A World Without HR

Etienne at The Happy Employee asks, "What would happen in a world without HR?"

I've known some pretty crappy HR practitioners in my time. I don't think they would be missed. At all. In fact, I think most people would be relieved they were gone (I know I would be).

But in the case of a good HR department, I think plenty would be missed. Categorically I think the following would take a significant hit:

• Recruiting and retention
• Employee relations
• Performance management
• Labor law compliance
• Benefits and compensation
• Training and development

Want some real life examples? Here are some things that would have happened if a good HR pro had not been around:

A Shipping and Receiving Clerk would have been hired at $35,000 per year instead of the local market rate of about $23,000 per year. Think this only costs the company an extra $12,000 a year? Think again. Payroll taxes, workers comp insurance rate, bonus and pay raise calculations, increased liability on the books for time off not taken, morale/productivity of other employees...the list goes on.

A company would have classified all employees as exempt in order to save money. Can you say class action lawsuit?

Countless hours and dollars would have been lost by a small, struggling company by inviting candidates with "resumes that look good" to interviews without phone screening them first. Further, there would have been no employment brand to speak of as each recruitment would have been directed by a different department.

A tax (not labor law) attorney's advice would have be taken regarding an employment ADA issue. The result would have been terminating a disabled employee who requested (very) reasonable accommodation.

A supervisor would have micro-managed her department to non-existence by insisting it is how, not what, they produce that matters.

Co-workers and managers would have continued to fight via email instead of resolving the issue (and future issues) in person.

"That's not my job" would have been considered a good argument.

NO ONE except for 3 people in the accounting department would have signed up for and benefited from a Flexible Spending Account.

Call center employees would have had to endure being yelled and cussed at by customers as part of their $14/hour job.

Managers would have panicked and given in to ridiculous demands from ridiculous employees when the following words were sprinkled into any conversation: harassment, hostile work environment, discrimination.

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Well, that's my take America. What's yours?