Feminization of the workplace.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Swan Song said:

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I manage the HR and Marketing departments at my company. The OP comments are not representative of all companies and their HR departments. Our size has not changed in 10 years, and we don't have a DEI position. I guess it all depends on who is leading HR.

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So you're doing both of the jobs normally assigned to women.

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Well, I am a woman.

???

Over_ed said:

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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

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I find that all very interesting, considering in the large multi-national corporation I work for, the only way we can get in touch with HR is to open a "ticket" and hope the person responding understands what I'm asking them.

The public school district has 3 HR directors. 3! There's the Director of HR, the Senior Director of HR, and the Assistant Superintendent over HR. Prob nearly a half million in salary there.

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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I had a boss once who told me the most powerful person in our office was our secretary. He said you have to walk on eggshells not to offend her. She basically ran the place because she knew she could just complain to HR if anything didn't go her way.

Over_ed said:

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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.

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Great word.

FarmerJohn said:

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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.

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This. My school district has multiple directors of various departments.

MouthBQ98 said:

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

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This is what can't be said. Most women are the death of fun in the workplace. My wife even says women are much more difficult to work with than men.

ts5641 said:

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MouthBQ98 said:

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

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This is what can't be said. Most women are the death of fun in the workplace. My wife even says women are much more difficult to work with than men.

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BTW, blue star for swan song, and I apologize for the next...but I do tend to agree with ts5641.

My wife is so far in agreement that she has said if she ever had to go back to work, she would take a worse position to avoid working for a woman.

She won't have to go back, as we were both reasonably well paid and have always lived on one of our salaries. But it's interesting it is still on her mind.

infinity ag said:

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cslifer said:

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That was a scam going around a few years ago, people filing for unemployment using someone else's identity. I don't remember all the details but we had a couple people that had their names used by the scammers. I remember it caused a huge pain for payroll/finance folks.

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Hmm this might have been it. I didn't hear anything from anyone after that one meeting I had with the HR SVP lady.

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We had to deal with the same type of scam at my job, too.

ts5641 said:

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The public school district has 3 HR directors. 3! There's the Director of HR, the Senior Director of HR, and the Assistant Superintendent over HR. Prob nearly a half million in salary there.

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What size school district? The one I work for has way more than that. Off the top of my head, a chief, four executive directors, and maybe eight directors. We are one of the larger districts in the state.

What's the male to female ratio in HR and is there anything done to stop discrimination against males?

Oh how I enjoy working for a small company.

We are an autonomous collective operating as a narco cynicalist commune.

We don't have a HR department. We don't need an HR department. We don't have to deal with the nonsense.

We don't worry about social pressures of the alphabet crazies. We just get **** done.

Over_ed said:

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ts5641 said:

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MouthBQ98 said:

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

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This is what can't be said. Most women are the death of fun in the workplace. My wife even says women are much more difficult to work with than men.

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BTW, blue star for swan song, and I apologize for the next...but I do tend to agree with ts5641.

My wife is so far in agreement that she has said if she ever had to go back to work, she would take a worse position to avoid working for a woman.

She won't have to go back, as we were both reasonably well paid and have always lived on one of our salaries. But it's interesting it is still on her mind.

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I've actually never reported to a woman, always reported to a male CEO. It has most definitely affected how I have run my departments over the years. HR is an all female department. I do have a male head of marketing reporting to me and we get along famously.

I do agree that the last ten years has done the image of HR no favors. Crazy DEI policies, forcing vaccines on employees. I stopped attending HR conferences during that time because I didn't want to be around it. I am a Gen X Aggie woman. I guess I'm a dinosaur in the industry. Our HR department's #1 goal is to creative a culture where our employees can thrive, and do their best work. This is transparent to our members and fuels the success of our credit union. We have had bumps along the way, I could tell you some crazy employee stories, but we work hard to keep our culture.

I still talk to every group of new employees at their orientation. When I get to the section of harassment and discrimination I always let them know there's only one basis on which we discriminate…your performance. I've said it for 23 years and continue to say it.

ts5641 said:

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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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I had a boss once who told me the most powerful person in our office was our secretary. He said you have to walk on eggshells not to offend her. She basically ran the place because she knew she could just complain to HR if anything didn't go her way.

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The boss likely was just one of those slimy men who try to make nice with women by praising them a lot and saying that they rule and are girl-bosses. Keeps many women happy and "heard". The man likely was watching too many movies where they show tough female secretaries of whom even the boss is afraid of.

infinity ag said:

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ts5641 said:

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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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I had a boss once who told me the most powerful person in our office was our secretary. He said you have to walk on eggshells not to offend her. She basically ran the place because she knew she could just complain to HR if anything didn't go her way.

