Department of hate: Why employees like to dislike HR

He brought up the issue with the company’s human resources (HR) department while discussing the possibility of a promotion. He noticed that while a substantial chunk of the company’s employees were from across the globe, there was little diversity at the top.

The HR team refused to explain—instead, he was asked to go.

“They handed me my severance pay without any explanation. Perhaps because I raised questions. Maybe, the bosses could not accommodate my demand for a promotion. No one explained if there was a performance issue. The HR was called in to do the unpleasant task,” said the 42-year-old, who now lives in Australia.

Few years after Amitabh was laid off, an electronics major started an audit against one of their senior executives. The Mumbai-based company received three mails from whistleblowers pointing out that the executive had taken personal holidays, paid by the company’s vendors. All concerns were brushed aside for years—until a whistleblower letter reached the Board and the promoters. In this case, the HR team at the company wasn’t empowered enough to alert the board, leading to delays in the investigation.

Then, one day, in October 2024, unmet sales targets loomed large for a marketing team at an advertising company. The team had to work additional hours and missed an email from the HR department—a party with snacks and games was being organized to celebrate Diwali. At 5 pm sharp, the party began. The marketing team continued to work, upping their voices so that they can be heard above the din.

“This will neither engage the employee nor prevent an exit,” quipped an employee who didn’t want to be identified. No one questioned the HR on the need for a party when business numbers weren’t met.

HR teams are expected to know the pulse of the workforce, gauge their mood, hire and retain the best, ease out the undesired and get involved in business calls. But as these examples show, it can be quite the opposite. Often, HR is the most vilified department across companies and countries.

If you scan through Quora, the question-and-answer site, numerous discussions over the years have tried reasoning this vilification—from “they really don’t do anything” to “they don’t require any high or special qualification”.

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In 2024, HR and payroll software provider Ciphr conducted a study of 1,000 employees in the UK and found that HR was considered to be “the least productive department, with one in seven (14%) surveyed employees labelling their firm’s HR team as unproductive or very unproductive”.

Another survey of 1,000 Americans last year, by resume writing company MyPerfectResume, reported that 86% of workers were afraid of HR representatives. They hesitated to approach HR to discuss work-related issues, citing concerns such as doubt in confidentiality (37%) or fear of repercussions (31%). Furthermore, 71% thought that HR tends to be too involved in office politics.

Benefex, an employee benefits product company, conducted online interviews of 2,000 HR professionals and employees; the employee research was evenly split between India, Singapore, the UK, and the US.

Called the The Expectation Exponential Report, again released last year, it stated that almost two thirds (64%) of HR and reward professionals believe that their organization is delivering an excellent employee experience, up from 32% in 2023. However, only 20% of employees consider their employee experience to be excellent, down from 38% in 2023.

“It’s worrying that employers feel that they are performing better than they actually are when it comes to providing a great employee experience. It suggests that there is a disconnect between the initiatives employers are undertaking to enhance employee experience and what their people are actually looking for at this moment in time,” the report noted.

Victim of perception?

The importance of HR and its perception rises and ebbs with different economic cycles.

In a paper published by Harvard Business Review (Why we love to hate HR…and what HR can do about it), in January 2015, Peter Cappelli from the University of Pennsylvania, wrote that when talent is in short supply, business leaders see HR as a valuable strategic partner. “But when the labour market loosens up, HR suddenly seems like a nuisance because we don’t like being told how to behave—and we see no immediate benefit to complying”.

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So, in good economic cycles, HR risks being perceived not so generously—as seasonal workers, visible only during “rangoli making competitions”, according to one person we spoke to.

“One day, I walked into the office later than usual. A senior executive from the leadership team asked if I went for an early lunch. In fact, I had a morning meeting,” the chief human resources officer (CHRO) of a financial services company, who didn’t want to be identified, recollected. “Come March-April, the functional heads in the company comment that ‘these are our busiest times’,” he added. The busiest time refers to the appraisal season. “I point out that HR works all through the year,” he said.

At times, organizational leaders perceive HR skills to be non-specialised.

“Firms often assume that the skill set required to manage the HR function is one of common sense while skills required in areas like finance or marketing are learned and specially acquired,” Chandrasekhar Sripada, a professor at the Indian School of Business told Mint. Sripada has worked with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, IBM and Capgemini in senior HR roles.

The problem, he believes, starts at the MBA school where the HR function is often considered to be a ‘soft’ role. MBA aspirants therefore consider specializations they think are cooler than HR. This impacts the quality of HR executives joining corporates.

Firms often assume that the skill set required to manage the HR function is one of common sense.
— Chandrasekhar Sripada

Headhunters agree and note that searching for a competent CHRO is a tough job.

“If there are 100 chief financial officers (CFOs), then the probability of finding an above-average leader is 70-80%. But, finding a CHRO with a strong understanding of business is tougher,” Arvind Pandit, managing partner of search firm Ishwa Consulting, said. “This despite the fact that both the CHRO and the CFO command similar compensation.”

Post pandemic realities

The aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic made employee versus HR issues worse.

