The #1 Very Best Thing About HR
Everyone knows that HR people are the happiest and most wonderful people on the planet. To help gain some understanding of that phenomenon, we asked about 250 HR professionals to name “the absolute #1 very best thing about being an HR person.”
We received a wide array of highly insightful responses. The clear winner by far was the “H” in HR: humans. Nearly 50% of the respondents listed “people” or “employees” as the #1 very best thing about HR.
Here are the most frequent responses, ranked roughly in order of popularity:
- people, people, people
- variety and unpredictability
- putting the right person in the right job
- highly entertaining situations and stories
- solving problems creatively
- resolving conflict peacefully
- rewarding great employees
- training employees
- enforcing the law
- knowing everyone’s business
- the hours
- people fear me
After poring over the responses (especially the last four), I have to admit that I kinda want to quit my job and switch to HR.
Here are some of my favorite quotes: “You never know what to expect every day — people are a constant unique experience.” “Never a dull moment!” “There’s always something new.” Others say they enjoy “the feeling of satisfaction, the positive impact you can have on someone’s career,” ”seeing success in other peoples’ lives as a result from HR efforts,” and ”dealing with humans — we are funny people!”
The Conclusion? HR people are a happy bunch. If you could see the actual comments, you would be even more impressed. Many of ‘em were punctuated with multiple exclamation points and smiley faces for added emphasis.
Coming soon: To help balance the giddiness a bit, we asked the same HR professionals to name the “absolute #1 very worst thing about being an HR person.” We’ll share those responses with you shortly.