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The boss likely was just one of those slimy men who try to make nice with women by praising them a lot and saying that they rule and are girl-bosses. Keeps many women happy and "heard". The man likely was watching too many movies where they show tough female secretaries of whom even the boss is afraid of.

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Nah, he was banging her and nobody else could know

TAMUallen said:

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What's the male to female ratio in HR and is there anything done to stop discrimination against males?

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Discrimination against males is justifiable discrimination because women have been subjugated and held down by men for 100000000 years.

infinity ag said:

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TAMUallen said:

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What's the male to female ratio in HR and is there anything done to stop discrimination against males?

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Discrimination against males is justifiable discrimination because women have been subjugated and held down by men for 100000000 years.

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Beyond the humor of it, there will be lots and lots of lawsuits over political and sex discrimination against males in the next (I was about to say decades but it'll be sooner) few years

Over_ed said:

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ts5641 said:

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MouthBQ98 said:

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

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This is what can't be said. Most women are the death of fun in the workplace. My wife even says women are much more difficult to work with than men.

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BTW, blue star for swan song, and I apologize for the next...but I do tend to agree with ts5641.

My wife is so far in agreement that she has said if she ever had to go back to work, she would take a worse position to avoid working for a woman.

She won't have to go back, as we were both reasonably well paid and have always lived on one of our salaries. But it's interesting it is still on her mind.

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My wife works for a woman. Until this Friday at least. The boss got fired. She says she was horrible and always belittled everyone. Everyone is happy she is going away.

Almost all my female bosses have been terrible maniacs except 1 lady. This one person was very nice to me. There is something about women not able to handle power given to them.

infinity ag said:

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Over_ed said:

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ts5641 said:

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MouthBQ98 said:

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

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This is what can't be said. Most women are the death of fun in the workplace. My wife even says women are much more difficult to work with than men.

---

BTW, blue star for swan song, and I apologize for the next...but I do tend to agree with ts5641.

My wife is so far in agreement that she has said if she ever had to go back to work, she would take a worse position to avoid working for a woman.

She won't have to go back, as we were both reasonably well paid and have always lived on one of our salaries. But it's interesting it is still on her mind.

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My wife works for a woman. Until this Friday at least. The boss got fired. She says she was horrible and always belittled everyone. Everyone is happy she is going away.

Almost all my female bosses have been terrible maniacs except 1 lady. This one person was very nice to me. There is something about women not able to handle power given to them.

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I've never had a good female boss, ever. In any trade.

There are exceptions but let's be real, they aren't leaders. They just are not geared the same way... they dont have the gear. Nature doesnt lie.

MouthBQ98 said:

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

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the problem, in GIF form

HR has balue when it solves problems instead of creating them. It has value in managing payroll and benefits, and conflict mitigation or the rarest tual workplace behavior issue actually breaking a law or disrupting productivity that can't alone be handled by management, which is usually a scale of business and task specialization matter. I think they can cause problem when overly aggressive, ideological, divisive, or begin to act as filters for interactions and hiring that override the needs of the business.

There can be a value there that justifies the overhead if they are efficient and focused.

I have had a good female boss and good female coworkers, but have seen the effects of what is pretty obviously a DEI inspired placement that has caused friction and inefficiency and disorder.

MouthBQ98 said:

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HR has balue when it solves problems instead of creating them. It has value in managing payroll and benefits, and conflict mitigation or the rarest tual workplace behavior issue actually breaking a law or disrupting productivity that can't alone be handled by management, which is usually a scale of business and task specialization matter. I think they can cause problem when overly aggressive, ideological, divisive, or begin to act as filters for interactions and hiring that override the needs of the business.

There can be a value there that justifies the overhead if they are efficient and focused.

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HR is never for the employee.

I agree a lot of it is corporate CYA but if it helps get the employees produce, and helps keep them employed by helping most of the business focus on core functions then great.

MouthBQ98 said:

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I agree a lot of it is corporate CYA but if it helps get the employees produce, and helps keep them employed by helping most of the business focus on core functions then great.

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Never happens. HR is bloatware. You do not need to be HR to be assigned to payroll. They link together and require more or else it is ripe for prosecution due to their absence

Here is a rhetorical question. Has anyone ever had a good experience with HR? I encountered one at the end of my career, which was not my choice. She was illogical, prejudiced on the side of management and whenever I tried to speak, she would talk over me. Once, when I made the mistake of asserting myself, she angrily accused me of talking over her. This is a very large, woke corporation with headquarters in Los Angeles.

Man, y'all are a crusty old bunch.

I've had some great female bosses, and horrible male bosses. Interestingly, the bad female bosses I had tried too hard to act like men.

ETA ... I left out a key word. I've had SOME horrible male bosses. Didn't mean to imply that they were all bad.

