relationship is antagonistic.
Human Resources are the core cause of toxic work environments because they don't stand up for what is right. The best way to influence people to do what you want them to do is to treat them with respect and with appreciation, and be sincere about it.
I wouldn't say they HR can top bad managerial style or logistic issues that many companies are plagued with, but oftentimes, HR... doesn't help things.
For HR to hate you, they would have to care about you. At best an employee is a nuisance to HR "professionals", asking the same "silly" questions all the other employees have asked before. At worst, an employee is a risk to the company in a legal, financial and social way and the risk/damage has to be controlled, managed and mitigated. The HR people are motivated, paid and directed by the company officers/owners to protect the company and helping the employee is more of a side effect than an intended effect.
My best advice is this: If you have a problem with your boss, try to work it out with your boss. If you have a problem with a coworker, try to work it out with them personally. Do not escalate anything if at all possible. If you have to escalate anything, i.e. if your boss does something that cannot be dealt with through talking (harassment, bullying, discrimination), keep your head down and find another job and leave. Don't tell them why -- nothing you say will make them change their behaviors. Just go to greener pastures. It is honestly the only thing that saved me and has resulted in me having a decent reputation in my field. Reason for staying quiet: Even those idiotic bosses that I had have given me a decent recommendation because of my silence. Use them the way they use you.
THAT PART!!! The insensitivity part was the day of my supervisor's wake/funeral that they decided to eliminate my job & close the office. That was a traumatizing & mournful day. Talk about the rug being pulled out from under you & blindsided. 😔
I don’t feel bad for people in HR. It’s not like they didn’t know what they were getting into when they decided to become HR specialists. They knew exactly what it’s about, and they chose to do it. Seems like a profession that is made for dark empaths.
Actually from what I understand most of the time they actually don't know. They think they're actually supposed to be there to help employees only to get a rude awakening that their duty is to the company not the grunts who work there. By the time this happens they're often already in too deep to back out.
@@MrEffectfilms I mean, how long does it take to figure that out? Seems like they should know at least within the first year what it's all about. Then what? Spend the next 30+ years of your life doing it anyway because you're "in too deep". Naw man. If you stick with it after finding out the truth, you are complicit.
Knowing what HR actually is, is extremely important for new/oblivious workers. HR is there for the companies status quo. Nothing more, nothing less. They are not your friend, they are there to protect the companies status quo. Its that simple.
Big fan of both Brian and Brannigan and so glad you were both able to do an episode together. Young employees need to watch since they are assuming HR is there to help them, they are not, HR is for protecting the company’s bottom line ONLY!
I have worked in a place where they didnt even have an HR. That was frightening, but it is just as well. I tried, in some small way, to complain but was met with disbelief and so I stopped. I think most people that I have talked to have gotten into some struggle or conflict at some point in their careers but I never heard of a single one that was actually helped by going to HR.
I can remember one time at my job I spoke to HR. Me being me I had to be honest about the situation. The HR lady ask me how I rank the company. My question was this:"do you want me to give you a nice fuzzy number or do you want the real thing?" She asked for the real thing. My reply was: "all due respect this company is a 4 out of 10." Her eyes widen that what I said, and I let her know when you're dealing with me you're going to get honest answers. I don't need to sugarcoat, because doing so is not addressing the problem. The company seems to have flawed hiring practices, and they just have the biggest habit of turnover. I remember a few times I was up for promotion, but they promoted a friend or somebody who was kissing butt. After realizing the positions I was in being closed out because it was deemed not a profitable move, I sent quit caring about the job I do. If freight breakson a trailer I don't care. Should not kiss butt and treat everybody fairly..
In my honest opinion, the HR person I had to deal with was extremely unhelpful. I reported so many complains to her, even harassment incident etc. And she would constantly say "you're the manager, it's a part of your responsibility" I don't trust any HR period, they let a lot of shit happen without doing anything or being accountable. As long as it's "within the policy" and they can dodge any sort of liability they don't care about us.
I worked at my job for 2 years and even got an employee of the month recognition. I received a PIP a month after I got back from paternity leave and the claims were filled with falsehoods and wording of “your behavior has changed” I’ve always been cheerful and supportive of all my colleagues and have continued to out perform the rest of my team so it came as a rather big shock. perhaps your employee may be a little more stressed with his lack of sleep and enormous life changing event..
This is baked into the employee-employer relationship. The stockholders want to minimize payroll. If they can do that by manipulating 2 people to do the work of 3 people they will. I was told to go to HR over an illegal non-compete. I will only do that after filing a complaint with the Attorney General's office and use anti-retaliation laws as a shield. People don't do well with HR because they haven't built their leverage beforehand.
I dealt with hr in a low level company and after reporting sketcy stuff from management i was treated like a criminal.After that experience i avoid hr at almost all costs unless it is necessary
I’m actually leaving my current company, not because they tried to cut my pay on a contract extension, but because of this sense of hostility from credentialing in HR. I frequently don’t have access to my phone and they often seem to demand an immediate response to emails with more emails and texts. They obviously don’t understand, know, or respect my work or me, so they obviously don’t need me. I’ll cut my ties and find one of the many companies that DOESN’T want to waste time and money.
My last company was a family buissiness. The owners daughter was H.R. I was fired for the first time of 42 years of working for something I didnt do but evidence is only required in court.
Honestly, I would not mind companies going back to the old title of Personnel. It's descriptive and doesn't have the cattle/chattel type of overtones to it.
HR at my previous company was horrible. Literally nobody had a good relationship with them. All they did was add more work and red tape to already maxed out employees.
''HR and the people they support''. I aint sure who you refering to, but they for sure aint there for the employees. They're there to protect the company and the companys interst.
Lol, you mean like every other department, from sales to marketing, to finance to legal and accounting. When did the accounting department last do your personal taxes. Accounting is only for the company. DUH!
@@hernandayolearyallda You completely misunderstand the premise. The accounting department, finance, sales etc. are not presented as someone who 'looks after the employees' however the HR department is. Insanely stupid comment. Probably a HR assistant who drank the coolaid. Stupidity at its finest. Read your company handbook for each department. I am sure you will not find a single department where it's stated that they're there for the employees and their wellbeing, but 100% something along those lines are there for the HR department. DUH!
