HR will be exterminated

An influential online blogger has proffered an opinion that ‘the complete automation of human resources is near’.

Laurie Ruettiman, writing on her ‘The Cynical Girl’ site, says that she’s just returned from a conference in Las Vegas suspecting that the personnel department is ‘on borrowed time’ because ‘anyone can fill out a payroll request form’.

Ruettiman’s aggravation with HR is unpacked in a list of bullet points which include ‘Most HR departments aren’t likeable,’ ‘Recruiting is a pain and they use LinkedIn and Facebook like it’s Monster in the 90s’ and ‘ HR mistakes proximity to power for power itself.’

However, her view of HR is not entirely detrimental, as she concedes that ‘one percent of human resources professionals do important, essential work.’

The comments the article has generated include this from ‘Kristin’:

I work in HR and agree that many HR functions can be automated, but how can you automate listening to an employee who is being sexually harassed by her boss and then conduct an investigation to gather the facts and prevent it from ever happening again? How can you automate helping an employee understand his benefits better to understand the chemotherapy options for his wife’s breast cancer treatment? How can you automate listening to an employee cry that she’s afraid she’s going to lose her job because she’s pregnant and her boss wants to change her hours to work until 2am and she’s worried about her safety ? How do you automate helping an employee understand his FMLA rights due to a birth defect that requires surgery and his boss is forcing him to use PTO time? The answer is, you CAN’T. I have done all of these things for employees. For those of you who complain about HR, you’ve never had a good HR person who actually proves value.

The to-ing and fro-ing on the comments page continues as we write. But even though Kristin is largely talking about the tea-and-sympathy function that isn’t in fashion at the moment, we can’t help but feel some respect for her passion for the cause.

About the author

Andrew Baird

Andrew is the CEO of HRville. He is also Employer Brand Director of Blackbridge Communications, Editorial Director of Professionals in Law and an associate of The Smarty Train. Previously, he was the MD of TCS Advertising.