Question on LinkedIn: Why is HR so boring?

Others’ Response:

– I view HR as an exciting challenge, not boring. If you are bored, you may want to look at your skill set or any shortcomings to become more user friendly to your organization. See where you can grow and how it aligns with the organization. Again, I understand HR supports a workforce and organization as a whole, but it is much more than people. It is people’s careers and development, and continuously improving the core culture—it’s human intricacies and business strategy. To me, being at the front line is human resources, this is where strategic decisions of a business are formed, later adopted and implemented to shape a workforce to perform effectively. It is an exciting and pivotal role…I firmly believe in promoting the core values of HR which are fair treatment, consistency, and open, transparent communication in employment practices. Sorry to learn you are bored.

– Human Resources or as we are now looking towards – Human Capital is fast becoming a common denominator in all functional, operational, technology, finance, innovation and growth of any organisation. What’s making it the focus of successful CEOs is the “People” factor. You take the “People” Factor off the Equation, there is no life to any organisation.Its the People Factor that gives life to any organisation – systems, processes, technology innovation etc. The only challenge to HR is how to you manage the “People Factor”. The underlining issues are – how do you manage, choices, decisions, perceptions, beliefs, opinions, attitude and result/impact these create the “People Factor” presents.

– Gosh, Charlotte what are you saying 🙂 HR boring, perhaps some parts of it and it can be in certain organisations – yet also very much dependent on comfort zone of senior management and the HR function (agree in certain cases!). Have a look at what I do on a weekly basis, only fun activities adding value to everyone around me, with a little bit of admin. Perhaps it is easier to say that HR is boring, then for organisations to think of ways to make it innovative, fun, creative and definitely interesting for employees. Have a look at www.newtohr.com and www.humanresourcesglobal.com and tell me if you still think it is boring 😉

– A large part of HR is administering programs.. depending on the program you may work with many different people or with the same small group of people. If you’re not getting enough contact with a diverse mix of people, and/or find administration boring… well that could be a good thing – you have the opportunity then to move to another function within HR or switch employers but work in an HR function which you likely will enjoy and meets your needs too.. Thereafter, if you happen to find that administration overall is boring… well that could still be a good thing – you may be due for a career change and that can be exciting! No field of employment is totally exciting for everyone, and HR is no exception… boring for some and exciting for others.. “that’s just how the world goes around” 🙂 Its important to find work that you enjoy, and far more important than that is to do that work with a fun and supportive team. If those two key ingredients are missing, stress will be difficult to manage.

– If HR is perceived to be boring it means that aliens have abducted the human race and replaced them with robots! Humans are complex and interesting beings and by nature keep life interesting. I must say, in my career thus far I have not experienced too many boring days. Strategizing the human aspect of an organization is probably more complex and daunting than strategizing financial growth or maximizing market share. People who find HR boring are possibly very naive about what it takes to get a group of people to share a common goal and vision, to apply their skills in achieving this goal, and to maximize their own potential. Yes, your earning potential is possible significantly less than an engineer or accountant, but a career in HR is definitely not less rewarding. It is a thankless profession and often does not get the credit it deserves, but remove it from an organization and observe the mess!

– Thanks for the great points everyone. Although I’m yet to enter the field, I believe this comes down to finding the area in HR that is close to one’s talent and abilities. So the question is, where in HR do you fit? i.e. “your calling in HR. It is probably as essential as the decision to getting into the field itself. Beyond this, I share Robin’s view in it’s entirety because my career philosophy is "Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” ” Aristotle

– If you surround yourself with the right people, doing the right jobs within HR, and you research new ideas and implement them into your organisation, you will find HR is the most awesome division within a company. You really can make a difference! I went through a slump a year or so ago as well, thinking my job is all about admin, and I hate admin…then I was challenged to implement some innovative and new HR practices within our organisation, it has been exciting and amazing!

– I am in my 3rd year of HR and I am absolutely loving it. The last role in HR that I had didn’t provide me with enough scope of work and I didn’t feel challenged, so I looked for a new role that gave me what I wanted. I have just started in a new role in one of the hardest industries and I am absolutely loving it. No one day is the same, although there is some admin it is the organisation that makes it interesting. If you don’t like HR or think it’s boring, you are in the wrong profession and should look elsewhere for what you will find interesting. I haven’t met too many people that perceive HR as boring from the outside because our work stories are filled with confidentiality, interesting stories, a variety of different people and some bad and some exceptional managers/people. I love everything about HR. There is room to make it better and always room to make it a tad more interesting, but the type of profession it is as a whole isn’t boring. I would suggest either getting into a more diverse and interesting organisation/industry or consider a new profession/career.

– Although I am looking for a position in HR, I don’t believe that HR is boring. Right now the Human Resource Profession is changing. More and more businesses are realizing that their workers are their biggest assets, giving HR more attention, asking for our advice. We have the power to change the culture of our organizations. To implement policies and procedures that will help our workers, which will eventually increase productivity that helps our organization grow. I can’t wait to have to opportunity where I can be a part of this exciting change.

My Take:

A lot of times people in HR don’t wanna cross any lines since we’re the ones who watch closely how people “act” in the office.