u/meowmix778

I'm not holding this one in for the Friday vent thread. I just need to yell about this because it's my number one pet peeve in HR.

Came to work early, and people were squabbling about the fridge, and somehow it was my problem. Apparently someone was keeping a week's worth of Red Bull, and ANOTHER person stole one, but that other person had their fancy breakfast sandwich stolen, and someone else is mad the fridge is full and apparently it was my job to go in there every Friday and throw away all the food.

I've dealt with this at every workplace I've had. Someone is leaving 5-week-old food in the fridge, someone has 24 cans of soda and a week's worth of groceries, another person had food stolen, and another person cleaned the fridge out and threw out a person's great-great-great-grandmother's family heirloom Tupperware.

I can't stand how many workplaces try to turn HR into the fridge police. I haven't used a work fridge in maybe a decade because of this shit. I keep a lunchbox with ice packs. That's that.

It's bewildering how goddamn stupid people can be with a fridge.

Anyways, what's your fridge story? What are some of the non-HR things you get assigned that you can't stand?

I've been in this role for just over 3 years, and I finally beat my white whale!

The person who preceded me had no fucking idea what she was doing with HR. She responsibility-crept her way up from a bookkeeper to effectively owning all of HR, Ops, and running a program without any formal experience or education. This person was in the role for 20+ years and left behind a mess when she retired.

When the firm digitized all of their documents, boy, did she leave a mess. Docs in random folders, in drives for other departments, mislabeled, the same document duplicated over and over again.

The extra neat part is how over-engineered things were from her. EVERYTHING had a checklist that was like 5 pages long. Every single thing needed to be signed and countersigned by like 5 people. And of course she'd upload the documents in their various stages of completion as a random file name. Greatest hits include "mystery fish" "not HR?" "IDK," "Something," and my favorite "AA_AAA"

When I started, I spent my first 3 weeks with our counsel digging through this web to find all the employee docs and separating out things like medical information or correcting I-9s. I built a new system from scratch and left the big pile as a "to do."

I've been slowly chipping away at it here and there and having my team work on it when/where they can as a rainy day project.

I got back from vacation on Monday and sat with my generalist when she got in and told her that we are both going to sit in the conference room until this is done after I dig my way out of my emails from vacation.

After a few days of sorting, it's finally done. DING DONG The fucking pile is gone.

What wins have you guys gotten this week? Love to hear the good news.

I saw a few people getting genuinely angry that Sanders and others are withdrawing support on Platner. So I want to just share a comment I made elsewhere so more people can see it because it's worth repeating.

Copying/pasted comment below:

The idea should be that no one person is what you support but the values and messages they push.

I've been leery of Platner and reluctantly voted for him because of a well-documented history of what I would politely describe as judgment errors and problematic issues in his past.

The fact that Platner wasn't actively living the values that he was pitching is a problem. It felt like a hat he was wearing to get support. I'm not resigned to the fact that a person can change and deserves the opportunity to change. But being a public official is not something you are owed.

The reality is the dems poorly vetted him before approaching him, he misrepresented his past to the campaign officials and as far as a candidate goes, he is and was damaged goods.

I'm glad that he's (hopefully) getting pulled. The "progressive" movement doesn't need this sort of spotlight on a national stage. If we want this thing to work, we need respectable and viable leaders to be responsible stewards of the future. Not some terminally online dude who's willing to drop ableist slurs on the campaign trail.

If you're stuck on Platner no matter what, that is super worrying to me. It's the same feedback we would offer to MAGA. You can't just "yes and" past certain issues or go "he says what I like, so I'll ignore the rest".

A lot of people are saying "innocent until proven guilty". But this isn't the first allegation, this isn't a criminal trial, and most importantly, this didn't occur in a vacuum. He has a history that makes it very easy to see this happening. The people tripping over themselves to defend Platner remind me a great deal of Trump and the Access Hollywood tapes.

In fact - the people going "yeah but Trump did it" need to finish the sentence with "so why can't he". Zero. Zero is the number of rapes we should accept.

I for one am not willing to sacrifice the movement at the feet of one guy because he was charismatic. It's time we cut him and find someone who can actually beat Collins.

