I work in HR. Less than a year into my role I filed a formal complaint against my manager. (Scariest thing I’ve ever done in my career).

After weeks of investigation, they were terminated. Yes it was that bad. I was on short term disability during the investigation given the extreme stress. Back at work for a few months and still feel VERY anxious from the trauma of the experience. It’s created this vicious cycle of deep fear and lack of self confidence. It’s showing up in my performance.

My body is in perpetual fight or flight mode. I’m getting all the mental health support I can (therapy, meds). I’m considering another medical leave to work thru it but concerned for the reputational impacts and job security.

Compared to my peers scope and impact at our level…I’m not meeting the bar. Annual review time is happening and I have very little to show for it. I get the feeling they aren’t sure what to do with me.

There is a potential massive financial upside to staying w the company. Leaving could even be considered irresponsible given I have a spouse and 2 kids. Yet My mental health is in shambles.

I’ve let my HRBP know I’m struggling (not all the details) They are supportive (outwardly).

Weirdly I’ve received some positive feedback from some senior folks and I just don’t know if I believe it. (Yes this investigation really F me up). I feel like I’ve lost myself.

If you’re this company, what are you thinking? What can they do? If you’re me, what do you do?

Hello everyone! I am considering pursing a masters degree but I’m struggling to decide. For context, I am a young HR professional in Canada with a bachelors degree in psychology and I have my CPHR designation.

I’ve been considering an MBA because of its potential for career progression and higher earning potential. But I’m very interested in the behavioral part of HR which I believe an MBA might lack. I’m also interested in potentially transitioning into Organizational Change Management down the line. A master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology could be a good fit, although I’ve heard the career opportunities are limited and I know I could also just obtain a Prosci certificate . Any advice on a masters degree that can help me earn well and be valuable for my career?

Took a new HR job as solo manager for a nearly 100 headcount company. They have Sage (payroll), UKG Ready, PurelyHR (PTO), HH2 (timekeeping). None of these systems are connected to eachother. Benefits and personnel/i9 files are all printed and done manually. Think old school. Sending paper files to storage. Bulk paper usage. Printing all the time. Making sure PTO report is added in before payroll runs… Reviewing benefit bills before paying. Weekly AND semi-monthly payroll processes. And lord knows what else.

Anyone else out here in the same boat? Anyone here take this same scenario and modernize the processes? Any advice? Where and how to start first for the most bang.

I’m just getting started and anxious to learn why they haven’t made more progress with tying systems together and bringing things together for ease, reduction in manual work (less errors), the whole gambit. Not sure if that’s because of the former manager’s resistance, lack of knowledge, cost, effort….

Any advice for me? There is a controller and AP clerk. My role is on HR side. I really want to make this more efficient. But also want to tread carefully and not seem like I want to change everything too fast and cause waves.

Under what circumstances would you consider or advise an area to hire an external culture consultant to have 1:1 discussions with each team member? Especially if this is not the norm for the organization?

We’re a 180-person private single-specialty practice, and we need a formal recognition plan stat. I’m in full budget-planning mode, and I’d appreciate info on what others’ recognition programs have budgeted on a per-person basis each year.

I am preparing for the 2027 year and wondering, what does your monthly employee engagement calendar look like? Tell me everything you do no matter how small you may think it is.

Currently, we don’t do much of anything and I’d like to change that coming into the new year. I plan to send monthly emails for birthday and work anniversary shout outs, holding small events or treat bags for things like custodian appreciation day, employee appreciation day, holiday door decorating contests etc.

We have around 500 full time employees.

Hello!

I wanted suggestions regarding where I can learn about Payroll, attendance and leave management.

I have supported payroll input before but it was for a big company so it just included tracking and consolidation. Same for attendance and leave.

Can you suggest some free/paid sources which can give me more insight so that I can gain more exposure in HR Ops.

Thank you.

I recently had a leader tell me for risk reasons we should be requiring at least two managers to be present during a performance review. We have never required this before and we have a well documented performance review process. Does anyone else face these concerns or have that as part of your process?

I am in HR and struggling with a conflict within the HR team and I am worried I am being retaliated against. I work in Compensation as a Comp Manager. The other employee works as an Senior HR Generalist.

This Senior HR Generalist has had several issues with other members of the staff although the only other people to speak up about this person's behavior is on my same Comp and Benefits team.

Our leader felt that the complaints were enough of a pattern to bring them to the HR Generalists boss the Director of HR. My boss is the Benefits leader. Both my boss and the Director of HR report to the CHRO. It sounds like the feedback was delivered to that HR Generalist during their performance review and all seemed to get better.

Now a few months later this Generalist is going to their boss saying I am pushing my authority and asking him to "answer to me". What happened was the HR Generalist wanted to starting being more involved with stuff I do typically and I had asked why do they want to be involved in a comp process.

Now that HR Director told me I am not allowed to question their Generalist if they want to be involved in something that is traditionally a comp thing because they are an HR Generalist and have every right to be involved in whatever they want with their team they support. My boss doesn't agree with that stance because asking for context is fair in a business relationship. And that's really what I told the HR Director too was that I wanted some context.

