I love my job. Sure, I hate billing and doing the paperwork, but otherwise, there’s nothing I like more than helping people with their careers, their businesses, and their employees. It turns out I’m not alone.
I asked the HR people on my Facebook Group, Evil HR Lady, what made them grateful to be in HR, and I got some amazing answers. Here are a few of my favorites:
Kristine Thornton
[I am] truly thankful for the people I have met in my career journey and the experiences I have had. I am thankful that my bosses and the employees trust me to do the job I was hired to do and confide in me as they seek guidance in every situation.
Tracey Richardson McDaniel
HR can be a pretty thankless role so those times where you see all the work positively impact an EE’s life makes it so worthwhile. Like the EE blossom in a different role you advocated for or when an EE realizes how a health plan helps them. Those moments of seeing your real impact in an EE’s life make me thankful to be in HR.
Aimee Augustine Lokitz
I’m on the recruiting side of HR. I have always said making job offers is the part of the job that never gets old. I’m thankful for the opportunity to deliver the news that can sometimes change the trajectory of someone’s career.
Kimberly Downing Farish
I have worked in HR in home care for 12 years now. I never get bored. My passion is taking care of our employees who take care of our seniors. They work hard and is a job not everyone can do. They deserve a positive and supportive HR department.
Marie Lobbezoo
I am thankful to work in HR, because I can make a small difference in people’s lives. So many times I have had someone in my office, upset or even crying, and I was able to give them some kind of hope. Or, at the very least, help them to see things in a different light, and give them some sort of guidance on what they can do to help themselves.
Beth Grierson
I work for a non-profit. I truly admire and respect my colleagues. This year more than ever, I’m grateful to have a job where I can support these wonderful people and the work they do in the world.
If you want to read the rest of the comments, click here.
I’m grateful to all you fabulous HR people for really caring about people. And I’m thankful to every one of you who takes time to read my blog. Happy Thanksgiving!
It’s interesting that some people still have faith in HR. I think Suzanne probably does the right thing. However, too many bad HR people are still out there, tainting the profession.
Read the room, Glenn.
What is an EE?
Employee
24 years ago, when I was coming out of retirement to start my current career, my application was about to be wrongly rejected, based on a technicality. It was saved at the last minute — on a Saturday before the job was scheduled to start on Tuesday — by the sympathetic HR employee who had interviewed me, and who agreed to hold off on processing the rejection, to allow me time to straighten out the issue with the deciding official, which promptly and successfully occurred. Years later, a promotion resulted in that same HR employee working under me. I thanked her again for saving my candidacy and was surprised that she didn’t even remember the incident. Later, I realized that it was because she had gone above and beyond on so many occasions to help applicants that it was her Standard Operating Procedure and didn’t stand out to her. She retired years ago, and I still miss her remarkable empathy and compassion.