I wanted to give an update on a post I made a few days ago.

I'm sharing this mostly because I've seen a TON of "what should I do about this job" posts on here in the last week or two.

First, I want to acknowledge my own bias and thank the people here who called it out. I was allowing my experience in a toxic workplace to shape my view of an entire demographic of people, which is toxic as fuck.

I think HR professionals should hold themselves accountable to the same values we expect from others. Having that pointed out to me was a humbling but valuable learning experience. It's very easy to justify your own bullshit. Justification is a dangerous state of mind and you should make sure you place as many walls between it and yourself.

After reading the feedback, I brought the situation to a long-time mentor. Without getting into the personal details of those conversations, he urged me to go back to the hiring manager, be honest about my concerns, explain where they were coming from, and ask whether I could do a job shadow before making a final decision.

The hiring manager was immediately receptive and appreciated the honesty. He shared that this sort of thing has happened before, and it made a hard barrier for HR and front-line staff. A few people in another thread commented about how these workers seldom have visibility, and that was the case here from past HR teams.

TBH that was a bit of a gut punch for me and motivated me. I want to make sure all people are seen and heard. That's kind of the lodestar that got me into HR.

On Monday, I spent the day at the plant with the person currently doing the role. I was able to quash the fears I had. The people were great, and the work was comfortable. A lot of the imposter syndrome was gone just getting a rep or two in. As a tangent, just because you've never worked in a certain domain and need to learn that "thing" at the end of the day, HR is HR.

The ride home I started to realize it wasn't really about the job itself. I was really struggling with the idea of losing time with my family, seeing my kids less, and losing some of the flexibility I enjoy.

By that point, I had already submitted my two weeks' notice, but on Tuesday, I went back to my boss and had a much more candid conversation than we had previously. I told him that I used PTO to go check out their facility and shared the shadow experience and the unease I had. I also started to tell him things about my current role that give me pause and anxiety.

I told my boss the 3 biggest things that were pushing me out were responsibility creep in my current role, uncertainty about funds for the agency, and compensation. The "not knowing if I'll have a job soon" was admittedly the largest piece.

To his credit, our ED was extremely receptive and equally candid. He walked me through the organization's financial outlook and explained that we have about a 2-year runway if all the grants disappeared today for my role. He also shared contingency funding plans the board has generated.

I want to take ownership of something here. During all the conversations we have had about the potential RIF and contingency planning, I never asked, "And what about me?" I just filled those gaps in myself.

He also told me that he had been prepared to discuss a counteroffer earlier, but he had gotten the impression that my mind was already made up and wanted to respect that decision. So I asked to chop that wood.

He offered an immediate 8% salary increase along with an annual bonus worth roughly 18% of my salary for at least the next three years. It's still not even in the neighborhood of the other role's salary, but I can live off my current salary, so some extra money never hurts.

We also finally addressed a long-standing issue in my role. Over the last year, I have inherited several responsibilities that have nothing to do with HR. We worked out a plan to transition those duties back to the appropriate areas of the business and set some deadlines for them to be fully transitioned.

In the end, I decided to stay where I am and just got off the phone declining the manufacturing role.

Career decisions are hard, man, especially if you have a house and kids. Something I tell my team regularly is "Don't tell me what you think, tell me what you know and show me the information to support it".

So, if you're struggling with a career decision like this, roll your sleeves up and ask the difficult questions. Ask to shadow if you can, if you think it might be a dud of a company, tell them and ask how they can guarantee your future. The grass isn't always greener, either. Ask to have a conversation about retention with your current role. And if the job you're going to doesn't feel right, ask yourself why that is and what you can do to resolve it. If you're afraid to ask a difficult question of an employer, either future or prospective, because you fear retaliation, ask yourself if that's you just getting into your own head, or if it's not, what the fuck does that mean for the job? Probably a lousy place.

Nobody is a mind reader (that I am aware). If you don't speak up, people won't know. That goes for anything. Poor working conditions, dissatisfaction with wages, etc. I frequently say that you need to learn to advocate for yourself, but here I am again, not living the advice that I give.

