You won’t believe what the perfect HR department looks like!

Hello and welcome to Working It.

The FT’s big workplace talking point this week is Pilita Clark’s column on tattoos are now widely accepted in professional settings. There are hundreds of comments from readers. Everyone, it seems, has a VERY STRONG opinion about visible ink at work, with self-declared older people being the least tolerant of it. (And then there is the reader happy forever: “Tattoos disgust me.” 🤢)

I keep my upper arm tattoo a secret at work, but of course I’m firmly on the “pro-ink” side. Each piece tells a story, and many of them are fascinating.

Submit (work-safe) opinions on tattoos, photos of your furry companions to cleanse my palate, and anything else you think we should cover here for isabel.berwick@ft.com.

What does a ‘good’ HR look like?

As long as the FT covers labor disputes, labor tribunals and complaints of sexual harassment, one topic often comes up: the shortcomings of HR departments. Here’s FT Special Investigations Editor Madison Marriage, on the Working It podcast:

“All the stories I’ve written that have to do with bullying, harassment, sexual assault in the workplace, HR has been a malevolent force, not a force for good. So I would advise people to be very careful with HR. My experience is that they are there to help the company, not the lower-ranking people.”

The HR department has inherent tension because it “serves two masters,” as the saying goes: first, the company and its best interests, and second, human capital (also known as “talent,” but probably not called that). when there is a dispute). going down). When powerful organizational interests, money, and fear collide, things easily go wrong.

One big change that would help stop this rot, as we discussed last week, is to have HR executives on every board of directors in the company, so they have much more influence in making sure that issues of corporate culture and staff satisfaction are taken seriously. and measured — at the highest levels. Brand new research of the CIPD, the professional body for the UK human resources sector, paints a bleak picture: “In all, 99 per cent of boards have a CFO or CFO among their members, but only 2 per cent has a director of human resources as a member of the board. Member of the Executive Board.” 😳

That’s big picture thinking. But what is a “good” daily human resource like? By this I mean the kind that will create a healthy corporate culture and help prevent catastrophic situations. I posed this question to Meena Anand, the incoming CEO of the City Human Resources Association.

Good HR, he says, is about “creating some barriers around organizations, being clear about what is expected of people.” Meena had a long career in global HR and saw many situations where internal communication was . . . less than clear 🌫️.

“Any time there is a disconnect, it is always about mismanaged expectations. I have addressed many disciplinary and grievance issues and the one thing that comes up over and over again is that the manager has one set of expectations and the employee or her team has a different set of expectations.”

One of my own problems with human resources is that there is too much. Are these poor people being asked to do too much, meaning they can’t focus on their best work? No, Meena says. “Everything about HR is that it’s about people, so it can’t just be about one thing.” Human Resources, in other words, reflects the whole beautiful, messy world we live in. By way of explanation, Meena sent me the photo below.

I’m not sure exactly It addresses my concerns about HR professionals spreading themselves too thin, but I like the style.

What does a “good HR” look like? What are your experiences navigating HR, good and bad?

This week on the Working It podcast

This week you have another chance to listen our popular episode about impostor syndrome and how to turn this common form of doubt into something positive. My guests are Sian Beilock, neuroscientist and academic, and Viv Groskop, podcaster, comedian, and executive coach.

We had a short summer hiatus, but very soon we will be back with new episodes, with new producer Mischa Frankl-Duval at the helm. A big welcome to Mischa, and get in touch with your podcast ideas.

office therapy

The problem: I’m pitching for a new position with increased team responsibilities, but my manager doesn’t think I’m ready for it. To be clear, he is not denying me the role, but he has warned that I will have to change my work style and need constant “training” to make tough decisions.

I feel like he’s setting me up for failure because he expects me to do what he does, even if I don’t agree with his reasoning (eg, back to office five days vs. hybrid). Any challenge to his decisions will be seen in the light of (in his opinion) my inability to carry out “difficult requests” from management. Do I have to manage the team the way he expects me to? Or stick to what I think is the right path?

Elizabeth’s advice: It’s not you, it’s him, but as I’ve learned (quite late), you’re incapable of changing other people; all you can change is how you respond to them. So you can avoid this insecure man, follow his orders while following your independent path, as much as possible. Or he can decide to move, internally or otherwise🚶🏼‍♂️.

Michael Skapinker, psychotherapist and coach, offers more nuanced thoughts: “I suggest asking for a discussion about your boss’s views on where you are and where you should be, so you have a clearer idea of ​​what they need from you. I also feel that you have your own ideas about where things should go, which are not your boss’s ideas. You can try to gently convince him in your chat to ‘clear the air’. Or you can go. It is an unfortunate fact: the boss is the boss and you are not”.

Do you have a question, problem or dilemma for Office Therapy? Do you think you have better advice for our readers? Send it to me: isabel.berwick@ft.com. We anonymize everything. His boss, colleagues or his subordinates will never know.

Five outstanding stories from the world of work

1. Why productivity is so weak in UK companies: An in-depth look at the UK’s low-productivity dilemma, by senior business writer Andrew Hill, delving into the possible causes and then turning philosophical towards the end. . . What is productivity anyway?

2. Interview with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky:Somehow I missed this last week so I’m re-uploading Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson’s excellent interview. Ryan is behind the reinvention of the social platform beyond the job search, towards careers and leadership. He can contain humble boasting.

3. How I learned to live with shyness: It’s not strictly a work-related article, but Emma Jacobs’ beautifully written article covers many of the socially awkward experiences that will be familiar to people who are shy at work, and highlights the advantages of this personality trait.

4. The most difficult times will test the commitment of employers to the well-being of workers: The more employers help staff with mental health support, the more open they will be to claims that they are falling short if they cut spending as the economy shrinks, Brooke Masters reports.

5. NatWest boss Alison Rose resigns after Nigel Farage spat: Still an evolving story as this edition of Working It winds down, this story may one day serve as a case study of misalignment between “inclusive” values ​​internally and broader business demands and obligations.

I’ve paused serious reader comments this week (but keep them coming) to spotlight Tucker, an occasional contributor to the FT’s US newsletter editor Emily Goldberg. I’m especially impressed by the aesthetically pleasing and matching background with the dogs in (her parents’) house. More like Tucker please 🐾. It is about to be August, after all.

One more thing

Anna Sinfield, the original producer of Working It when we released it, is an audio ⭐️ who has achieved great things. Her new series, “the brides” is already number one on the podcast charts. It redefines true crime, demanding justice for Gail Katz, murdered in the 1980s by her husband. It’s all done through the efforts of a group of women, including some of her ex-girlfriends. She is, remarkably, funny, as well as soulful and rage-inducing.

And finally . . . Can you help with this investigation 🙋🏽?

A call from Working It reader Calum Carson, Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University. He is running his Inclusive Remote and Hybrid Work Study, and is seeking input from people in the UK with a disability and/or long-term health condition with experience of remote or hybrid work in the last five years. You, Calum says, “will be a part of helping to identify how employers can make remote and hybrid work more inclusive of the needs of disabled workers in the future.” Fill out the short form here and follow the project on Linkedin.