I feel the earth falling off its axis

HR has crept upon us over the last 25 years evolving from the Personnel Department which was considered PC incorrect. They have crept up on senior management to be considered by themselves that they are senior management, which they are not. They have done well making themselves indispensible, as they think.
Most HR Departments are run by women many of them coming from the so called Employment Agencies  which have grown parrallel with HR. The HR Departments and the fellow Employment Agencies are hand in glove coming from the same product, often having been a failure at an Agency.
The Employment Agencies will “so called” vet the applicants for a job then send only those who fit their own requirements for an interview, with their recommendation, to their friends at HR.
I have seen where after perhaps a year the Employment Agency will approach the person selected and ensured that they get another job, at more money etc.
They then going to the HR Department with their new selection.
This has been self perpetuation for many years now.
Try the Public Service or Local Government and see who gets the jobs. Friends of friends get selected.

Why Personnel was considered PC incorrect while Human Resources (kind of categorising people as raw material) is better I could never fathom.  I do agree that they are an absolute blight.  Outsource payroll management; let the bloody managers manage the rest and let HR all go off to become “counsellors” .  

totally agree, with my recent dealing over the last few weeks with HR departments from my org and two others….they let “their” rules get in the way of pure logic…even to the extent of hindering the moving forward…..kick the lot of them out and let managers hire directly, just give them some good templates to use…worked for years

Having been GM & a director of a company employing 200+ staff when I sold out & semi-retired five years ago I have watched with a mixture of amazement & horror as companies, SOEs & government departments have allowed themselves to become hostages to the pseudo-science of HR. Five years on and that company still functions wonderfully well in an industry almost entirely dependent on its service levels with heads of department responsible for recruitment, an executive PA & an employment lawyer on a consultancy basis in the rare instances that her services are needed or to check over a contract. It isn’t easy as employment law becomes more complex but its a challenging function that needs to be handled by any middle manager worth his or her salt. HR departments are a self perpetuating waste of valuable resource and as for HR agencies, well, there’s bugger all concern that appears to be shown by tehm when things turn to custard as is often the case.