We’re Busting These 3 HR Myths – HR Affiliates Blog
HR commonly has a reputation for being boring, for encouraging tattling or complaining, and for killing expressive thought and behavior. In this blog post, we carefully dismantle each of these myths, countering them with relevant info on how HR is necessary for a successful, thriving business.
Myth 1: HR is boring.
Somehow, people have gotten a comfortable, peaceful, and focused work environment confused with a boring one. In most instances, the policies enacted by HR are responsible for a company’s tranquil yet concentrated work atmosphere. It may be true that onboarding materials and employee policy handbooks can be overwhelming for newer employees, but HR departments have an opportunity at these stages to make that information simultaneously interesting, accessible, and compliant. While it’s also true that comfort can lead to complacency, a well-utilized HR department can systematically prevent a company-wide stagnation.
Myth 2: HR forces employees to tell on each other.
HR departments pride themselves on providing employees a safe space to present problems with other employees in order to find appropriate and fair solutions. As a common plight among HR departments, it has been misconstrued and distorted into a disparaging myth: that HR encourages employees to rat on each other. This misconception is totally antithetical to what HR does. HR actively works to build a dynamic, active, and respectful company culture which fundamentally cannot exist when employees are incentivized to tattle on each other. Instead, HR is vital for any business that wants to protect itself, its employees, and its culture.
In fact, as Liz Ryan states, HR gives power to employees and acts to level the playing field.
Myth 3: HR stifles creativity.
This myth might be the most frustrating. For the most part, HR fully supports thinking outside of the box in productive, creative ways, so long as they 1) align with the company’s ethos and 2) remain appropriate to the project / position and respectful to other employees. Again, HR does not exist to plunge a company into staleness. Instead, it functions to save companies money, to protect them through legal compliance, and to maintain a thriving work culture.