I just had a company ask me to sign a severance agreement! I refuse to do so because they have lied to my face about everything! In that agreement, I was told not to seek counseling for the psychological damage they inflicted on me!
I worked at a company where we went through a few rounds of layoffs...any time the HR manager would come up to our department, we wondered who is next....I was at a nearby restaurant for lunch...and standing in line waiting to pick up my meal....the HR manager standing behind me and tapped me on my shoulder to say hello. I probably jumped about 5 feet in the air, thinking she followed me to lunch to hand me my papers....no she was getting lunch as well and just wanted to say hello.
-Some HR people don't even have a background in business studies, especially here in Europe. Some of them went for random (usually humanities related) degrees and then did a course in HR. Those people are in charge of deciding who is in and out of the company, and most of the time I realised that the recruiter didn't have a clue about all the technicalities involved within the position. The interview was more about 'understanding' if I was a good fit. Organisational behaviour is not a thing, it's a conceptual mash-up of principles derived from psychometry, leadership and behavioural psychology. When applying for SMEs, I had practically direct contact with the real employer and I frequently got employed. When applying for larger companies, it is quite difficult to get past the first step of the interview once HR is involved. This should ring a bell, I hope most of the HR function will be automised, I think AI will have a less biased approach to managing the personnel across the various stage of the candidate journey and beyond.
It's so true. I'm from a central-european country and all HR departements here seem to be full of some random people witout any appropriate experience or business education. That's why I like working for small business. When you can talk to a company owner it's so much easier to get a job, they are much more reasonable.
@@rarr2130 exact, Europe is far behind the US, although loads of courses are outlined following US business criteria without a realistic alignment within the EU businesses' infrastructure.
The requirement of employee to sign the arbitration form pre-employment or otherwise grounds for disqualification/termination should not be legal. I don't understand how supreme court can be pro for such unfair thing!
@@manny9323 Regardless of their stance on the subject, this is clearly and widely happening much like the "Equal Opportunity Employer" nonsense. We all know there is hardly anything "equal" in job opportunities and hiring process.
I have experienced this HR hate me thing. I was with company for 8yrs then I didn’t quit I requested to change from employment to PRN employment. The HR didn’t like it when I applied again for a full time job because there’s a open position they treated me badly even they need staff for the position opening
I had a previous immediate supervisor who went into a conference with Human Resources. The conversation apparently was about him wanting to grieve about our district manager's management style and oddly his attempting to advocate for the staff to get better wages. Apparently, the conversation ended with him being so frustrated that he gave his immediate resignation When this was shared with me I immediately explain to my colleague that he skipped over steps. He was supposed to attempt to try to find a resolution with our District manager. Even him asking if the Regional Manager could be a part of the conversation. But going to HR about someone's management style was not a legitimate reason unless our DM was doing something illegal. Additionally, rates are standard with each position having a specific rate that aligns with industry standards. He should have been asking for clarity on what was standard instead of looking for a resolution.
I knew some HR persons that take pride in their reputation as “scalp hunter”. They even say , with a smile:” the quickest way to the top is a high body count”
Hartford Insurance has the WORST HR department I have ever dealt with. It's all about finding ways to get you fired once your boss wants you out. They claim they are there to help you, but it's a damn lie.
Yeah they're the ones who guarantee your promotion at 5 years in writing, but you get fired instead cause the COOs son needs a job right at your 5th year.
Really, "Human Resources" has only two basic goals: 1) To execute the will of the managers, and 2) To protect the company from lawsuits, mainly from workers And they are quite ruthless at both. Some HR departments, however, let their power go to their head and actually go rogue. I had that happen at University of Michigan when I accidentally stepped on some professor's toes, and HR *instantly* moved to fire me - against both my boss' and HIS boss' wishes and the latter was pretty senior management. On the word of someone who had no direct authority over me, and who turned out to be a junior professor. Eventually it resulted in a termination hearing where I basically told them - fire me and get sued for wrongful termination and discrimination under the ADA. And both my bosses backed me up. Then, and ONLY then, did they back down. I wasn't fired. They got the last laugh, though. I was laid off within a few months of the whole mess.
you need to to get your financial independance to get rid of those nasty recruiters and HR and those stupid interviews and employee infantilisation. loyalty goes both ways
The fact is, a lot of employers and HR don't care about the employees. In employment, everyone is using each other to achieve their own ends. As long as you know your employer is not your friend, and you are not theirs.
I mean it's still human to human, no matter how big the company is. Any relationship has a mutual benefit to it, but yes a job is going to come with different boundaries and parameters than say a platonic friendship, or a romantic relationship..... but, they all have a boundary and parameters somewhere. What you said can apply to any human to human exchange At the end of the day every individual has to make choices and live with them, better choices will yield you better results. But there's no place to escape the possibility of disappointment, failure, or rejection. A job may not be your friend, but you can mentally clock out of your job whenever you want. You can't do that with a friend It's all about, choices
I remember receiving a letter in the mail a few days after resigning a job saying that I was terminated due to "voluntarily quitting". That was the first time I've ever seen a letter like that after resigning a job. I wonder if that is the reason why I was having a difficult time finding a new job for a few months after leaving that company.
My best guess would be that they wanted to document you quit your job so that their unemployment insurance doesn’t go up. Also, I read that it takes on average three months to find a new job so don’t feel demotivated for not finding a new job within a month. Hope you found a better position!
I'm not sure about the US, but in Australia, "voluntary quitting" a job delays your ability to apply for unemployment benefits. That's why many will turn up late to work repeatedly to get fired instead so they can apply for benefits straightaway. They could be just digging the knife in for the last time for the fun of it. Narcissists love that stuff.