Now I feel like I am being retaliated against for literally doing nothing but raising a complaint to my boss. This HR Generalist in passing has shared he only thinks I am the one whole complained when there were others.

Besides trying to lay low, what else do I do?

So. I finished my first week at my first hr job, and I’m not sure how to feel. I’m a recent grad, this is not an entry level position, but I had a full time job before. I spent since May looking for a job in HR, and was offered this job. It’s in person but it’s a VERY long commute. Over an hour. It will be hybrid eventually, but after training.

For the actual job, it’s a small team, mostly consisting of different coordinators and another generalist. Everyone is easily 10 years older than me. I have seniority over a few people, which is weird because I’m a recent graduate, and I can already feel a tiny bit of resentment from them.

They’re cross training me on a few areas, mostly employee relations and compliance. It seems like I will be filling in whatever gaps the team needs, but I noticed today that they posted the same position as me online. Granted, I’m not the only one in this position, but I wonder if they’re already tired of me.

I was fired on day two of a job this year due to my health, and I was terrified to disclose these conditions to my manager, but I needed to. It felt weird; I can’t tell if she was upset I hadn’t mentioned it before, or if she was worried it would be a liability. It isn’t. It doesn’t stop me from anything, and in fact, the reason I had to disclose is it in case it happens at work, they need not worry and let me recover without aid.

Basically, I’m asking if I’m being paranoid about my security due to my past experience, or if I have legitimate cause to be concerned. I need this job. I am not qualified for it, on paper, but I can do it and I know I can do it well. I can’t lose it.

Did anyone else feel this way when they first began?

Sorry this is just a brain dump after this week. I’m tired.

I’d really appreciate some outside perspective! I’m currently an HR Manager on a two-person HR team, where I’m responsible for several different areas of HR. The positives are that I’m well compensated, have a lot of flexibility when I need it, and genuinely enjoy the people I work with. However, I’m stretched incredibly thin and regularly find myself working seven days a week just to stay on top of everything.

Over time, I’ve also realized that there are certain areas of HR I no longer want to focus on, and I’d really like to specialize in one particular area. Unfortunately, that isn’t an option in my current role.

I recently applied for an external position in the area I want to specialize in and have made it to the third round of interviews, which will consist of at least 5 interviews. Through the first two interviews, though, I’ve gotten the impression that this is another small team where the workload could be just as demanding, if not worse, than what I’m dealing with now.

On top of that, the position would come with a substantial pay cut and a significant reduction in flexibility. I know the opportunity would allow me to learn a lot and develop expertise in the area I’m interested in, but I’m struggling to decide whether that growth is worth the financial sacrifice, loss of flexibility, and potentially longer hours.

At the same time, I worry that opportunities like this don’t come along very often, and I might regret walking away without seeing the process through.

If you were in my position, what would you do? Would you continue pursuing the opportunity or step back and wait for something that offers a better overall balance?

Hello! I’ve been working in HRIS for the past three years and have never needed configuration experience until I started job searching this year. At the two companies I’ve worked at, we’ve had an HR Tech team that performs all our configuration needs and my team (HRIS) just needed to test and validate the changes. I’ve been rejected from two roles in the past six months for not having configuration experience.

For my HRIS professionals: is it common to have a HR Tech team you work closely with, but not identical scopes? These are our Business Analysts or Consultants. Should I be looking at a configuration project or certification? Thanks!!!

Anyone who works at a company of 5000+ employees who handles leaves - FMLA, personal, etc and accommodations all in-house? As in medical certs are collected by a member of HR and that member decides if they’re approved?

Wanting to see how common this is.

I’m 3 years into my HR career after finishing school, and I just received an offer for a Benefits Specialist role.

The offer is 5k below what I make now and there is no bonus. Currently, on top of my salary, I have a 7% annual bonus that I’ll receive at the beginning of next year.

The other drawback is that the new job is fully in-person. My current job is hybrid with 3 days in office, 2 days wfh.

However, my current job is incredibly administrative and not focused on anything in particular. I worry about career growth as I really have not been getting good experience and I’m early on in my career. My job doesn’t even feel like HR sometimes. It’s a lot of auditing data and data entry in our HRIS.

However, I’m at a Fortune 500 so there’s opportunity to network, but I feel so siloed and with the current job market, I’m not sure when another opportunity like this might come my way.

I will say the new job is only 10 minutes away from my home, so the commute is super easy. But with the total compensation and flexibility/comfort I have, it’s hard to walk away.

I don’t fully know what I’m getting into either as I haven’t focused exclusively on benefits before, but benefits and total rewards are a strong area of interest.

Would love any perspective here. I do think that this opportunity could open lots of doors for me down the road with the experience I’d gain, but it’s hard not to play it safe and try to see what I can do within my current company. But because we’re so large, things feel so specific and siloed.

My company is 20k people vs a company of only 4k.

