Image Source: Unsplash (Austin Distel)

Human Resource Department is one of the most important departments in any organization today. Not only do they communicate things to employees but they also act as a liaison between the employer and the employees.

In this age of advanced technologies, still HR is using legacy systems and of this, it is becoming trouble for candidates as well as for employees to keep track of all HR activities, and this is not the case with small organizations, but will all the organizations of the world.

Where is the issue?
Well, the issue remains in the mindset of the HR Teams, especially the CHROs and Vice President HRs. They believe that HR is there to rule the employees, while in the reality, HR Teams are there to help employees and not to dominate them in any way.

If an employee is not able to work as per the required standards, the HR Team has no right to scold that employee, but to handhold, him or her and help them or develop themselves using a robust Training and Development module. But what most organizations do is remain egoistic in dealing with employees as if they are lower-class people.

We should not be discussing the caste system in today's world, but racism is also about which department you are working in. If you are an HR, you will probably be treated as a God who has the power to make or break a career.

These are the reasons why HRs are cornered, and we have to study "Gherao" in MBA.

There have been instances when HRs have been killed because of employee aggression and in most of the cases, it was the wrong stand of the HR that lead to the issues. And many will argue that HRs only do their work, but there is a way to carry out one's tasks. 

You cant be rude in telling people what to do, they will never do it. You cannot say "My Way or Highway" as an HR.

Example 1:
There was a candidate that cracked an interview and was told to book tickets and accommodation in another country, but the HR Team was delaying the process to send Offer Letter.

This is so weird because HR or TA Managers need to send Offer Letters, and then only one can believe that they are selected. They asked the guy to book flight tickets and book accommodation without releasing the offer letter firsthand, and on the last day when the person had to join, they told them that he was not selected.

How devastating this would have been on the person who had booked tickets to another country and also the accommodations. A simple "sorry" would not help in any way. 

And you know what, this is not as uncommon as you may think. There is a practice to keep a pipeline of selected candidates and wait for who joins the first, and all other candidates are declined politely. 

This is also because most of the Head HRs or VP Talent Acquisition team are skeptical about sending out Offer Letters, I don't know why?

They can just send out an offer letter to one candidate and wait for him or her to show up in the company, but no, they want to keep themselves safe and they play safe accordingly, so they don't release any offer letter and wait for the first candidate to arrive and decline everyone else.

Recruiters need to understand that offer letters are really important and they cannot play with anyone's career or life. One could be investing all his or her life savings on that trip to the country or place to work.

People like them will always suffer, but they make some innocent people suffer, and that is just wrong.

Example 2:
Several HRs in MNCs don't believe that employees can fell sick, and they tell them that illnesses like Dengue or Malaria are small illnesses and that they should start working after 2 to 3 days of rest itself. They also give examples that how they kept working while having Dengue, Malaria, or Jaundice as well.

Well, I don't know how true they are, but I know one thing, the HR that was saying this was a lady, and I never expected her to say something like this. She should have been sympathetic toward what other people might be going through, which was not the case at all.

Example 3:
There was a Head of HR Operations & CHRO, who deliberately kept pending an employee's insurance document just because they felt that they are overworked.

It is good that the person was none other than CFO, who needed the insurance claim, so he was able to raise his voice and shout at the CHRO and Head HR, but if it would have been someone else, then, in that case, the person would have just left the organization altogether.

Although I don't remember the full details, it was obvious that HR Management Team or Leadership Team was incapable of working in that organization.

Example 4:
There was an incident when one of the Assistant GMs who thought he was the Don of a Hotel, slapped a Front Office Manager and scolded all the Management Trainees (recent pass out of Hotel Management College). He was drunk and threatened every single MT that he will cut their legs.

When this issue was taken to first GM of that resort property, and then to HR, those HR Team Members only told that person that he will be demoted from Management Trainee Position to the Executive Trainee Position, and then he will be shunned out of the organization if he said anyone else about the issue that had happened.

Well, he could have shared the recording with anyone, because he had recorded the whole incident, and that incident included the Assistant GM threatening that MT he will be hit by everyone, just because he raised his voice on how he can slap anyone.

Is it the end?
This is not the end of exploitation that HRs and people in organizations have been doing for a long, and there are several stories that even people are afraid to share, not only about the mental or physical abuse but also about the inappropriate behavior of some of the corporates that leads to mental trauma as well.

It's not that everyone is included in this, but I haven't seen a single HR who is milk-washed and has not done anything like this to anyone.

Even if anyone says otherwise, they are hiding something. After working for a long time in corporates, I have seen how people start thinking after a point of time, and how they become more selfish and self-centered every single day of their life.

Conclusion;
This article is not to defame a particular industry, but to highlight the loopholes in society, that lead to difficult situations in every single individual's life.

It was rightly said in Spiderman Movie;

With great powers come great responsibilities

And if you are not exercising your powers responsibly then you automatically become the villain of this real-life movie that is going on around the world.

I know in most of the above cases the aggrieved person could have lodged a criminal case against the organizations or the individuals that have exercised their powers wrongly, but court cases are not always a solution to the problem that thousands of people are facing daily.

Office Politics is one thing, and breach of contracts is another thing altogether, which is also a fraud that these people on higher designations do.

I know several people will be on these designations and some of them will also say that not everyone is the same, but it is when we speak up about these ill practices that we will be able to spot the culprits, or else we will always be saying that not every HR is same. 

We will have to take responsibility as HR to ensure that we help employees and not dominate them when they need us, because it is because of them that we are sitting in offices and doing payroll.

As one of my professors has said before;

HR is not there to dominate employees, but to help them.

And this is absolutely true for eternity. But I can understand that not everyone is able to help employees because of the internal pressures from the Leadership, so one should at least try not to make the life of their fellow colleagues miserable.