HR isn’t here for you. That might sound harsh, maybe even paranoid, but it’s the truth you learn after your third, fourth, fifth year in the job.
After you’ve been gaslit by middle management, after you’ve seen someone brilliant cry in a stairwell, after you’ve been told to “keep it professional” when some executive loses his temper in a meeting and screams at a junior like he’s still on the football field in ‘98.
Human Resources, the name itself sounds warm and fuzzy and maybe even supportive with an ounce of humanity. But don’t let the branding fool you. In too many companies, HR doesn’t work for you. They don’t work for the “people.” They work for the people at the top. The board. The execs. The untouchables. HR is supposed to be the neutral ground, a place where conflicts get sorted, voices get heard, wrongs get made right. Instead, it’s become something closer to corporate internal affairs protecting the brass and burying the mess.
You’ve probably seen complaints filed, documentation prepared, meetings requested. And what happens? Radio silence. Or worse, retaliation dressed up in polite emails. The toxic manager stays. The harasser gets “retrained.” And you? You’re labelled “difficult,” “not a team player,” “emotionally reactive.” Translation, a liability.
In more vocational positions that we all held whilst at university or during a school summer, if someone’s cutting corners in the kitchen, abusing staff, stealing tips, making lives miserable, you call it out. You fight. You protect your people. Because you need your team to run service. You need that line cook who shows up early and the dishwasher who keeps your world spinning. But in corporate? It’s flipped. The people who actually do the work are expendable, and HR has become the velvet glove on the iron fist of executive power.
You think HR is going to call out the CEO for making sexist comments in a “joking” tone? Or investigate the Principal who’s had three colleagues quit in tears in the past year? Not a chance. Because that’s not their job anymore. Their job is to keep the company safe from lawsuits. To document you when you complain. To make sure the people who run the place never get held
accountable for the mess they leave behind.
It’s backwards. And it’s rotting us from the inside.
What we need is a new kind of HR, one that actually serves the people. That walks the line between leadership and labour, not as a mouthpiece for one or the other, but as a translator, a bridge, a real advocate. HR should be where you go when things go bad, not where complaints go to die. Maybe this is the responsibility of the firms, or maybe the RICS stands up and creates
its own separate arm for moments like this.
Until then, don’t be fooled. HR might smile during onboarding. They might have beanbags in the breakroom and a slide deck about “culture.” But when the knives come out, they’re not in your corner. They’re at the table with the people who write the checks. And if you’re not careful, you’re the next one getting carved up.
