Comments on: Bad HR Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

By: bonita

bonita — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 12:50:39 +0000

HR pros get ghosted by recruiters too! We also offer fantastic advice that is sometimes not followed. The risk very well could have been discussed and weighed. Just because a Company decided that a “people risk” was worth taking doesn’t mean that no one in HR spoke up.

By: dumpling

dumpling — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 04:51:22 +0000

Some harassment cases are ignored for the same reason police may ignore most of the rape complaints they get: many of the complainers are lying, and the law against retaliation guarantees that they’ll never be so much as reprimanded for it. So long as the law is this one-sided, *of course* complainers are going to get the deniable brush-off, just as ADA has caused people requesting accomodation to become unemployable.

There is no substitute for due process and accountability. And if the law forbids them, the marketplace will find ways to work around it.

By: Camellia

Camellia — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 16:25:50 +0000

In reply to Camellia. And I miss her dearly. We lost her to breast cancer almost eight years ago. But what an example she set for her three daughters and all those around her!

By: Camellia

Camellia — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 16:23:15 +0000

Ah, diversity training and putting people into categories.

I had a good friend who somehow managed to raise her daughter without labels. Then, when she picked her up from kindergarten on her very first day of school, her daughter came out crying. She said, “Mommy, I’m BLACK.”

My friend told me at lunch the next day, “What was I supposed to say?” “Honey, I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you????”

Note to those who may be thinking this: my friend and her family are definitely ‘black’, no pretending otherwise, which is why I was so impressed that they had managed to avoid that particular label so long for their children.

By: Observer

Observer — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 04:26:02 +0000

In reply to Christine Johnson.

True. But ghosting is definitely on HR – it’s generally not a company policy to do that. It’s just incompetent or lazy HR.

By: Nonnonnon

Nonnonnon — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 19:29:52 +0000

In reply to Christine Johnson. I was the retaliatory casualty of a #MeToo situation. I was fired, and while I think my manager was the one with blood on her hands, the HR rep came out smelling like a stinking corpse too. HR blatantly lied to my face and treated me like trash because they decided to toe the company line. I know that there are decent HR folks out there, but those of us that have been mistreated will *never* trust anyone in HR again. Ever.

By: Goober

Goober — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 16:54:04 +0000

In reply to Mr Boo-Who?.

I suspect what you describe doesn’t often last long, because good HR people don’t like working for bad bosses any more than anyone else. So while I’m sure it happens, I suspect that companies run by such people tend to accumulate more than their share of bad HR people. Many things roll downhill.

(I’m not sure what the law is elsewhere, but in California, the HR people can incur a certain personal liability for allowing illegal behavior to continue, same as the managers from top to bottom. Or so I’ve been taught at my anti-harassment training.)

Which makes me wonder how often HR people ghost their employers.

By: Elizabeth West

Elizabeth West — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:14:23 +0000

UGH
I hate being ghosted after an interview. It’s no big deal if I don’t hear back after simply applying, although I know it’s fairly easy to send a form email to candidates who aren’t selected to come in. But if I’ve taken the time to prepare, travel to your office, and talk to you, it’s rude not to acknowledge that. My tendency is to put companies that ghost on a never-apply-there-again list.

By: Jim Grey

Jim Grey — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 14:38:05 +0000

My wife resigned her last job with no notice. She didn’t exactly ghost but she went in and declared she had resigned and handed in her building key. She was in a sales role and the last fellow who resigned was not paid outstanding commissions. My wife waited until her commissions were paid and then said goodbye.

I had an unexpected job search last fall and exactly one company where I interviewed but wasn’t selected bothered to get back to me. I wrote about it here:

https://blog.jimgrey.net/2019/01/07/hiring-managers-tell-the-candidates-you-dont-select-that-they-didnt-get-the-job/

By: Christine Johnson

Christine Johnson — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 14:03:10 +0000

Suzanne – you did not mention that many times HR is the voice of reason – but Management does not listen and does what they want. While I agree that there are plenty of terrible HR people out there, the good ones often just get overruled at their organizations. They try their best to do their jobs and the right thing. It’s not fair to tell them to do their jobs, when the probably are, but are not allowed to. I’ve found this to be true at several organizations and I’ve left because of it. As an HR practioner – you need to be fair about this.