As someone who has worked in Human Resources (HR) for a time, I can tell you that HR is there to strictly benefit the company or business, not the people who work for the company or business. HR’s sole purpose and reason for existing, is to manage humans, whom a company or business views as simple tools, a resource, to achieve an end goal. HR then attempts to protect the company’s or business’s investments and assets by trying to ensure those tools act and behave in the exact and proper way that they were hired (bought) for, that those tools are following all the proper designated processes and procedures (to avoid legal issues), and ultimately that those tools don’t end up dulling or breaking all together (burn out and/or performance issues). Otherwise, those dull or broken tools will be quickly and easily thrown away and a new tool will be acquired as swiftly as possible as a replacement. EVERYTHING an HR department does, is ultimately from this lense. If it ever seems like your HR department “cares” about you or is doing something nice for you, know that the ulterior motive behind it stems from the singular purpose and goal I mentioned above. It’s basic psychological manipulation tactics.
Nice way to sum it up. Being in healthcare, I have to develop this same level of indifference. If you cared, you wouldn't be able to do the job. HR is just another job, they have to be indifferent. They fire people and some of these people experience tragedy from the firing. So, the natural response is to see people as objects. It's just the nature of the position. Only way to avoid this is to work for yourself.
I did work in one life insurance company inside Houston Texas where it was very obvious that the HR department strictly there to protect the corporation. It was a big wake-up call for me and I was always very careful about accessing the HR department before accepting a job
I had 8 years of stellar reviews at a very large cable company. My wife got very ill. My sup put in my yearly review that I used to much FMLA and lowered my score until they could build a case to fire me as well. ( I did march right in to HR and tell them that by law they couldn't put that in a review) HR is not for employees
I think we can divide HR into 2 types, groups or categories: #1.) Guard dogs or enforcers for the business owner/s and #2.) Employee support - those who are supposed to assist and answer employee concerns, benefits, etc. Personally, I never had any problem with Group#1 and I think you will only encounter them if you are suspected of violating any company policies. I am however very pissed at HR Group #2 because most of the time they are not doing their jobs.
Very informative & a reminder of the state of the social contract or lack thereof between employer & employee. There were a lot of good points that people need to be aware of regarding the terms of their employment. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Thanks for another great video Brian. Branigan was an excellent guest. Perhaps in the future you could delve more deeply into performance appraisals.
Unless your job involves duties within HR or senior / c-suite management, minimize your interactions with HR as much as possible. Avoid exposure as best as you can because a low profile can allow you to keep a job.
Really learned a lot!….wish I had this information years ago…..wow…. Confirms what I’ve always suspected was true…..keep all of this truth-telling coming….. Thank you for this video ♥️
Very important understanding is that HR duty is to protect the Company. Then, depending on country and context, they can be very helpful in terms of on the job trainings, obvious personal crisis and so forth.
Just out extreme curiosity here. Hypothetical question. I hope people will have a good discussion over this. What if it was fully illegal for any company to have hr workers?
At 27:00 through 28:00, I immediately thought of communications that came out when IBM personnel were ridiculing older employees as dinsaurs, etc. E-discovery is a wonderful thing.
As a 30+ year HR professional, I can't disagree with most of what is being said here. It's embarrassing to the profession how many incompetent HR staff are out there (sadly it may be a majority), and that's in large part why HR has a bad reputation. There's a huge misconception that "anyone can do HR." The resentment of HR is misplaced, though. The buck stops with the executive management of the company. If HR feels anti-employee, it's because that is the culture that is coming down from the top management of the organization. They've hired incompetent HR staff to help promote that culture, because a competent HR professional would not work for (or stay long, if duped into joining) a company with that type of culture. If HR treats employees like crap, it's because management either wants it that way, are not hiring competent professionals, or aren't holding HR staff accountable to treating employees with respect and dignity. Yes, part of HR's job is legal compliance and risk management. But it's also to be the conscience of the organization and promote doing the right thing, even when it's not convenient or creates a business challenge to the organization. In my career I've gone toe-to-toe with executives and put my own job at risk to defend an employee or compel management to do the right thing by employees when making or rolling out a business decision. (I'm not a "yes-man" to management.) Yes, sometimes there are hard decisions that have to be made for the long-term survival of the organization, due to internal directives or in response to external forces. But how are those hard decisions implemented? THAT is the harder and more critical part. In people-centric organizations going through financial hard times, I've seen management reduce their own pay to minimum wage for a period of time in order to give high-performing employees a pay increase. I've seen them forego their own bonuses so that employees would receive bonuses (even if the bonuses were not much, the gesture was appreciated by employees). I've had my manager cut his own pay in order to give me a pay increase because increasing payroll was not an option in lean times. When executive management claims to value the people in their organization, they put their money (and other business practices) where their mouth is. That being said, in a competently-run organization with a competent HR team, a "bad" employee is an anomaly that is swiftly dealt with, and I have no problem freeing up that individual to pursue employment elsewhere.
The more and more I hear about how you are in a constant battle with your employer and HR the more I feel I should start my own business and do my own thing and work for myself. At that point it's only me and the customer.
It was clear to me from the name. Personnel changed to Human Resources about 20(?) years ago. Corporations EXPLOIT resources. Performance reviews are very subjective unless they have some clear and logical metrics.
I guess it might be different in non-profit, for-profit and gov't. I've worked with great people who worked in HR. In fact, when I was getting my BA, I had to do a paper on HR and their role in non-profit management. I reached out to the HR Deputy Director of the org I worked for and asked her if she would help me out and let me interview her. She was super excited and really helped me formulate my paper, gave me stats, and all kinds of info.
As long as you know your rights as an employee then it should not matter whether Human Resources likes you or not. Just like you they are simply doing their job to earn a paycheque.
Because it shouldn't be called "human resources", it should be called "corporation's bodyguard"
"Human resources" is often misinterpreted as "Resources for Humans". It's "Humans AS resources".
or Slave Control
@@travis1240 you're 💯% correct
🙌❤️💯🙈
Lmao yes! 🤣😩
I have worked at multiple Fortune 500 companies and have never encountered an HR Manager that had empathy or self-awareness.
And that says a lot.I think companies
are allowed to get away with way to
much in this country.
As you have said in past videos...HR works to protect the business and not the employees.
I worked for a company for 11 years. I consistently got “meets” or “exceeds expectations” during the first ten years. I was diagnosed with a disability in my last year and was fired for performance.
