The Rehabilitation of HR Is (Finally) Here
The corporate function with the word ‘human’ in its name will matter most in a world of generative AI.
Let’s be honest. The human resources department has never been the cool kid in the workplace. Behind their back many people used to call this function “human remains.” In fact, the working assumption for years has been that HR is more often on the side of the top brass and too bossy itself. A Harvard Business Review article once put it like this: “We don’t like being told how to behave — and no other group in organizational life, not even finance, bosses us around as systematically as HR does.”
Distrust of HR reached a zenith pre-pandemic when an admission in a regulatory filing from Uber Technologies Inc. ahead of its public offering noted within the summary of risk factors: “Our workplace culture and forward-leaning approach created operational, compliance, and cultural challenges.” This was a reference to sexism which the HR department sat on and ignored until engineer Susan Fowler blew the whistle. The situation led, ultimately, to the resignation of founder Travis Kalanick.