People Have Shared Their Worst ‘HR Is Not Your Friend’ Stories On Reddit And It Completely Blew Up
These people learned the ‘HR Is Not Your Friend’ lesson the harder way.
At some point in our working lives, many of us had a few struggles with the human resource department. When you are young and don't have much experience, you think, that they are there to help you, but after some time, you realize that the department responsible for caring for the little guy is actually a viper's den.
If we look back at the origins of Human Resources (aka HR), the first HR department was established in the early 20th century. It emerged as a way to stop employees from unionizing, and their original job was to do things like making sure that people were being paid an adequate wage so, they didn't get unionized and demanded more.
From then on, HR evolved out a lot, so nowadays HR team handles some pretty specific tasks such as recruiting and hiring employees, conducting benefits, employer-employee relations, people policies, discipline, and many others. Although all of this sounds like a fairy tale, the most important thing that HR is in charge of is protecting the company, just like yesteryear's.
Even though we would not like to generalize, it seems like the primary job of HR ultimately comes down to making sure that the company doesn’t get sued for something. And that is one of the reasons why, Reddit user with the name u/ceowin, asked a question "What's the worst 'HR is not your friend' story you've witnessed/experienced?", as this Redditor once explained:
"Additionally, in my time of being employed for ten years now, HR generally just... exists. I've never encountered an HR rep who looks out for what's best for the company; they only care about the company being compliant with what upper management wants and legal stuff. All of these things have contributed to me writing the post".
This thought-provoking question attracted a lot of attention, and that takes us to corporate nightmare story time. Just keep scrolling it is toxic story tea time.
The question that caused a great deal of attention.
Reddit1. Mentioning a lawyer was a good move.
Reddit2. This is why you should document everything, just in case a situation like this comes.
Reddit3. “I wonder why”.
Reddit4. Nowadays, backups are necessary.
Reddit5. “Well, what do you want me to do about it?” Really??
Reddit6. This is what a great team leader looks like.
Reddit7. Hah, totally anonymous, sure.
Reddit8. Backstabbing.
Reddit9. Sexual harassment must be reported to the police.
Reddit10. This type of situation, should not be tolerated.
Reddit11. We agree HR is indeed a joke.
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12. Creepy.
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13. Oh, come on.
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14. You cannot trust anyone in HR ever, not just that specific person.
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15. What the...
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16. Excellent answer.
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17. Those are some good pieces of advice.
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18. Exit interviews are always interesting.
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19. You have to be kidding me.
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20. "Unique circumstances" are you serious?
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21. Classic fishing expedition.
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22. “Your privacy isn't as private as you might have thought it was”.
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23. That sucks.
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24. “It was a couple of years too many”, well we understand you completely.
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25. Apparently, she liked to chit chat.
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26. “The dumbest thing I've ever experienced”.
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27. “HR is there to protect the business. You want protection? Join a union.”
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28. Good heavens.
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29. What a terrible place to work.
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30. Sensitivity training?
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31. Shady person.
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32. “Marshmallow futures people”.
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33. What a retaliation.
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34. Get out.
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35. Better late than never.
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36. Huh?
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37. “Working IN HR, getting screwed over BY HR”, this one is interesting.
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38. It must have been a misunderstanding, right?
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39. “Glad I'm not there anymore”.
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40. Ah…
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41. Let’s be honest, that work environment isn’t exactly a fairy tale.
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42. For real?
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43. Scumbags indeed.
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44. Opinions seem to be changing.
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45. "HR said they would 'get back to me, yeah right".
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46. To laugh it off?
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47. This is how they solve problems, what the...
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48. You should've asked them to explain why is 'having a baby' a problem.
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49. " From that moment on, I knew HR wouldn't have my best interest in mind."
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50. This is everything you need to know about their professionalism.
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51. And it looks like they also lack the spirit for working.
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52. "Sorry that happened to you" is everything they said...
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Employees often perceive human resources as a tool to fix their problems, but, in reality, most of the time, it appears that HR is only there to protect the company. Although we are sure that there are great HR departments somewhere, it seems that these people were not so lucky to meet them.
Have you ever had any bad HR experiences? Share your story with us in the comment section.