“Remove 90% of HR tomorrow, and the business would run smoother, faster, and happier,” that’s what a recent tweet from Amanda Goodall explained, and many appear to agree with the sentiment. It’s easy to pick sides and express agreement or parallel frustrations with HR today, as many have come to see it as the department that actively works against your interests. The viral HR debate parrots many common ideas about the role of HR within the organization and the idea that they perform tasks that are of little value to the organization as a whole.

With businesses also revealing their desire to abandon HR teams for AI technology over the next few years, there is more than enough controversy to add fuel to the fire. Rather than tear down the workforce strategist’s HR tweet, it is important to ask ourselves why the role and reputation of HR has such a bad rep, despite all employees working for the company and not the individual.

Should Businesses Remove 90% of HR for Smoother Operations? Exploring the Role of HR in the Modern Workplace

The Human Resources department was once considered the protector of worker interests, present in the organization to solely serve the needs of the workforce and act as the mediator between employers and employees. For a few brief years, HR departments held key decision-making powers to ensure that workers were represented in all conversations, and as the Amanda Goodall tweet on HR indicates, they are still invited to these meetings with some regularity.

Much like the “goody two-shoes” characters in every high school movie ever made, the identity of HR has evolved to the role of serving as the butt of a joke or two. HR’s representation in the media has not helped its case. In most instances where HR is brought up, they’re showcased as naysayers who dissuade employees from taking action, choosing to protect company interests over employee well-being.

Toby from The Office may be one of the worst examples to bring up in a conversation on whether to fire 90% of HR, but it is true that despite his attempts to unite the workers and avoid reporting their many, many infractions, his presence was truly never welcome from the start. The idea of HR being the enemy is one that has been repeated time and again, some from personal experiences, and others from what HR now represents.

Corporate Culture Has Changed HR’s Role at the Table

Over the years, the roles and responsibilities of HR have evolved. Rather than being tasked with making key decisions on workforce operations, most are assigned to handling the delicate conversations instead, often ones that center on bad news. Instead of making policies that cater to worker interests, many are solely invited to the conversation to discuss how the reaction to central policies can be curbed.

Rather than represent the interests of the workers, corporate culture has reassigned HR to be the internal face of the company, representing every controversial policy that the company might make. HR jobs are jobs like any other, and there is only so much room for negotiations. Audacious, ambitious HR workers may be able to create and share groundbreaking employee well-being policies with employers, but the final decision on enforcement and execution still falls to corporate leaders.

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