Human Resources officers are responsible to prevent internal conflicts between employees in an organisation. But what if the HR officers themselves have a problem with employees and treat them wrong? 

Ben Ramedani, the managing director at Unlimited Exposure Online, shared his experience of firing HR officers for not being able to manage employees and even call them “stupid”. In his story, Ramedani witnessed one of his HR officers was mad with an employee and threatening her with termination due to a drop in job performance. Knowing such case, Ramedani decided to reach out to both and helped find the solution. 

The officer explained that the employee had shown poor performance at work for some “stupid reasons” while the said person just stood there with reddening eyes. When investigated further, Ramedani found that the employee had just lost her husband a few months ago and she had been finding it hard to get over the shock of her husband’s passing. Meanwhile, the HR officer only concerned about the results, abandoning the emotional turmoil she was dealing with. Further enquiries showed that the officer had been rude to other team members as well. Thus, without further ado, Ramedani fired the said officer. 

In his message, Ramedani wrote, “We don’t want to work with people who have no respect for others welfare… If you don’t understand that business is more about people, then you have no business leading them. Workers’ welfare comes first. Everything else follows after.” 

For someone who is in charge of employee layoffs, leaders like you might think that working in the HR department makes one immune from being fired. But that isn’t true. Here are some reasons how an HR officer could be terminated from their current role. 

Reason #1  HR becomes inhuman  

Human resource officers are hired to help the company grow. They are responsible to monitor and dismiss underperforming employees who are unable to meet company expectations. However, in certain cases, such as the loss of their loved ones or serious illnesses, HR finds it difficult to manage the employees and end up treating them bad, not only does the HR violate the EEO policy but also has defiled company culture. 

Remember, being an HR officer requires a lot of patience and understanding. HR should also be able to balance between company’s success and employees’ needs. These can be achieved with professionalism and a sense of humanity. 
 

Being an HR officer requires a lot of patience and understanding

Reason #2  HR fails to fulfil their responsibilities

To be an HR professional, you need to possess a few abilities to bring the best talents. But you might get a red flag from your employer when they find out that you keep bringing iffy candidates to an interview. 
Other things that make employer fire HR are as follows: 

• when HR keep underperforming candidates because they don’t want to risk a lawsuit. Instead, they suggest their employer wait for employees to quit; 
• when HR lacks knowledge regarding labour law, thus putting the organisation in jeopardy; 
• when HR blinds themselves with a number, including during payroll season; and 
• when HR don’t value learning and flexibility. 

Reason #3  HR becomes an acute yes-sayer

A good HR officer stands up to management when needed and is able to explain what the consequences of a policy or action taken. If the HR always says yes to everything, employers need to be wary because they might not be paying close attention to the true needs of the business. 

For example, HR manager only approves a pay increase outside of annual appraisal. Or, HR only follows the letter of law when it comes to sexual harassment allegations and never allows racially charged remarks of discriminatory hiring practices. While it is written in office rules and policies, sometimes, an exception is necessary in order to keep a quality employee committed and focused. 

Reason #4  HR only protects HR department 

One of the main functions of HR is to avert problems which often requires foresight. However, if an HR officer only works on fixing the problem when it happens and only cares about protecting their own department’s image, maybe it is time to say goodbye. The true HR professionals should be able to clarify problem while maintaining company image without decreasing their credibility. It is tough but is possible. One of the ways is to consult to other CHROs who have experiences in dealing with the situation. 

Source: HRINASIA

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