What CEO’s Hate About HR People

What CEO’s Hate About HR People

Ask 5 CEO’s what they hate about HR people and post their responses on a popular HR blog.

That’s what Meredith Soleau did, contributing writer for fistfuloftalent.com, an automobile dealership HR pro.

Since her question was not open-ended, but rather focused on the negative, it’s no surprise that CEO’s had lots of negative stuff to say about HR people. It’s an interesting, quick read if you want to read all of the responses (find it here http://fistfuloftalent.com/2012/03/what-ceos-hate-about-hr-people.html)

But what I found particularly interesting are two things:

1. These CEO’s don’t seem to like their own HR people and they seem to have a negative perception of the profession as well.

Summed up, their complaints center on the following:

• Bad at recruiting.
• Bad at firing / getting rid of bad performers.
• Complaints that HR challenges them, the CEO.
• Bad attitude. You complain too much.
• The HR person can’t sell, so what good are they?
• Can’t read financial statements.
• Can help identify problems, but not good at finding solutions.

2. The comments to the article by HR readers were, for the most part, appreciative of the article; agreeing with most of the complaints.

It seems clear that the HR people reading the blog are actively involved in their profession, in improving and learning. They seem to acknowledge that there’s a bunch of bad HR people out there who perhaps need to be reassigned or reallocated.

In summary, what I’m taking from the article as well as the comments is that one’s happiness and success as an HR pro could be aided by doing the following:

• Defining what HR actually does and does not do in your organization. This means having frank conversations with one’s CEO to define their expectations.
• Taking a vacation. At least two CEO’s mentioned bad attitudes from the HR people. To me, a non-HR person, it seems that a great attitude needs to be cost-of-entry for any employee – especially an HR person.
• Look for another job if they happen to work for a few of the CEO’s interviewed for the article. Some of these CEO’s seem to either not like or understand the profession completely. Either that, or they have failed to communicate to the HR person what HR “looks like” at their company. Or, they have communicated that, but they would rather perpetuate a bad environment, complain about it, and keep that HR person employed.

Again, I’m not an HR person, but I appreciate the article and it’s contributors for beginning a dialog about a seemingly thankless, challenging and ever-changing profession.

– Charles Drozdyk