Explain Human resources to me.

[Conundrum]

Cost centers for most companies:

1. Payroll
2. Benefits
3. Everything else

It's sad but true. As the price of labor and health insurance goes up, CFOs and owners still focus on "core business" but they forget that HR is controlling most of the money. The most successful companies I work for have active C-level people involved in HR decisions. The companies facing lay-offs or worse typically have the HR people making more decisions than they should be.

The worst part... If HR is provided a solution to a problem or some way to enhance efficiency, they often don't implement it. If they find something that saves the company money, they think the boss will say "this looks good, so you've been fucking up things up until this point?" so HR doesn't have much motivation to improve because a lot of times they are dumb enough to think it will challenge their authority and general way of work life.

[Sagamoron]

^ almost seems like we may be selling the same things to the same people...

[butterscotch]

HR should administer payroll and benefits and deal with basic policies (like time-keeping, vacation, etc.) and otherwise stay the fuck out of the way. I worked in a functional HR dept. for a summer, it was maybe 10-12 people total for a 1000-person company.

I also work for a small company right now and can tell you that making all those policies and dealing with payroll and benefits is a total fucking drag. We have to deal with the DCAA though, because we have gov't contracts.

[Cono Este]

Everyone wants to be the Captain. Even if they are not actually a sailor.

Ego's are bullshit. They dont do shit for the bottom line.

[Benny Profane]

Wow, if anything, I'm surprised at how many HR depts are out there and strutting. I worked for a very large company that outsourced most of the functions, just keeping the lawyers. I thought that was the trend, and that was almost ten years ago.

[Stu Gotz]

On the flip side, my wife is the head of HR for a large investment bank.

We have good laughs on the weekend (I really don't see her during the week) about what shit goes on at work. A whole lot of employees are idiots.

[butterscotch]

Wow, if anything, I'm surprised at how many HR depts are out there and strutting. I worked for a very large company that outsourced most of the functions, just keeping the lawyers. I thought that was the trend, and that was almost ten years ago.

Wow, you need a law degree to deliver pizza these days?

(You guys are slipping...)

[BCR]

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, do HR. Just sayin...

[farmer]

thats hilarious, because I know a woman who used to teach, and now does HR

[SubV]

Cono Este, seconded.

After we finish here, let's start a thread about the horrors of industries that have become operated by engineers with maybe a summer internship under their belts.

Don't get me started.