And ruined the company (my add)

• HR departments have ballooned in size. In the US alone, companies employed 1.3 million HR professionals in 2024a 64% increase over the past decadewhile overall employment grew just 14%.
• Professional services and tech firms saw HR headcounts double since 2014.
• Overall, the piece argues that HR's takeover reflects broader societal demands for fairer workplaces but warns of risks if it stifles agility.

The most telling stat for me.
The average number of discrimination or harassment allegations increased 150% from 2021 - 2025.
Increased from 6 complaints per 1000 employees to 15 complaints per 1000 employees in just 4 years.

My opinion - HR is actively fomenting dissention, because that is in HR employees best interest.

IMO, HR is truly a position that AI is welcome to eliminate.

Summary via Grok (Economist is paywalled )
https://www.economist.com/business/2025/11/10/how-hr-took-over-the-world

I totally agree with something I heard recently:

I liked HR a lot better when it was called "Personnel" and all they did was hand you an insurance card and pay you every two weeks.

HR complaint increases from '21 - '24 probably have more to do with what used to be normal interactions now causing offense. And the offended person must be catered to, regardless of how silly or benign a comment was.

What I learned 20 years ago is that HR exists to protect the company from the employees.

What I learned from watching Bill Clinton is that the White House does not have an HR department.

93MarineHorn said:

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HR complaint increases from '21 - '24 probably have more to do with what used to be normal interactions now causing offense. And the offended person must be catered to, regardless of how silly or benign a comment was.

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Agree, my wife and I were talking about this Saturday, which is why this caught my eye.

She was talking about the best places she had worked (retired a few months ago) and how the humor and bonhomie would not be possible now.

When you give a dog attention for bad behavior, it can indeed give you more.

Seems very much related to the increase in administrators compared to educators in our school system. More deadweight whose overhead has to be carried by the producers.

Will read more carefully, but agree with your add. HR is the dumpster department of every corporation.

The saying used to be "lawyers and accountants run the world".

To borrow from Elon's categorization, HR personnel are "takers" not "makers." They are a completely unnecessary evil that is foisted on organizations where leaders have been replaced with managers.

I'll just say it, because the data supports it: two X chromosomes is a huge factor.

this is ALL DEI hires

DEI exists to sue anyone not DEI

hopefully the changes in the last 9 months will change these stats

HR has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

-People would sue for anything and everything, so HR is put in place to safeguard against that.

-But then HR attempts to safeguard against lawsuits by informing everyone of what not to do; and training employees on this matter continually/routinely.

-Because of that, every single employee is hyper-aware of anything that could be deemed offensive, and reports it to HR.

-HR has to address these accusations, no matter how ridiculous.

-And of course, this leads to more restrictions and more 'training' and more propensity for employees to 'notice issues', reinforcing the need for 'more HR'

I work for a large company. Our HR has ballooned over the years, but at the same time, we are now tasked with all sorts of menial tasks that the old, much smaller, HR team used to handle for us.

Ulysses90 said:

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To borrow from Elon's categorization, HR personnel are "takers" not "makers." They are a completely unnecessary evil that is foisted on organizations where leaders have been replaced with managers.

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Much like many regulators, especially Progressive ones.

HR is a support network to help women invade men's spaces. Prove me wrong.

About the same time HR popped its ugly head in corporate America, so did HS&E.

Both departments are needed but don't belong on the top floor.

In my companies, I am HR. I resolve all complaints quickly and aggressively.

Sid Farkas said:

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The saying used to be "lawyers and accountants run the world".

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Yep, this.

When I got my first big promotion 25ish years ago, I went from managing 5 employees to almost 30. I'll never forget the day I got it, my boss told me "Everything you do or say from here on out is potentially a lawsuit.".

One of my wife's friend and also neighbor is in HR. She calls herself a DEI Advocate and specialist.

Most HR teams are full of middle aged angry white woke women who need a mission. High chance divorced.

AgGrad99 said:

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HR has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

-People would sue for anything and everything, so HR is put in place to safeguard against that.

-But then HR attempts to safeguard against lawsuits by informing everyone of what not to do; and training employees on this matter continually/routinely.

-Because of that, every single employee is hyper-aware of anything that could be deemed offensive, and reports it to HR.

-HR has to address these accusations, no matter how ridiculous.

-And of course, this leads to more restrictions and more 'training' and more propensity for employees to 'notice issues', reinforcing the need for 'more HR'

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So well explained!

And voila, we just created a new industry. Much like insurance.

Get Off My Lawn said:

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HR is a support network to help women invade men's spaces. Prove me wrong.

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Why only HR? Every woman is on a mission to invade men's spaces. They have a little brother syndrome.

My company is "streamlining" HR to the tune of cutting about 50% of it. Couldn't happen to a group of more useless employees.

Do finance next.

Burdizzo said:

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What I learned 20 years ago is that HR exists to protect the company from the employees.

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So much this. HR is NOT your friend. They are the enforcement arm of the executives.

Cost Centers

Burdizzo said:

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What I learned 20 years ago is that HR exists to protect the company from the employees.

What I learned from watching Bill Clinton is that the White House does not have an HR department.

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They've got PR, but not HR.

Burdizzo said:

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What I learned 20 years ago is that HR exists to protect the company from the employees.

What I learned from watching Bill Clinton is that the White House does not have an HR department.

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What I learnt in my first job at a "Top 100 companies to work for", was that HR exists so that the execs know how much they can screw employees without getting sued.

I've worked with some really good HR VPs, but its mostly woke women pushing a political agenda.

What if ALL employer/employee relationships were like 1099 where desired? Whatever needs to change, make the change but what if ALL labor was contracted?

No employees. All performance based.

Seems to me the added HR staff was to beef up DEI and other similar programs because at my large company, much of the recruitment and handling of actual hiring is handled by bots and hiring managers working with recruiters who are contractors/work for a 3rd party vendor.

Robert Townsend, the guy who brought AVIS back from the dead, recommends first getting rid of HR when saving a company.

HumbleAg04 said:

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My company is "streamlining" HR to the tune of cutting about 50% of it. Couldn't happen to a group of more useless employees.

Do finance next.

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Once upon a time, HR used to have hotties in miniskirts.

Not it is full of menopausal 50+ women who hate everything and everyone.

Those than can, do. Those that can't, teach. Those that can do neither, fill openings in HR.

Slicer97 said:

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Those than can, do. Those that can't, teach. Those that can do neither, fill openings in HR.

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...and proceed to make the lives of the others that both can and can't be miserable.

Can't wait for some company to name their HR AI agent "Ask Karen"!

I don't know. I would have felt like that ten years ago. But now I have no idea who I would call if I had an HR issue, since many of them seem to have been offshored. I do work with some HR personnel rather frequently, but those guys are in policy in benefits, making sure my medical plans and pension accounts are sound. I think in many companies HR jobs have been eliminated, just like finance and accounting.

We have to do personality test and our HR director is the least empathetic person in the company. We have others that make up for it though.

In 40 years I never worked with a single HR business partner that understood 2% about the business we were in, yet they believed they were performing a vital function managing the company's business.

Some were able to provide good support in spite of their lack knowledge, while most could not get out of the way.