I should have seen it coming. After I told them about my disability, all positive feedback I received was verbal and all negative feedback was in writing. They were clearly building a case to get rid of me.
This is a great reason to post all documentation for all to see. I did this to a bad boss and he ended up quitting! The boss got angry when people he met were coming up to him and getting angry with them! Also the HR rep ended up quitting because she discovered no one would work there!
Coincidentally, the year I was fired, my company was on the World’s Most Ethical Companies list. The year after I was fired, they were not.
I have come to understand, as time goes on, that "performance reviews" will often be used as a tool to advance/preserve employees that people in the company like, and get rid of people they don't like. I also received stellar reviews for several years on a job, until we got new management and I received the worst review possible. Mind you, I had never had performance discussions or been given any indication that I was not up to par. Nope, I was getting verbal praise, but they were building a case against me in secret. It's truly sad how often companies will weaponize their HR tools to play political games.
And you’re surprised?
People should not have to feel a need to disclose a disability. There are plenty of "accommodations" which benefit many employees and people should seek to understand that some things may be difficult for some and not assume bad intentions.
Unfortunately, that isn't always the reality, and I am sorry you have had to go through that.
A thing to remember: HR has access to your work email and can look through your inbox/outbox, calendar etc. Be mindful of who you email and what you say.
Yes! Exactly!
I've been telling people for the last 15 years never confide in HR. If you tell HR anything, you might as well get a bull horn and announce your grievance to everyone! If you ever meet with HR you need to privately record the meeting (check the legalities in your state of course) or document everything you can in writing. Leave a long paper trail, it will be harder for them to run cover for the company this way. ----Remember HR is NOT your friend.
Someone said to me to put in a complaint to hr about bullying and I said they're the last people I would put in a complaint with!
The best protection for an employee is your ability to go out and get another job.
Or win the lottery or get a very wealthy spouse.
THIS. 100X THIS…
💯 And I trust God through Jesus Christ for that ability to get another job. 🙏
Always save money so you have the ability to quit a job that is making you miserable
@@jillyinthecityoffical yup very important to have an Emergency Cash Reserve of 4 to 6 months of expenses.
I worked for a large corporation for over twenty years. Suddenly, I was moved into a new group with new managers. Eventually, I was taken into a small meeting room by a middle manager and was strongly advised to take a “retirement” package and leave the company. I reluctantly took the package and left. After I left, many of my coworkers were laid off and their jobs were offshored to India or Taiwan. The good news is that I did find a better job with a 40% salary increase.
SWEEEET!!
great
This doesn’t apply to 99% of employees.
Taiwan would actually be a pretty damned cool place to work though, not gonna lie. Having your job sent there without you, not so much.
@@nunyabeezwax6758 I wish I could go to Taiwan without the constant threat of conflict or lack of support from my own government looming over me
The hatred is mutual.
✊
Every aspect of modern life is a battle ground now. It's exhausting. I'm just tired.
Because their job is to protect the employer….not the employees?
Often times bad HR reps will still find the smallest reason to fire talented employees who are assets the the employer/ company overall tho. (Usually over personal issues or just straight up discrimination). The ones who go to the extreme unnecessarily are those that give HR a bad name. 🤷🏾♀️
HR is not your friend!!!!!! They do not have your best interest they are there to protect the company. Life lesson learned
I have had such bad experiences with HR that I cannot trust them anymore! To solve issues between employees and employers, I recommend recording all conversations. I started doing this and now employers are angry because everyone sees what they have done!
Are you allowed to just record that? Are there legal consent issues?
I'm going too do the exact same thing!!! Hidden surveillance cameras don't lie unlike humans 🤥
Man, I really wish I found this sooner. I had to deal with a wonderful little defamation and retaliation issue at work a couple months ago. I was being slandered by my boss to other employees. Myself and another coworker decided to reported it to our contract company. Our boss turned around and retaliated by making up a bunch of lies that could potentially break our contract agreement. My company basically threw me under the bus and did not ask for my side of the story despite me being the whistleblower. They were on the verge of firing me till I told them I would be contacting my lawyer about the situation, in which they turned around and backed off real quick. But now I'm sitting here knowing I have a target on my back because my company believed my boss. The positive is I have my resume all squared away and there are options, it's just a matter of covering relocation costs, which is why I'm buying my time with the company still.
Well played!
HR doesn’t exist for the employee, it exists now for management to protect against lawsuits and manage Human Resources.
I try to keep HR interactions to a minimum. I go there with questions my manager can't answer and they say "ask HR" but other than that I stay away.
There were complaints from our divisions of our company about us not meeting dress codes and working hours while generating 50% of the revenue. So after a remodel HR is being imbedded with us. No one is happy with more forced interaction with HR.
I do the same, the less I go to HR the better
This
This is the way
Never talk to HR for anything. If you make a complaint or even help them during an 'investigation', that puts your name out there and you'll be gone
The only time I would purposefully go to HR is on my exit interview. That's about the few times when it's worth it.
That means if you are experiencing workplace harassment, you must put up with it or just quit.
Or file a complaint with the EEOC.@@bmoshareholderappleshareho855 Or file
@@gotinogadenBrian had a video as to why you shouldn’t entertain the exit interview!
There are a lot of laws that protect the employees? Not in my book. And certainly not in the US. The consequences of a lay off for an employee are far worse than for an employer. The employer does not care how a termination will affect the life of an employee. In some cases, it can be devastating.
I can testify to that personally.
This!
Very true!….those buzzards don’t care…..😢
That's because, you are ignorant of labor laws in the U.S.! Listen to the attorney and learn, fool! You can sue the shit out of a company very easily in the U.S., if they fuck you in your ass!! In Europe, it's much harder! You have better benefits and labor conditions in Europe but the labor laws aren't really fairer or better than in the U.S!! Benefits and Conditions aren't the same, as labor laws! Don't confuse the two! Labor laws protecting employees in the U.S. are pretty strict compared to most countries!! I know this because I have a friend that is a domestic and international labor laws attorney. His name is Eric Bravo, Esq.