I'm mostly sharing this to update my previous post, but also to hopefully give people on here who are thinking through the same thing an example of a peer who stumbled so they don't have to.

Sorry for the essay. One day, I'll learn to write succinctly.

I’m looking for some advice. My HR career has now hit most of the industries I swore I’d avoid in college: retail, healthcare, nonprofit, and banking. The only one left was construction/manufacturing.

A recruiter reached out about a Sr. HRBP role at a metal production company, and after interviews, I now have a final offer in hand. The offer is strong, they’ve been flexible, and they even worked around a vacation I already had planned so I could start July 1. On paper, everything looks solid. I also appreciate that there's a path up the ladder for growth. Right now I'm at the top of the food chain in a small/medium org, and I do recognize that no growth in my mid 30s isn't it.

My hesitation is more cultural and personal. Years ago, I worked at a hunting/fishing retailer, and some of the very loud politics and personalities from parts of the blue-collar workforce were honestly draining.

I don’t dislike blue-collar people at all. I grew up around plenty of those guys because that's what my folks did for work, and aside from my job, I still align myself that way quite a bit.

But I really enjoy the culture and people at my current job. People here are more progressive and emotionally intelligent in a way I haven't observed before in a workplace. I don't have to bite my tongue about my feelings.

I’m also worried about the realities of manufacturing HR. A mentor of mine worked in construction HR and talked a lot about injuries and occasional fatalities. I genuinely don’t know if I have the stomach for handling that regularly.

I also have a lot of self-doubt on this. Part imposter syndrome, part honest reflection, but I question whether my skill set is strong enough for the role. I’d also lose a ton of autonomy and flexibility. My current nonprofit role has an incredible work-life balance, and I haven’t been fully in the office since before 2018. I mentally struggle to place myself back in that reality.

I also love my current job. Best job I’ve ever had. I just know I’m significantly underpaid, and our nonprofit's funding is shaky right now so I don't see that being resolved. I don't want to be caught holding the ball if the grants we just submitted don't come back positive and I get laid off. I wonder if that means I just don't have the risk tolerance for this field.

I also feel guilty leaving because I know my ED is already stretched thin, doing a few other jobs from recent resignations, and I worry my departure could really hurt the organization. I know for a fact he can't handle all the HR functionality, and it might push him to leave. And if he leaves, I see a lot of other dominoes falling. Intellectually, I know loyalty like this won't help me pay my bills and is only going to hurt me. But I also recognize a lot of people could lose their jobs if the ripple from me leaving is big. And yes I know I sound like an asshole presenting that I could make or break the whole org. It will still be here tomorrow if I leave. But it will be a lot worse off.

I accepted the offer because I didn’t want to lose the opportunity, but I’m still seriously questioning whether I should go through with it. I guess I’m looking for honest insight into what HR in manufacturing is actually like, the pros, cons, realities, whatever.

Sorry for the ramble, right now, I can’t tell if I’m making a smart career move or if I'm just attracted by a large salary.

I’ve been on the fence for years about attending my state's local HR conference by SHRM.

I just got a reminder email that it started yesterday and goes to the end of the week. Now I’m debating whether to ask my company if I can still go for the rest of the week.

On one hand, it’s a few hundred dollars, and I’d be out of the office for several days, which feels a little irresponsible to request at the last minute. And that's divorced of the cost.

I hate to admit it, but I've actually never attended an HR conference, and I've always had a bit of FOMO because I like networking and listening to panels on the topic. I am mildly skeptical that I'll get any real material value from these types of events. Having been to a few conferences for work outside of HR it usually goes like this. Good vibes -> you hear a few stingers and buzz words -> chitchat and then nothing happens with all that energy and money.

For those who’ve gone to local HR conferences, did you find them worth the time and expense? Would it be unreasonable to ask to attend at the last minute? Any tips on getting real value out of these events?

I've heard that the local SHRM conferences are of better value and my local SHRM chapter is a great resource, divorced of the national organization. I also have a bit of a pause giving those fucking people money.

Edit - I just needed to say what I was thinking out loud and have it validated. Thanks, all. I'm not going and arrived at that before posting.