"Once the shock-and-awe of Harvey Weinstein is over, very little will change for the average worker in America. I know this because I'm a 20-year veteran of human resources. In that time, I worked at big organizations like Pfizer, Kemper Insurance, and Monsanto. I left my corporate job in 2007 and started writing and speaking about HR in an attempt to transform the entire function. I haven’t done a very good job because HR still sucks.
It’s a sad state of affairs, but very few people are shocked to hear that sexism and harassment still happen in the modern work environment. Even fewer are shocked to hear that HR did nothing about it. The lack of outrage at HR, in particular, breaks my heart. We should know better. There should be consequences...
At its core, HR exists to protect the company against employee-related risks. Shareholders and investors want executive leadership teams to improve productivity while keeping wages low. Business owners and leaders need a way to monitor and manage employee activities while retaining distance from the workforce. And most bosses want to keep their hands clean and outsource the emotional labor of managing people to someone else.
That's where HR comes into the picture. We once had unions as mediators and guardians of the workforce. They were concerned about issues such as fair pay, health insurance, and safety compliance. The rise of the modern human resources department corresponds to shrinking union membership in America. Someone had to respond to worker needs and to keep the trains running on time. It’s an unglamorous job with matriarchal overtones, which is why managers don’t want to do it. Cue the modern HR lady...
At most companies, HR is an administrative department that has no real authority beyond our four walls. At our best, we are business partners and advisers. At our worst, we are babysitters and police officers. Final employment decisions rest with the leaders who truly run your company."
I've only had one HR experience, and it was an exit interview, but it still managed to be extraordinarily disappointing. The woman interviewing me asked if there was anything that could have been better about my time, and I avoided the question but she pushed, so I gave her a watered-down version of my feelings of alienation as a black woman in a very culturally white/male space... and the HR representative reacted with defensive irritation. Which is exactly what I had expected, and why I hadn't wanted to say anything to her in the first place.
I don't know if I know anyone who has had a good experience with an HR department (though, of course, I'm in my 20s so I don't know that many people who have had to use theirs).
FB: "And as an employee, what do you do if you’re being sexually harassed at work? The sad answer is that despite what your work orientation may tell you, going to HR is by no means a surefire way to stop this kind of behavior. As women in the workplace, we have to use whatever resources are at our disposal to take matters into our own hands, whether it’s quitting, forming a union or affinity group, or going viral with a Medium post."
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