California differs extremely from all the other states. California is not representative of the rest of US.
I did have one HR person who did want to help me, but she was mainly working for the company I worked for, and basically had to do what they told her to do. Including getting me fired, even if it meant having to lie on their behalf. She did shine through that she wasn't happy about the procedures put on her, but she still participated in getting me out eventually. I never saw this HR lady again, and I learned a great deal that day, that even nice people can be bought into doing the wrong thing. And yes, they are willing to tell untrue stories to give you reasons for making you redundant. The reason I was given was that a third party could do my job better and cheaper (untrue), but the real reason was because of my disabilities, and a grievance procedure I had to initiate earlier that year, because I was unfairly treated by management that could not be resolved between management and me. And yes, there were loads of things I could have done differently and I made so many mistakes, but when you are inside a burn-out, you truly lose perspective. Boy, was I a fool. And now, 5 months later, I am still looking for another job. I am aware I sound awful, but I am not able to afford the great courses Bryan is offering, but I am learning a lot from his channel. Thank you, Bryan.
The C-suite executives at our megacorporations chewed out the company for harassing HR.
They said unequivocally the following: "HR does EXACTLY what WE tell them to do. They can do nothing on their own. Stop harassing them."
In today's world of workplace shootings, its shocking that people (HR, managers, coworkers) haven't learned to treat others with decency.
Nothing justifies shooting people.
You need to deal with the issue in a better way.
@@dhenderson1810 You're obviously an abuser. Guess in your world if a woman is being r@ped she should just "deal with the issue." If someone is being held hostage with a gun to their head they should just "deal with the issue." How about all these mass shootings, guess we should allow shooters free reign to continue shooting, because shooting an active shooter isn't the right way to "deal with the issue."
People should be scared to set someone off......D light you got the thumbs up because I agree with you. Sometimes extreme stuff has to happen to get people to behave better.
i agree, violence is the only thing that gets their attention.
@@dhenderson1810 nothing? You must’ve not experienced life then
'Human Resources' is the most dehumanizing official business term of the corporate world that I can think of, and it's literally the name of the department that's in charge of the employees' rights within corporations. That's not a funny coincidence. That's what we are to them: resources that just happen to be human. As George Carlin so soberingly put it (about government, but in a similar respect), "They don't care about YOU, AT ALL, AT ALL, AT ALL. It's a big club, AND YOU AIN'T IN IT."
What is a resource and examples?
A resource is a physical material that humans need and value such as land, air, and water. Resources are characterized as renewable or nonrenewable; a renewable resource can replenish itself at the rate it is used, while a nonrenewable resource has a limited supply.
Not all the bad employees started out as bad employees.
I used to be a good employee. But now, I actively try to be the worst version of myself possible while clocked in.
These people deserve the bare minimum, if not less.
You pretend to pay me, I pretend to work. That's the game we play.
I might try to be better at my next job. Depot how they treat me.n
Perhaps. When I sign up a contract for X amount of money and Y number of benefits, I don't expect to get [much] more and then blame the employer(s) when I don't. But if I get yelled at, humiliated, undervalued despite going above and beyond, wrongly accused and then ,proven innocent with the whole ordeal put under the covers, looked down upon for not being part of the upper esch... management, or if I see something that deeply disturbs my trust in these people and their "better judgement" (one of the chief reasons I quit my last workplace is because a member of our team died and there was not a single honor moment or word said about them afterwards - it was as if they never existed as a human being, just a number in someone's spreadsheet) then you can damn well be sure that I will first "quiet quit" and then actually quit.
"Treat them with dignity and respect." SHOCKING! 😱
I like going into every interaction with HR, thinking that they hate me and that they're an entry-level lawyer for the company. This puts me in the correct mindset to deal with them.
I have never been "supported" by human resources. Their job is to treat human beings like resources, i.e. commodities. So of course the relationship is antagonistic.
Human Resources are the core cause of toxic work environments because they don't stand up for what is right. The best way to influence people to do what you want them to do is to treat them with respect and with appreciation, and be sincere about it.
I wouldn't say they HR can top bad managerial style or logistic issues that many companies are plagued with, but oftentimes, HR... doesn't help things.
There is right. There is wrong. Then there is politics.
What kind of babble is that. If HR stood for what is right they'd be fired by the operations manager, just like every other department.
For HR to hate you, they would have to care about you. At best an employee is a nuisance to HR "professionals", asking the same "silly" questions all the other employees have asked before. At worst, an employee is a risk to the company in a legal, financial and social way and the risk/damage has to be controlled, managed and mitigated. The HR people are motivated, paid and directed by the company officers/owners to protect the company and helping the employee is more of a side effect than an intended effect.
So well said!
My best advice is this: If you have a problem with your boss, try to work it out with your boss. If you have a problem with a coworker, try to work it out with them personally. Do not escalate anything if at all possible. If you have to escalate anything, i.e. if your boss does something that cannot be dealt with through talking (harassment, bullying, discrimination), keep your head down and find another job and leave. Don't tell them why -- nothing you say will make them change their behaviors. Just go to greener pastures. It is honestly the only thing that saved me and has resulted in me having a decent reputation in my field.
Reason for staying quiet: Even those idiotic bosses that I had have given me a decent recommendation because of my silence. Use them the way they use you.
or you can sue them for more money
@@athrundead1 You could but once word gets out good luck finding a new job.
good advice and I agree 100%
@@athrundead1 workers comp lawyer is what you need in these cases
And this is how the BS continues, because of cowardly behavior like this.
THAT PART!!! The insensitivity part was the day of my supervisor's wake/funeral that they decided to eliminate my job & close the office. That was a traumatizing & mournful day. Talk about the rug being pulled out from under you & blindsided. 😔
I don’t feel bad for people in HR. It’s not like they didn’t know what they were getting into when they decided to become HR specialists. They knew exactly what it’s about, and they chose to do it. Seems like a profession that is made for dark empaths.
Actually from what I understand most of the time they actually don't know. They think they're actually supposed to be there to help employees only to get a rude awakening that their duty is to the company not the grunts who work there.
