Anglophone and Anglo-Saxon cultures have given the world a lot of great things, but corporatism isn't one of them.
So many of the issues we see today are caused by self-imposed bulls**t we have to deal with it.
The peak of which is probably HR.
No one likes HR. And no one needs HR.
What exactly is HR for? HR doesn't pay you - payroll handles your checks using company money.
HR doesn't even hire you, because whether you get hired or not is a decision that rests with the person who runs your department, or the person who'll have to manage you, or the person who runs the company - but not HR.
Sure, HR can occasionally help when it comes to managing things like company get-togethers but, even then, it's not their money, and it's often not even their doing. Someone else does it, they just sort of 'supervise'.
But ultimately people don't like HR for one reason: they often lie.
When they're not busy setting up pointless non-essential calls or non-mandatory trainings that no one needs HR is often busy lying.
My company recently made a lot of people redundant. A significant percentage of the workforce.
It sucks. But everyone reacted internally (ie, private channels for internal use) and publicly (ie, LinkedIn) the same way, and with dignity and honesty.
They wrote a variation of the usual platitudes - "it was great working with you" "I'm gonna miss you" "My role has unfortunately been made redundant" - that sort of thing.
But not HR. Oh no. HR lied internally. They made it sound like it was their decision, a carefully considered, carefully thought-through, and completely arbitrary decision.
I already knew they were lying. But proof came later, because then they couldn't lie publicly, so immediately we saw the 'OpenToWork' circle on LinkedIn, and tear-inducing posts about looking for a new job and struggling to find one.
I don't feel particularly bad about it. Not even one bit. Because I don't like liars.
Because if you get fired, or your partner leaves you, and you just tell it like it is, you deserve sympathy.
But if you lie and pretend you've made a decision that actually someone else made for you, I say you don't deserve sympathy. Not mine, anyway.
And I sound like I'm bitter, it's because I am. Like I said, I don't like HR.
