Serving as referee for management and employees places “HR in the line of fire daily as it deals with areas of conflict between the two worlds, such as hiring and firing decisions, discipline, performance ratings and other actions where HR is often painted as the bad guy, the company hit man,” Jon Stearns, founder of Vermont-based human resources consulting firm Gray Matter Resources, writes in Enterprise.
HR professionals harbor their own “pet peeves” that Stearns notes are rarely discussed outside their inner circles. One of the biggest peeves is being seen as the enemy. While HR is there to protect workers from mistreatment and harassment by fellow workers and management, its primary responsibility is to serve the company, according to Stearns.
“But please don’t think that I have failed you if your personal need is trumped by the company’s legitimate business interest,” Stearns writes.
The Chronic Complainer
Another pet peeve is the chronic complainer who offers no suggestions on how to fix the problem or offer a compromise. Whether the gripe is legitimate or not, the embittered employee ends up becoming a problem employee for the HR officer.
Friendly Fire
Equally frustrating is a manager who comes to HR wanting their blessing for firing an employee. Outside of inexcusable conduct, when employers won’t give their employees a chance to know what they are doing wrong and a chance to improve, it “drives HR people crazy,” Stearns writes. “Hey, if you are going to call yourself a manager, then manage,” Stearns notes.
Special Snowflakes and Tattletales
Even the most optimistic HR officer can lose it after so many years of dealing with certain employees, writes Suzanne Lucas, in Inc. Lucas worked in corporate human resources. She notes so-called “special snowflakes,” who feel they can flout the rules. Even worse, she claims, are bosses that enable this conduct.
Then there are the “ambitious-yet-incompetent ladder climbers” and “tattletales.” Lucas adds that legitimate complaints of sexual harassment, or illegal behavior warrant a call to HR, but that most HR pros "don't care" when an employee tattles that their co-workers show up late or their bosses take two-hour lunches.
No Boundaries Employees and Threat-Makers
“The no-boundaries employees” love to provide too much information, such as the details of a toe fungal infection and marital problems or have no qualms about calling at 11 p.m. on a Friday, Lucas writes. Other headaches are “the that’s-not-my-job employee” and the “threat-maker,” she notes.
“‘If you don’t give me a raise, I’m going to quit. If you don’t change my performance rating, I’m calling my lawyer,’” Lucas writes. “Please quit. It will save us many headaches.”
Benefits Bozos
Human resources expert Susan Heathfield offers some examples from HR professionals on what annoys them the most. Responses like “‘I didn’t know’” and “‘Oh yeah, I got it but I didn’t read it’” when discussing information regarding benefits that went out weeks or months ago won’t elicit sympathy, Heathfield writes.
Equally annoying are managers who set up HR as the scapegoat when, say, they have to tell an employee that they are not getting the raise they expected, and then telling the employee to take it up with HR. “Human Resources managers are human,” Heathfield writes. “Yes, I know that some of you don’t believe that, but they really are.”