By the time this happens they're often already in too deep to back out.
@@MrEffectfilms I mean, how long does it take to figure that out? Seems like they should know at least within the first year what it's all about. Then what? Spend the next 30+ years of your life doing it anyway because you're "in too deep". Naw man. If you stick with it after finding out the truth, you are complicit.
HR will always take the side of the corporation and it’s management
Their paycheck comes from the company - not you. Remember that!
Always ...
HR is really the internal legal department for a company
Nah, more like Police Internal Affairs.
Knowing what HR actually is, is extremely important for new/oblivious workers. HR is there for the companies status quo. Nothing more, nothing less. They are not your friend, they are there to protect the companies status quo. Its that simple.
Big fan of both Brian and Brannigan and so glad you were both able to do an episode together. Young employees need to watch since they are assuming HR is there to help them, they are not, HR is for protecting the company’s bottom line ONLY!
I have worked in a place where they didnt even have an HR. That was frightening, but it is just as well. I tried, in some small way, to complain but was met with disbelief and so I stopped. I think most people that I have talked to have gotten into some struggle or conflict at some point in their careers but I never heard of a single one that was actually helped by going to HR.
I can remember one time at my job I spoke to HR. Me being me I had to be honest about the situation. The HR lady ask me how I rank the company. My question was this:"do you want me to give you a nice fuzzy number or do you want the real thing?" She asked for the real thing. My reply was: "all due respect this company is a 4 out of 10." Her eyes widen that what I said, and I let her know when you're dealing with me you're going to get honest answers. I don't need to sugarcoat, because doing so is not addressing the problem. The company seems to have flawed hiring practices, and they just have the biggest habit of turnover.
I remember a few times I was up for promotion, but they promoted a friend or somebody who was kissing butt. After realizing the positions I was in being closed out because it was deemed not a profitable move, I sent quit caring about the job I do. If freight breakson a trailer I don't care.
Should not kiss butt and treat everybody fairly..
In my honest opinion, the HR person I had to deal with was extremely unhelpful. I reported so many complains to her, even harassment incident etc. And she would constantly say "you're the manager, it's a part of your responsibility" I don't trust any HR period, they let a lot of shit happen without doing anything or being accountable. As long as it's "within the policy" and they can dodge any sort of liability they don't care about us.
I worked at my job for 2 years and even got an employee of the month recognition. I received a PIP a month after I got back from paternity leave and the claims were filled with falsehoods and wording of “your behavior has changed” I’ve always been cheerful and supportive of all my colleagues and have continued to out perform the rest of my team so it came as a rather big shock. perhaps your employee may be a little more stressed with his lack of sleep and enormous life changing event..
This is baked into the employee-employer relationship. The stockholders want to minimize payroll. If they can do that by manipulating 2 people to do the work of 3 people they will. I was told to go to HR over an illegal non-compete. I will only do that after filing a complaint with the Attorney General's office and use anti-retaliation laws as a shield. People don't do well with HR because they haven't built their leverage beforehand.
I dealt with hr in a low level company and after reporting sketcy stuff from management i was treated like a criminal.After that experience i avoid hr at almost all costs unless it is necessary
This explains a LOT about some of the experiences I've been through. Thank you for doing this interview.
I’m actually leaving my current company, not because they tried to cut my pay on a contract extension, but because of this sense of hostility from credentialing in HR. I frequently don’t have access to my phone and they often seem to demand an immediate response to emails with more emails and texts. They obviously don’t understand, know, or respect my work or me, so they obviously don’t need me. I’ll cut my ties and find one of the many companies that DOESN’T want to waste time and money.
HR aren't your friend. They exist to protect the company from you, the employee.
My last company was a family buissiness. The owners daughter was H.R. I was fired for the first time of 42 years of working for something I didnt do but evidence is only required in court.
You have gone to see a lawyer to find out if you can sue their asses.
HR exists to protect the company, not your job.
Honestly, I would not mind companies going back to the old title of Personnel. It's descriptive and doesn't have the cattle/chattel type of overtones to it.
I’ve found that HR is typically one of the more dysfunctional groups in the companies I’ve worked for.
HR at my previous company was horrible. Literally nobody had a good relationship with them. All they did was add more work and red tape to already maxed out employees.
HR is paid by the corporation. They will always work for who pays them.
Everyone is paid by the corporation. Tired of this lame excuse for being a drain on your own community
The truth hurts didn’t it?
''HR and the people they support''. I aint sure who you refering to, but they for sure aint there for the employees. They're there to protect the company and the companys interst.
True
Lol, you mean like every other department, from sales to marketing, to finance to legal and accounting. When did the accounting department last do your personal taxes. Accounting is only for the company. DUH!
@@hernandayolearyallda You completely misunderstand the premise. The accounting department, finance, sales etc. are not presented as someone who 'looks after the employees' however the HR department is. Insanely stupid comment. Probably a HR assistant who drank the coolaid. Stupidity at its finest.
Read your company handbook for each department. I am sure you will not find a single department where it's stated that they're there for the employees and their wellbeing, but 100% something along those lines are there for the HR department.
DUH!
I just had a company ask me to sign a severance agreement! I refuse to do so because they have lied to my face about everything! In that agreement, I was told not to seek counseling for the psychological damage they inflicted on me!
HR is on the side of the company NOT the employee, that is there role, so by default, they hate you
HR is the black Hand of the company. They are NOT there for the employee, they are there to protect the company.
I worked at a company where we went through a few rounds of layoffs...any time the HR manager would come up to our department, we wondered who is next....I was at a nearby restaurant for lunch...and standing in line waiting to pick up my meal....the HR manager standing behind me and tapped me on my shoulder to say hello. I probably jumped about 5 feet in the air, thinking she followed me to lunch to hand me my papers....no she was getting lunch as well and just wanted to say hello.