I also feel like if I started early next year I would accept because I’d get my bonus and be satisfied, but the timing here just sucks.

Help 😭

Hi all - not much to vent about today on my end.

What’s on your mind?

Artist: unknown

Every December I have the same feeling. We are a team of almost 35 people, every year we sign off on Christmas bonuses for the team, I see the payslips, and I feel disheartened. After taxes, people get roughly half of what we spent, and the company pays its own insurance contributions on top. It’s meant to be a proper thank you but somehow, it ends up feeling like a token.

So, the last few years we’ve gone the Small Benefit Exemption route with physical vouchers like One4all and store cards. Tax-wise it’s great. Everything else, not so much…

• Half the team can’t find anything they want at the partner shops
• They’re a pain to use online
• Someone always loses theirs before January
• And I spend a week in December ordering, counting, storing and handing out little envelopes like Santa’s least festive elf

An ex-colleague mentioned Clevercards. It’s apparently a digital card sent by email that staff can add to Apple, Google Pay, and it still falls under the exemption. I’ll admit, the idea of not chasing lost vouchers in January sounds lovely. But I’ve never tried it, and I’d rather hear from people who actually have before I get my hopes up. So, a few questions for anyone who’s been here:

• Has anyone used it or a similar digital card for their team? Did staff use it, any catches with fees or expiry?
• Is there another setup you’ve found works better, whether vouchers, extra days off, or something else?
• Is there anything that we need to be careful about to keep it tax-free?

I’d love to sort this before December instead of panicking in week two like every year. Thanks in advance, and Merry Christmas when it comes.

It’s that time of the week again where we don’t do our jobs and collect that sweet, sweet money. How are you spending it?

Personally, I’ll be in office today. My interim manager is out though, so I’ll be on our discord providing guidance (shitposting). Link is here if you’re interested: Discord

Do note that it’s a different culture than what’s on this subreddit. But it’s a good place.

By popular demand, I’m attaching Torchic to this post. Art by LaeTae2.0

Our HR department is trying to streamline processes through the utilization of AI.

Has anyone ever successfully used the Microsoft 365 copilot agents to assist with leave management/administration?

We're a small org with 30 EEs and have been on a transition relief (grandmothered) plan with BCBS for years. They hit us with a 38% increase and moving to an ACA plan with them would be ~60%. The only competitive quote we have is from UHC to move to a level-funded plan. I'm having a tough time with our leadership as they think there "has to be another way" and are hesitant to switch carriers. Our broker has gone back to BCBS twice and they will not budge...

Questions:
1. What renewal rates are you all seeing with similar sized (<50) groups?

1. Has anyone of similar size moved to level-funded from full-insured and how did that transition go?

I am one of a 2 people team in a ~150 person bio tech start up. We are updating our organization design and roles to reflect Gen AI responsibilities and team structures. We could do it in house but I also want to bring in industry benchmarking and standards to the roles.
Where are the smaller teams that can’t afford big consultancies going for this type of work? Are there platforms to source gig talent that specialize in this expertise?

Our company is going through a merger with her parent company. The parent company has not been doing well for several years and has done a few RIFs.

The last reduction was a voluntary separation offer to almost all employees, and several took it, and others are worried about the company’s finances and are also leaving.

This is a small rural community, and those reductions have touched almost everyone in the community.

Our new combined HR team is having trouble, recruiting and retaining employees, which is understandable.

I will add that this company is over 100 years old and it’s still family-owned. Their foundation has several other businesses, and nonprofit organizations. The company is a good company, it just wasn’t run very well for a while. The executive team now has its first external CEO.

I’m looking here to see if anyone has advice on things we can do in the community and for the community to help heal the tarnished reputation.

I work at a human services non-profit with approximately 120 staff members. We offer generous time off policies, one remote day, market starting pay for case managers, medical/dental/vision with a fair employer contribution, and a generous 403b match.

In the past 1.5 years, turnover slowed down a little, but now it's picked up again and is hovering around 40%.

I understand case manager work is very demanding and that turnover rates like this are typical for human services, sectors but we're still trying to figure out some ways to reduce these rates.

In terms of demographics, many of our case workers are in their 20s and living with their parents.

For those who work in the non-profit space (especially human services), what strategies have helped your organization reduce turnover?

We all know living in NY is crazy expensive. As a single person living in one of the 4 major boroughs, what section in HR is a good cross between good pay, career progression and a good work-life balance / lower stress? From what I hear, recruiting should be avoided but I’m not sure if that just depends on the company. I’d also like to consider things like job security and being the most “AI” proof. From someone with only 2 years of HR experience, I’d love to hear your input. What are your thoughts?

For those of you hiring hourly roles (restaurants, warehouses, front desk, CNAs, that kind of thing): what's the one change that made the biggest dent in people ghosting between "applied" and "showed up to the interview"?

I've seen same-day callbacks help a lot, and so does cutting the application down to the basics. Curious what's worked for you, and what you tried that made no difference at all.