Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

rachelbythebay.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 471 posts

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#331

Post by nicoburns »

akmarinov wrote: post #269
_nrv9 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am always terrified of losing my job. It's a fear I've had even though I've been a top performer the entire five years I've been professionally working. Maybe it's because I grew up poor or because I think things are too good in tech and about to crash any day. My antidote? $100k in liquidity. Preferably not invested in the NASDAQ. If tech crashes, you can take your liquid $100k and move to Thailand, Spain, Portuga…

Not sure about Thailand and it really depends on your lifestyle, but 100k will get you through 2-3 years at most in the other countries, if you live in an urban setting, not really pinching pennies.

I live in London (one of the most expensive places in Europe), and it'd take me 5-6 years to get through that. And I'm not overly careful with my money. Of course this is as a single person. It'd be different if you had a family to support, etc.

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#332

Post by scoutt »

vaduz wrote: post #308
scoutt wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 3rd party HR department is still being paid by the company... If you want something 3rd party that can be impartial ("sometimes", in quotes) and sit on a table with both company and employee, that's unions.

Unions are not impartial - their power in the company is proportional to the number of unionised employees, so they have an incentive to take your side if you are a member - and against you if you are not. It's more complicated in practice, but impartial they are not. Arbitration may be impartial ("sometimes"), court system may be impartial ("sometimes") - but you still have to be represented by someone who can navig…

At least in Italy, your work contract always falls within the general rules established with the unions. At the end of the day, you are somehow unionized. If there is a dispute you can always call an union representative for arbitration. I saw it happen several times, and more or less they were siding with the employees.

I know the issue has 1000 shades of color, but if somehow, someway, in a sunny day, with all the possible luck in the world, someone sides with you in a dispute (and is not a lawyer you are paying), that will be unions.

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#333

Post by pinipedman »

umvi wrote: post #29
jiggawatts wrote: post #14

Many people think that they live in a free democracy. In reality, something like 50% of all working people are employed in a strict hierarchical organisation that is essentially feudal in its nature. Most employees are the equivalent of serfs, overseen by lords, with a king in charge. The common employees don't get a vote. Their managers are not elected. They don't get a say in policy. The managers in turn form a str…

Are we talking about work or life? Sure, private companies aren't democracies, but why should they be? Democracies are extremely inefficient. Imagine if Linux or Python projects were run as democracies and not lead by BDFLs? I can't imagine them being nearly as effective because democratic processes to get new features would always be gridlocked. Benevolent dictators are 10x, maybe even 100x more efficient than democ…

> Outside of work I certainly live in a free society.

Only if you define freedom as the capacity to do whatever is allowed or at least not expressly prohibited by the state without legal consequence. Fortunately no one defines it that way. You cannot be simultaneously free and subject to state power. Companies simply add another layer atop the restrictions to freedom imposed by the state. You might feel freer outside of work, but don't make the mistake of thinking you are free.

Being satisfied with temporary respite from greater restrictions imposed at work is hardly something you should celebrate. Slaves in antebellum America enjoyed free time as well, presumably many were intelligent and self-aware enough to resent their situation despite this.

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#334

Post by carschno »

I worked with great HR people who were trying to systematically identify factors leading to employee frustration, and try to eliminate them. Of course, their motivation still is the (long-term) benefit of the company because frustrated employees are going to leave sooner or later.

However, their efforts mostly led to suggestions that involved structural changes to the company, and were rejected or neglected by management. As a result, the HR people became as frustrated as the other employees, and they left one by one. Eventually, the HR department developed more and more towards one that looked like the one described in the article.

This looks like the "bad" HR pattern emerges inevitably, but given that HR depends on the company management, I would reduce it like this: toxic companies will have toxic HR departments. Maybe the article's metaphor holds in the sense that "nice" security guards also exist in environments where management wants them to be nice.

edit: typo

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#335

Post by kowlo »

rocqua wrote: post #320

I really don't enjoy the tone here. The derision with which it speaks about managers, like they are either evil or incompetent, is unfair in my experience. (my) Managers are just people. They have a task, they do their best to get that task done. Sometimes they decisions that seem bad to me. Often that is because I misunderstand their goals. Sometimes, it is because I know something they don't, and something they cou…

I enjoy the tone because it seems genuine. As with almost everything, I view it as their opinion, not fact. It might not apply to you or many others, but their experience likely explains their perspective.

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#336

Post by b0rsuk »

Has anyone played the indie andventure game Yuppie Psycho? A delicious take on corpo horror. Their depiction of HR department is pretty accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aUESdHCOIA

It's short, a bit overpriced and the story loses its focus towards the end, but overall a very cool game.

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#337

Post by muro »

mcv wrote: post #301
_nrv9 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am always terrified of losing my job. It's a fear I've had even though I've been a top performer the entire five years I've been professionally working. Maybe it's because I grew up poor or because I think things are too good in tech and about to crash any day. My antidote? $100k in liquidity. Preferably not invested in the NASDAQ. If tech crashes, you can take your liquid $100k and move to Thailand, Spain, Portuga…

> "I am always terrified of losing my job." I stopped fearing that when I became a freelancer. It's done wonders for my confidence, and I'm much more productive as a result. It also helps to be married; two jobs give a lot more security than one. Even so, having savings that can last you through a downturn or possibly even fund an early retirement, is definitely a good idea.

Married can make it more difficult if only one person works.

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#338

Post by cccc4all »

_nrv9 wrote: post #90
firecall wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. And nor does anyone have a 'career'. You have a job. When you lose that job, you may not get another one. It's an illusion. One minute you think you are a high profile manager with budgets and power. The next you are packing your desk up into a box and rethinking your entire life. We are not our careers!

I am always terrified of losing my job. It's a fear I've had even though I've been a top performer the entire five years I've been professionally working. Maybe it's because I grew up poor or because I think things are too good in tech and about to crash any day. My antidote? $100k in liquidity. Preferably not invested in the NASDAQ. If tech crashes, you can take your liquid $100k and move to Thailand, Spain, Portuga…

If you're terrified of losing your job, the first thing to do is look for another job, maybe a different field or higher level and higher salary. Give yourself a promotion.

Even if it's similar job at same salary, the point is to go through the process to get an offer in reasonable time. When you get the offer, you can decline the offer, if you're happy with current company.

I recommend everyone go through the job search process at least once a year or more.

Job search process takes skills, like everything else. It's much better to sharpen the interview loop skills while you're currently employed. You can take the time to analyze areas for improvements and learn the patterns in job search, interview loop process.

Good luck.

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#339

Post by refurb »

Not to be cynical, but nobody at your work is looking out for you, with the exception of people you’ve developed a relationship with that doesn’t revolve around work.

Your manager? They will throw you under the bus if it comes to that.

HR? Will throw you under the bus if it comes to that.

That’s just the way it is. I’m not bitter about it, but despite all the “we’re a big family” talk, it’s a business. I think everyone would be better served if we were just honest about it.

Re: HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know

#340

Post by b0rsuk »

ser0 wrote: post #42

HR is not your friend and your company is not your family. Regardless of intent there are commercial realities that exist within the context of a company that may never be present in a non-work relationship. This has varying degrees of impact on the nature of the relationship itself and may not present itself until you are at your most vulnerable. I find that a collegial environment with shared goals and responsibili…

Fine, but it seems to be going deeper than that.

Pretty often your peers are not your coworkers. They're your compworkers (or againstworkers). You'd think they would want to compete with your company's competitors and make things easy with you.

Post reply on HN