-Some HR people don't even have a background in business studies, especially here in Europe. Some of them went for random (usually humanities related) degrees and then did a course in HR. Those people are in charge of deciding who is in and out of the company, and most of the time I realised that the recruiter didn't have a clue about all the technicalities involved within the position. The interview was more about 'understanding' if I was a good fit. Organisational behaviour is not a thing, it's a conceptual mash-up of principles derived from psychometry, leadership and behavioural psychology. When applying for SMEs, I had practically direct contact with the real employer and I frequently got employed. When applying for larger companies, it is quite difficult to get past the first step of the interview once HR is involved. This should ring a bell, I hope most of the HR function will be automised, I think AI will have a less biased approach to managing the personnel across the various stage of the candidate journey and beyond.
It's so true. I'm from a central-european country and all HR departements here seem to be full of some random people witout any appropriate experience or business education. That's why I like working for small business. When you can talk to a company owner it's so much easier to get a job, they are much more reasonable.
@@rarr2130 exact, Europe is far behind the US, although loads of courses are outlined following US business criteria without a realistic alignment within the EU businesses' infrastructure.
The requirement of employee to sign the arbitration form pre-employment or otherwise grounds for disqualification/termination should not be legal. I don't understand how supreme court can be pro for such unfair thing!
If you don’t understand how the Supreme Court is pro unfair things you need to learn more about the Supreme Court
@@manny9323 Regardless of their stance on the subject, this is clearly and widely happening much like the "Equal Opportunity Employer" nonsense. We all know there is hardly anything "equal" in job opportunities and hiring process.
I have experienced this HR hate me thing. I was with company for 8yrs then I didn’t quit I requested to change from employment to PRN employment. The HR didn’t like it when I applied again for a full time job because there’s a open position they treated me badly even they need staff for the position opening
Great video Brian!
Listened all the way through because, ya never know when you're going to need this information...
I had a previous immediate supervisor who went into a conference with Human Resources. The conversation apparently was about him wanting to grieve about our district manager's management style and oddly his attempting to advocate for the staff to get better wages. Apparently, the conversation ended with him being so frustrated that he gave his immediate resignation
When this was shared with me I immediately explain to my colleague that he skipped over steps. He was supposed to attempt to try to find a resolution with our District manager. Even him asking if the Regional Manager could be a part of the conversation. But going to HR about someone's management style was not a legitimate reason unless our DM was doing something illegal. Additionally, rates are standard with each position having a specific rate that aligns with industry standards. He should have been asking for clarity on what was standard instead of looking for a resolution.
I knew some HR persons that take pride in their reputation as “scalp hunter”. They even say , with a smile:” the quickest way to the top is a high body count”
Hartford Insurance has the WORST HR department I have ever dealt with. It's all about finding ways to get you fired once your boss wants you out. They claim they are there to help you, but it's a damn lie.
Yeap
Human Resources treats you as a resource/commodity to be used and disposed of...
Exactly right, it’s in the name. People are a resource of the company
Yeah they're the ones who guarantee your promotion at 5 years in writing, but you get fired instead cause the COOs son needs a job right at your 5th year.
Thats why people are practicing quiet quitting
Really, "Human Resources" has only two basic goals:
1) To execute the will of the managers, and
2) To protect the company from lawsuits, mainly from workers
And they are quite ruthless at both. Some HR departments, however, let their power go to their head and actually go rogue. I had that happen at University of Michigan when I accidentally stepped on some professor's toes, and HR *instantly* moved to fire me - against both my boss' and HIS boss' wishes and the latter was pretty senior management. On the word of someone who had no direct authority over me, and who turned out to be a junior professor. Eventually it resulted in a termination hearing where I basically told them - fire me and get sued for wrongful termination and discrimination under the ADA. And both my bosses backed me up. Then, and ONLY then, did they back down. I wasn't fired.
They got the last laugh, though. I was laid off within a few months of the whole mess.
“Hate” isn’t the right word. “Indifferent” would be better. They are there to protect the company, that is all.
you need to to get your financial independance to get rid of those nasty recruiters and HR and those stupid interviews and employee infantilisation. loyalty goes both ways
Wow! Thank you for doing this interview. Validates a lot of things I have seen and experienced in my career.
The fact is, a lot of employers and HR don't care about the employees.
In employment, everyone is using each other to achieve their own ends. As long as you know your employer is not your friend, and you are not theirs.
I mean it's still human to human, no matter how big the company is. Any relationship has a mutual benefit to it, but yes a job is going to come with different boundaries and parameters than say a platonic friendship, or a romantic relationship..... but, they all have a boundary and parameters somewhere. What you said can apply to any human to human exchange
At the end of the day every individual has to make choices and live with them, better choices will yield you better results. But there's no place to escape the possibility of disappointment, failure, or rejection. A job may not be your friend, but you can mentally clock out of your job whenever you want. You can't do that with a friend
It's all about, choices
HR people are just employee themselves
Document everything and make sure you have copies before the company cuts off your computer access to emails/texts.
I remember receiving a letter in the mail a few days after resigning a job saying that I was terminated due to "voluntarily quitting".
That was the first time I've ever seen a letter like that after resigning a job. I wonder if that is the reason why I was having a difficult time finding a new job for a few months after leaving that company.
My best guess would be that they wanted to document you quit your job so that their unemployment insurance doesn’t go up. Also, I read that it takes on average three months to find a new job so don’t feel demotivated for not finding a new job within a month. Hope you found a better position!
I'm not sure about the US, but in Australia, "voluntary quitting" a job delays your ability to apply for unemployment benefits. That's why many will turn up late to work repeatedly to get fired instead so they can apply for benefits straightaway. They could be just digging the knife in for the last time for the fun of it. Narcissists love that stuff.
As someone who has worked in Human Resources (HR) for a time, I can tell you that HR is there to strictly benefit the company or business, not the people who work for the company or business. HR’s sole purpose and reason for existing, is to manage humans, whom a company or business views as simple tools, a resource, to achieve an end goal. HR then attempts to protect the company’s or business’s investments and assets by trying to ensure those tools act and behave in the exact and proper way that they were hired (bought) for, that those tools are following all the proper designated processes and procedures (to avoid legal issues), and ultimately that those tools don’t end up dulling or breaking all together (burn out and/or performance issues). Otherwise, those dull or broken tools will be quickly and easily thrown away and a new tool will be acquired as swiftly as possible as a replacement.
