Human Resources (HR)

Categories: Company Management

It sounds like what happens when the aliens land and stick all us humans in tubes, where they extract bodily fluids to use as fertilizer on their interplanetary fungus farms.

If you have a dim view of corporate bureaucracies, the actual Human Resource departments might not seem much better than that people-in-tubes dystopian vision. But the term really only describes the part of the company hierarchy that deals with employees.

HR represents the part of a corporate organization that deals with hiring and firing employees. It also administers salaries and benefits, as well as enforces employee policies (start getting a little too friendly in the break room and you might hear from HR).

HR files all the worker-related paperwork and provides a place where employees can get information about their benefits. The department also handles complaints and disciplinary situations.

Show up to work drunk, stop wearing pants to the office, get curious about how many days you have left until you're eligible to retire, need to file an insurance claim for your upcoming thigh implants...all topics that will eventually find themselves worked out, at least in part, in the HR department.

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