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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I work in recruiting at a Fortune 200 company. Recruiting gets put in with HR even though the function really is fundamentally different and we are at odds with HR on most things. Our HR Department is close to 90% female, recruiting is about 50/50. I got certified in HR many years ago and the main thing I discovered is how much I hate HR because I would be frustrated beyond comprehension with it. There are some really great employees in HR but it's kind of like government workers, you have some absolute saints who really take their job seriously and want to help people but most are just there for a paycheck and concerned about their own benefit. Very few have much of an understanding of how the business actually works and what is important.

EclipseAg said:

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Man, y'all are a crusty old bunch.

I've had some great female bosses, and horrible male bosses. Interestingly, the bad female bosses I had tried too hard to act like men.

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What does that mean? They tried to pee while standing up?

EclipseAg said:

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Man, y'all are a crusty old bunch.

I've had some great female bosses, and horrible male bosses. Interestingly, the bad female bosses I had tried too hard to act like men.

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You sound quite enjoyable to work with!

Swan Song said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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Swan Song said:

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I manage the HR and Marketing departments at my company. The OP comments are not representative of all companies and their HR departments. Our size has not changed in 10 years, and we don't have a DEI position. I guess it all depends on who is leading HR.

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So you're doing both of the jobs normally assigned to women.

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Well, I am a woman.

???

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Obviously.

But by hogging both of the women jobs, you're perpetuating the sterotype of women not helping women.

Share the love.

TAMUallen said:

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infinity ag said:

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Over_ed said:

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ts5641 said:

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MouthBQ98 said:

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

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This is what can't be said. Most women are the death of fun in the workplace. My wife even says women are much more difficult to work with than men.

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BTW, blue star for swan song, and I apologize for the next...but I do tend to agree with ts5641.

My wife is so far in agreement that she has said if she ever had to go back to work, she would take a worse position to avoid working for a woman.

She won't have to go back, as we were both reasonably well paid and have always lived on one of our salaries. But it's interesting it is still on her mind.

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My wife works for a woman. Until this Friday at least. The boss got fired. She says she was horrible and always belittled everyone. Everyone is happy she is going away.

Almost all my female bosses have been terrible maniacs except 1 lady. This one person was very nice to me. There is something about women not able to handle power given to them.

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I've never had a good female boss, ever. In any trade.

There are exceptions but let's be real, they aren't leaders. They just are not geared the same way... they dont have the gear. Nature doesnt lie.

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The best boss I ever had was a woman.
The worst boss I ever had was a woman.

All the men bosses fit in the canyon between those two extremes. Although, my current boss is rapidly approaching first place in the worst category.

HollywoodBQ said:

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TAMUallen said:

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infinity ag said:

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Over_ed said:

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ts5641 said:

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MouthBQ98 said:

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

---

This is what can't be said. Most women are the death of fun in the workplace. My wife even says women are much more difficult to work with than men.

---

BTW, blue star for swan song, and I apologize for the next...but I do tend to agree with ts5641.

My wife is so far in agreement that she has said if she ever had to go back to work, she would take a worse position to avoid working for a woman.

She won't have to go back, as we were both reasonably well paid and have always lived on one of our salaries. But it's interesting it is still on her mind.

---

My wife works for a woman. Until this Friday at least. The boss got fired. She says she was horrible and always belittled everyone. Everyone is happy she is going away.

Almost all my female bosses have been terrible maniacs except 1 lady. This one person was very nice to me. There is something about women not able to handle power given to them.

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I've never had a good female boss, ever. In any trade.

There are exceptions but let's be real, they aren't leaders. They just are not geared the same way... they dont have the gear. Nature doesnt lie.

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The best boss I ever had was a woman.
The worst boss I ever had was a woman.

All the men bosses fit in the canyon between those two extremes. Although, my current boss is rapidly approaching first place in the worst category.

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I'm just saying. I'm a sample size of one but I have had lots of jobs/positions. There can be great female bosses but I have not had them from small to large corporations. Biased? Surely.

My problem with HR is that it is a breeding ground for corporate activism. Since it is mainly a bunch of ladies, many of them aging and disgruntled and angry at their husbands, at younger women, at society, their kids, their friends. So they use the corporate setup to cause mischief. Most male bosses are too wimpy to tell them to pipe down as they don't want to be called sexist.

TrumpsBarber said:

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EclipseAg said:

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Man, y'all are a crusty old bunch.

I've had some great female bosses, and horrible male bosses. Interestingly, the bad female bosses I had tried too hard to act like men.

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What does that mean? They tried to pee while standing up?

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The ones who try to act like just one of the guys (Gets tattoos, drives a Corvette) and then try to be super hard core - respect my authority types.

They spend too much time working on image and trying to act like they're a leader, rather than just being a leader.

Also, lots of name dropping about who they know in upper management. I just got a call from the Director/VP/CEO because he wants my advice. Look how important I am.