EVERYTHING an HR department does, is ultimately from this lense. If it ever seems like your HR department “cares” about you or is doing something nice for you, know that the ulterior motive behind it stems from the singular purpose and goal I mentioned above. It’s basic psychological manipulation tactics.
Nice way to sum it up. Being in healthcare, I have to develop this same level of indifference. If you cared, you wouldn't be able to do the job. HR is just another job, they have to be indifferent. They fire people and some of these people experience tragedy from the firing. So, the natural response is to see people as objects. It's just the nature of the position. Only way to avoid this is to work for yourself.
Thanks for talking about this topic, great collaboration!
Brilliant discussion. I could listen to you guys all day! 😃
I did work in one life insurance company inside Houston Texas where it was very obvious that the HR department strictly there to protect the corporation. It was a big wake-up call for me and I was always very careful about accessing the HR department before accepting a job
Isn’t HR themselves a type of arbitration for management?
Bingo. They're an internal, in-house arbitration firm.
I had 8 years of stellar reviews at a very large cable company. My wife got very ill. My sup put in my yearly review that I used to much FMLA and lowered my score until they could build a case to fire me as well. ( I did march right in to HR and tell them that by law they couldn't put that in a review) HR is not for employees
I think we can divide HR into 2 types, groups or categories: #1.) Guard dogs or enforcers for the business owner/s and #2.) Employee support - those who are supposed to assist and answer employee concerns, benefits, etc. Personally, I never had any problem with Group#1 and I think you will only encounter them if you are suspected of violating any company policies. I am however very pissed at HR Group #2 because most of the time they are not doing their jobs.
I love how 9/10 videos that mention they'll include a URL doesn't do it.
Very informative & a reminder of the state of the social contract or lack thereof between employer & employee. There were a lot of good points that people need to be aware of regarding the terms of their employment. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Thanks for another great video Brian. Branigan was an excellent guest. Perhaps in the future you could delve more deeply into performance appraisals.
Unless your job involves duties within HR or senior / c-suite management, minimize your interactions with HR as much as possible. Avoid exposure as best as you can because a low profile can allow you to keep a job.
This is excellent information. Great video. Thank you.
Really learned a lot!….wish I had this information years ago…..wow….
Confirms what I’ve always suspected was true…..keep all of this truth-telling coming…..
Thank you for this video ♥️
Very important understanding is that HR duty is to protect the Company. Then, depending on country and context, they can be very helpful in terms of on the job trainings, obvious personal crisis and so forth.
19:37 that's how it is being a LEO and in the military. You are always being watched.
The both of you guys are awesome.
Just out extreme curiosity here. Hypothetical question. I hope people will have a good discussion over this.
What if it was fully illegal for any company to have hr workers?
At 27:00 through 28:00, I immediately thought of communications that came out when IBM personnel were ridiculing older employees as dinsaurs, etc. E-discovery is a wonderful thing.
HR is there to make sure the company doesn't do anything that gets them sued by employees. That's basically the purpose. They're compliance officers.
As a 30+ year HR professional, I can't disagree with most of what is being said here. It's embarrassing to the profession how many incompetent HR staff are out there (sadly it may be a majority), and that's in large part why HR has a bad reputation. There's a huge misconception that "anyone can do HR."
The resentment of HR is misplaced, though. The buck stops with the executive management of the company. If HR feels anti-employee, it's because that is the culture that is coming down from the top management of the organization. They've hired incompetent HR staff to help promote that culture, because a competent HR professional would not work for (or stay long, if duped into joining) a company with that type of culture. If HR treats employees like crap, it's because management either wants it that way, are not hiring competent professionals, or aren't holding HR staff accountable to treating employees with respect and dignity.
Yes, part of HR's job is legal compliance and risk management. But it's also to be the conscience of the organization and promote doing the right thing, even when it's not convenient or creates a business challenge to the organization. In my career I've gone toe-to-toe with executives and put my own job at risk to defend an employee or compel management to do the right thing by employees when making or rolling out a business decision. (I'm not a "yes-man" to management.) Yes, sometimes there are hard decisions that have to be made for the long-term survival of the organization, due to internal directives or in response to external forces. But how are those hard decisions implemented? THAT is the harder and more critical part.
In people-centric organizations going through financial hard times, I've seen management reduce their own pay to minimum wage for a period of time in order to give high-performing employees a pay increase. I've seen them forego their own bonuses so that employees would receive bonuses (even if the bonuses were not much, the gesture was appreciated by employees). I've had my manager cut his own pay in order to give me a pay increase because increasing payroll was not an option in lean times. When executive management claims to value the people in their organization, they put their money (and other business practices) where their mouth is.
That being said, in a competently-run organization with a competent HR team, a "bad" employee is an anomaly that is swiftly dealt with, and I have no problem freeing up that individual to pursue employment elsewhere.
This channel is golden (from UK)
The more and more I hear about how you are in a constant battle with your employer and HR the more I feel I should start my own business and do my own thing and work for myself. At that point it's only me and the customer.
HR is the fox that is guarding the hen house.
It was clear to me from the name. Personnel changed to Human Resources about 20(?) years ago. Corporations EXPLOIT resources. Performance reviews are very subjective unless they have some clear and logical metrics.
I guess it might be different in non-profit, for-profit and gov't. I've worked with great people who worked in HR. In fact, when I was getting my BA, I had to do a paper on HR and their role in non-profit management. I reached out to the HR Deputy Director of the org I worked for and asked her if she would help me out and let me interview her. She was super excited and really helped me formulate my paper, gave me stats, and all kinds of info.
Thanks for this conversation. Yeah, I've definitely learned some lessons here the hard way.
It’s because of all the Toby jokes, isn’t it?
HR isn't there to help me
As long as you know your rights as an employee then it should not matter whether Human Resources likes you or not. Just like you they are simply doing their job to earn a paycheque.
i find this so ironic. at my previous job a manager stole my phone
Seems to me it’s because they don’t have the employees back.
Also please bring lawyers for” at will states. “Calfornia is a different beast with laws
Definitely need representation and advice applicable to at will states