Before the pandemic struck, the dependency on HR was work-based. However, between 2020 and 2022, employees sought help from companies when they needed hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and medicine.

From small to large firms, contingency teams were set up, many led by HR heads. At times, these teams were successful in helping employees find life support, either for them or their families.

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But the helpfulness quotient frayed as soon as the pandemic ebbed and offices started opening up. Many corporates started nudging employees back-to-office—the idea was met with resistance. Mint wrote last year that TCS assessed office attendance, among other metrics, before rolling out annual wage hikes. In September, LTIMindtree linked employee leave with its return-to-office mandate. Although these policies have the blessings of the management team, the HR heralds the bad news and receives the flak.

People may have also become more sensitive to toxicity at the workplace post the pandemic, experts said. But most HR interventions are reactive, not proactive.

In 2023, HDFC Bank suspended an executive seen screaming at his subordinates in an undated group video call, citing an alleged inability to meet sales targets. The suspension sparked a debate on toxic behaviour at workplaces, primarily involving stressful jobs in sales.

Who should we blame?

How the HR function and its leaders are perceived has to do with how empowered they are—here, the role of the company’s chief executive and other board members become important.

Consultants who work with firms across sectors say there are enough examples of companies that have empowered their HR departments.

“In India, firms need to develop their HR the way companies like Marico, HUL or Aditya Birla Group have done over generations. CEOs and boards in these firms have given HR the importance required for it to be effective,” said Anandorup Ghose, partner at consulting firm Deloitte India. Ghose advises on rewards and compensation structures across India Inc.

According to an article, People Before Strategy: A New Role for the CHRO, again published in the Harvard Business Review, the responsibility lies largely with the CEO.

“CEOs might complain that their CHROs are too bogged down in administrative tasks or that they don’t understand the business. But let us be clear: It is up to the CEO to elevate HR and to bridge any gaps that prevent the CHRO from becoming a strategic partner,” the 2015 article, authored by Ram Charan (management guru), Dennis Carey (vice chairman of search firm Korn Ferry) and Dominic Barton (former global managing partner of McKinsey & Company and current chairman of Rio Tinto) stated.

Changing roles

The article underlined the changing nature of the HR function. Indeed, practitioners in India agree.

Santrupt Misra, former director of group human resources at the Aditya Birla Group, who was with the conglomerate for more than three decades, noted that the cyclical changes in the economy have pushed HR teams to manage costs and productivity more frequently than earlier. “HR is under pressure to manage expectations as well,” he said.

Misra was a rare HR head in India Inc. to lead business units— he was the group director for Birla Carbon and director, Chemicals, at the conglomerate. He left the group in 2023 to pursue a career in politics.

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Then there is Aquil Busrai, who worked in senior HR posts at IBM, Shell Malaysia and Unilever. Now CEO of Aquil Busrai Consulting, a company into leadership training, he recounts how, in the 90s, he led an acquisition when he was with mobile phone maker Motorola. The company needed a particular skill set in the semiconductor space and was recruiting expensive talent from outside India. In a meeting, Busrai suggested to the leadership team that they acquire a Noida-based firm which had about 465 employees, many of whom had the required skill set.

“The company decided to buy the firm. Wage negotiations ensured that we did not go beyond our budget and the first attrition happened 14 months after we bought the firm,” said Busrai.

The to-do list

Going ahead, what should HR departments do to rebuild their image? There are no easy answers.

One, they can keep minor irritations at bay—small problems add up to the perception of HR folks being rigid, industry watchers said.

A senior executive at a media company in Mumbai tried for more than two years to get the HR to acknowledge leaves that may not be celebrated in the north—the company is headquartered in the national capital region. Under the Shops and Establishment Act, employees get four compulsory leaves—Republic Day (26 January), Labour Day (1 May), Independence Day (15 August) and Gandhi Jayanti (2 October). In addition, a company can declare four more days of leave under the festival category. Companies typically toggle between offering optional leaves and compulsory offs, depending on the strength of the workforce celebrating the festival.

“The HR is based out of New Delhi and chalks out holidays that the majority of the employees who live in the capital can avail. I studied the Shops and Establishment Act, and had to explain how leaves need to be structured,” said the executive who didn’t want to be identified. In Mumbai, for instance, Ganesh Chaturthi is a big festival that warrants a holiday.

The HR finally agreed, but it left a bad taste among the company’s employees in Mumbai for over two years.

HR can keep minor irritations at bay—small problems add up to the perception of HR folks being rigid, industry watchers said.

Second, HR needs to deal with the changing face of activism. The days of strong labour unions are a thing of the past, but now, employee angst is expressed on social media. “Employees are seeking more choice, flexibility and purpose when associating with any company. In that backdrop, the role of HR is changing,” said Rajkamal Vempati, president of human resources at Axis Bank.

Finally, CEOs and CHROs must remember what Peter Cappelli wrote in his 2015 paper—still relevant 10 years later. “HR managers can score big wins for their companies by rethinking programmes that have been around since the 1950s, making a business case for the initiatives that matter, and cutting loose pet programmes that lack impact.”