This is what good HR looks like

Hello and welcome to Working It.

This week’s big FT workplace talking point is Pilita Clark’s column about tattoos now being widely accepted in professional settings. There are hundreds of reader comments. Everyone, it seems, has a VERY STRONG opinion about visible ink at work, with self-declared older people least tolerant. (And then there’s reader Happy Ever After: “I find tattoos disgusting.” ????)

I keep my upper arm tattoo under wraps at work — but I am of course firmly on the “pro-ink” side. Every piece tells a story, and many of them are fascinating.

Send (safe for work) opinions on tattoos, your furry co-worker photos to cleanse my palate, and anything else that you think we should be covering here to [email protected].

What does ‘good’ HR look like?

Whenever the FT covers workplace disputes, employment tribunals and allegations of sexual harassment, one theme often emerges: the shortcomings of human resources departments. Here’s FT special investigations editor Madison Marriage, on the Working It podcast:

“Every story I’ve ever written to do with bullying, harassment, sexual assault in the workplace, HR has been a malevolent force, not a force for good. So I would advise people to be very wary of HR. My experience is that they are there to help the company, not the people lower down the ranks.”

The HR department has an inherent tension because it “serves two masters”, as it’s often put: first the company, and its best interests, and second, the human capital (aka “talent”, but probably not called that when there’s a dispute going down). When powerful organisational interests, money and fear collide, things easily go wrong.

One big change that would help stop this rot, as we discussed last week, is having human resources executives on every company board of directors, so they have far more influence to make sure matters of corporate culture and staff satisfaction are taken seriously — and measured — at the highest levels. Brand new research from the CIPD, the UK HR sector’s professional body, shows a bleak situation: “In all, 99 per cent of boards have a chief financial officer or a finance director among their board members, but just 2 per cent have an HR director as an executive board member.” ????

That’s big-picture thinking. But what does “good” everyday HR look like? By this I mean the kind that will create a healthy corporate culture and help to prevent catastrophic situations. I put this question to Meena Anand, incoming chief executive of the City HR Association.

Good HR, she says, is about “creating some guardrails around organisations — being clear about what is expected from individuals”. Meena had a long career in global HR and saw many situations where internal communication was . . . less than clear ????️.

“Whenever there is a disconnect it is always mismanaged expectations. I have done loads of disciplinary and grievance issues and the one thing that comes up time and time again is that the manager has a set of expectations and the employee or their team has a different set of expectations.”

One of my own issues with HR is that there’s just so much of it. Are these poor people being asked to do too much, meaning they can’t focus on their best work? No, says Meena. “The whole thing about HR is that it is about people, so it can’t just be about one thing.” HR, in other words, reflects the whole beautiful, messy world we inhabit. By way of explanation, Meena sent me the photo below.

I’m not sure it exactly addresses my concerns about HR professionals being spread too thin, but I like the style.

What does “good HR” look like? What are your experiences in navigating HR, good and bad?

This week on the Working It podcast

This week you have another chance to hear our popular episode on imposter syndrome, and how to turn this common form of self-doubt into a positive. My guests are Sian Beilock, a neuroscientist and academic, and Viv Groskop, a podcaster, stand-up comedian and executive coach.

We’ve had a short summer hiatus but will be back with new episodes very soon, with new producer Mischa Frankl-Duval in charge. A big welcome to Mischa — and do get in touch with your ideas for the podcast.

Office Therapy

The problem: I am pitching for a new role with larger team responsibilities but my manager believes I am not ready for it. To be clear, he is not denying me the role, but has warned that I will have to change my style of working and will need constant “coaching” to take tough decisions.

I feel he is setting me up for failure because he expects me to do as he does, even if I do not agree with his rationale (eg back to office five days vs hybrid). Any challenge to his decisions will be seen in light of (in his opinion) my inability to carry out “tough asks” from management. Should I manage the team the way he expects me to? Or stick to what I believe is the right way?

Isabel’s advice: It’s not you — it’s him, but as I have learned (rather belatedly), you are powerless to change other people — all you can change is how you respond to them. So you can work around this insecure man, doing his bidding while pursuing your independent course, as far as you can. Or you can decide to move, internally or otherwise????????‍♂️.

Michael Skapinker, a psychotherapist and coach, offers more nuanced thoughts: “I suggest asking for a discussion about your boss’s views of where you are and where you should be, so that you have a clearer picture of what he needs from you. I sense, too, that you have your own ideas of where things should be going, which are not your boss’s ideas. You can gently try to talk him round in your ‘clear the air’ chat. Or you can leave. It’s an unfortunate fact: the boss is the boss and you are not.”

Got a question, problem, or dilemma for Office Therapy? Think you have better advice for our readers? Send it to me: [email protected]. We anonymise everything. Your boss, colleagues or underlings will never know.

Five top stories from the world of work

1. Why productivity is so weak at UK companies: An in-depth look at the UK’s poor productivity conundrum, by senior business writer Andrew Hill, who digs into the possible causes and then gets philosophical towards the end . . . what is productivity anyway?

2. Interview with LinkedIn’s CEO Ryan Roslansky: I somehow missed this last week so am re-upping Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson’s excellent interview. Ryan is behind the social platform’s reinvention beyond job-seeking, into careers and leadership. May contain humblebragging.

3. How I learnt to live with shyness: Not strictly a work-related article, but Emma Jacobs’ beautifully written piece covers many of the socially awkward experiences that will be familiar to shy people at work — and she highlights the upsides of this personality trait.

4. Leaner times will test employers’ commitment to worker wellbeing: The more employers help staff with mental health support, the more they will be open to claims that they are falling short if they cut spending as the economy contracts, reports Brooke Masters.

5. NatWest chief Alison Rose steps down after Nigel Farage row: Still an evolving story as this edition of Working It is finalised, this tale will perhaps one day serve as a case study of misalignment between “inclusive” values internally and wider business demands and obligations.

I have paused serious reader comments this week (but do keep them coming) to spotlight Tucker, occasional co-worker to the FT’s US newsletter editor, Emily Goldberg. I am especially impressed by the aesthetically pleasing and dog-matched background in her (parents’) home. More like Tucker, please ????. It is about to be August, after all.

One more thing

Anna Sinfield, the original producer on Working It when we launched, is an audio ⭐️ who has gone on to great things. Her new series, “The Girlfriends” is already number one in the podcast charts. It redefines true crime, reclaiming justice for Gail Katz, murdered in the 1980s by her husband. It’s all done through the efforts of a group of women — including some of his ex-girlfriends. It is, remarkably, funny as well as moving and anger-inducing.

And finally . . . can you help with this research ?????????

A callout from Working It reader Calum Carson, senior research associate at the University of Lancaster. He’s running its Inclusive Remote and Hybrid Working Study, and is seeking input from people in the UK with a disability and/or a long-term health condition with experience of remote or hybrid working in the past five years. You will, Calum says, “be part of helping to identify how employers can make remote and hybrid working more inclusive of disabled workers’ needs in the future”. Fill in the short form here and follow the project on LinkedIn.