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I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

bbc.com

21–30 of 76 posts

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#21
post #4

With good policies and good people, you don't need "HR". I would argue he has HR just without a centralized department. Although either way, the only good HR is no HR. HR sucks.

I have never dealt with HR and came away happy or less stressed.

Toby's the worst.

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#22
post #5

At this size u need HR just to deal with holiday requests and sick leave.

Not if you let managers actually "manage" their team and capacity. You don't need to manage sick leave if you don't have sick leave and just let people take time off when they're sick and treat them like, you know, adults. I'm sure a manager is also better equipped to know when someone is taking advantage, as opposed to some HR person who's never even seen the employee.

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#23
post #17
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just delegate down to the employee's direct supervisor. You need HR when someone has a harassment claim against a coworker, or their boss. Some third party not in their chain.

Having 150 people do HR tasks means you have 150 different versions of vacation policies. In large companies that works, because there's an actual HR department that writes the ironclad rules that the direct supervisors follow. Not sure how it works in a wild-west ad-hoc environment like this one.

Isn't that a good thing? Each team has its own vacation policy that suits them, instead of some rules imposed on them by HR department.

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#24

More here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56130187 But this is all very vague and hand-wavy as to how specialist functions, skills and knowledge are provided especially with regard to legal compliance, and tech types rubbing their hands in glee should note that he dismisses IT departments as well. It seems there is a more nuanced philosophy here that there may be useful lessons to draw on but it isn't detailed i…

I was skeptical until you said he dismisses IT Departments, now I really like this guy.

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#25

Full article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56130187

> But it is a single, personal incident, which haunts him to this day, that really underpins his management philosophy. "When I was 27, I was managing a manufacturing business in north London and there was a woman who ran the reception and also did customer service, who was in her 40s," he remembers. "One day I heard her speaking to a customer on the phone and I thought I could help, so I leaned in and gave her some…

Something doesn't seem on the level with this article.

The photos are copyright Greg Jackson and Octopus Energy. The office shot is too idealised.

The last statement should be a direct quote, but it is written as a statement of fact:

> The episode taught him to favour a hands-off approach that lets individuals and teams sort their own affairs as much as possible without interference from above.

This seems like his PR team has fed the article to the journalist, who has complied by publishing what they wanted, without researching the veracity by interviewing staff independently.

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#26

With good policies and good people, you don't need "HR". I would argue he has HR just without a centralized department. Although either way, the only good HR is no HR. HR sucks.

As said elsewhere on HN - HR departments are ultimately there to protect the employer, not the employees. This is fair enough, but not how HR departments advertise themselves.

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#28
post #23
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having 150 people do HR tasks means you have 150 different versions of vacation policies. In large companies that works, because there's an actual HR department that writes the ironclad rules that the direct supervisors follow. Not sure how it works in a wild-west ad-hoc environment like this one.

Isn't that a good thing? Each team has its own vacation policy that suits them, instead of some rules imposed on them by HR department.

At that point, why have 1,200 people in a single company? Why not have each team hire each other team as contractors?

(This isn't sarcasm, I actually do vaguely suspect the world would be a better place if we did this.)

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#29
No company at that scale will function without people taking care of all the HR and IT functions. Sure it doesn't have to be traditional, there doesn't have to be a department responsible for it, but it has to be done - and you need a lot of manpower to do it. Hence why you usually have departments dedicated for those tasks. You might call it something different or distribute their responsibilities down the chain but it will still exist.

Makes for a good headline though, who doesn't hate HR and IT...

...always getting in our way of running random code on our machines or coming to work without pants /s

Re: I employ 1,200 people and have no HR department [video]

#30

Full article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56130187

> But it is a single, personal incident, which haunts him to this day, that really underpins his management philosophy. "When I was 27, I was managing a manufacturing business in north London and there was a woman who ran the reception and also did customer service, who was in her 40s," he remembers. "One day I heard her speaking to a customer on the phone and I thought I could help, so I leaned in and gave her some…

What are you supposed to do if the 40 year old woman really was doing something wrong though? I realize in this instance she wasn't, but what if she wasn't a consummate professional capable of anything the company needed but just thought she was?
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