How HR Came To Rule Corporate America

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Edited By: Andrew Gonzales

Music Courtesy of: Epidemic Sound

Select Footage Courtesy of: Getty Images

All materials in these videos are for educational purposes only and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. This video does not provide investment or financial advice of any kind.

#money #business #careers

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Corporate America wants to dehumanize you and turn you into a human resource… but… that’s actually a good thing…

The most expensive and difficult part of running any business is managing the workers. Companies can achieve great success just by hiring the right talent even if their product offering is below the standard of competitors. Companies can also fail if they hire bad employees even if the rest of the business out-classes their competitors.

The success of any business hinges on a group with diametrically opposed motivations to the owners. As an employee you want to be paid a lot of money, but your company wants to pay you as little as it can. As an employee you want to work flexible hours, but your company wants you to be available at all times just in case something comes up. As an employee you want a comfortable working environment, but your company wants everybody to give up working from home to come in to open plan offices that are cheaper than giving people space and privacy.

Back before the World War One the opposition between employers and employees was not kept a secret. The new industrialists demanded long hours in dangerous factories and the workers pushed back through organized and often violent strikes. The industrialists still had the upper hand because they could easily hire able bodied men from farm work that paid less.

After the war skills became more important and just being able bodied was not enough to work in the more mechanized factories of the early twentieth century. Skilled labor unions were gaining the upper hand. The industrialists needed a new approach to ensure they could keep getting the most out of their workers and so Human Resources was born.

The first HR department was formed in 1901 by the National Cash Register Company, they called it the Personnel Management Department and it was formed in response to several organized staff walkouts and strikes over working conditions and pay.

The National Cash Register Company employed workers skilled in arithmetic to keep books for regional banks before electronic computers. The people working on the floor of this business were actually called computers, that was their job title, the automated adding machines that came later would be named after them, but that’s a story for How History Works.

The new Personnel Management Department was established to do three things. One, train management on new workplace laws and policies, two, handle hiring and firing of workers, and three, mediate workplace grievances between employees and managers. What the company had done was privatize a labor union and bring it directly under their control while making it appear as if they were doing this all for the good of their employees.

Because the National Cash Register Company employed skilled workers that were hard to train and replace their new Personnel Management Department made sense to be the prototype HR department, but one hundred and twenty years later nothing has changed. When Starbucks, Amazon and Walmart fight against worker unionization they say that a union will just get in the way of working directly with the company to resolve worker grievances.

No matter how they present themselves human resources works for the company, they want to turn you into a resource that’s cheap, hardworking and doesn’t complain but the best part is this can easily be used to your Advantage.

So it’s time to learn How Money Works to find out why corporate America trying to dehumanize you is actually a good thing.

[SenorTucano]

HR exists to protect the company from the workers

[pif]

I believe HR is also the place where psychology is turned against the worker to “increase motivation” without paying more.

[Hovzlozki]

I pretty much already did the tips in this video on how to increase your odds of being hired without knowing it. Every time I interviewed with HR and they asked how I resolve disputes I always answered by trying to keep it between myself and the other person and if we can’t resolve it on our own slowly escalate it and have HR be the last resort. Little did I know that must be music to their ears - someone that won’t ever bother them

[chad]

I have friends in HR and knew personnel from my former employer's HR department. They would share how certain situations would arise (one being a manager was verbally abusing his subordinate) and they'd have to do gymnastics to sweep such stuff under the rug, hide things from other employees, and try to position the company in the best position. HR departments DO NOT serve you, they serve the company. if you have any serious allegations, get outside legal counsel.

[armorbearer]

I have to admit that reason 2 is genius(8:07). You made me realize that interviews are 90% charming the people interviewing you and 10% proving you are qualified.

[doorsmoorhoors]

Im a self employed heavy equipment mechanic.
This video reminded me why I left the time wasting mind-fuk that is corporate america.
Thank you for this!

[ARORIGINAL]

So HR departments were created as a replacement for unions, basically a "private union" under control of the employers, but that's a good thing because they're vulnerable to a few legal exploits like "complaining to HR if you think you're about to be fired"?

That's not a good thing, that's just... a small gap for breathing, within a suffocating system.

[imrannazir]

A better definition for HR would be "Human Remains". HR departments are like the secret police of companies. A department normally populated by gossipy women looking for a good catch. Every time I worked at a company with an overly powerful HR department, it was a crappy place to work. The HR staff applied as many gimmicks and procedures as they could without seeing employees as people or developing them. In those companies, if HR found out something about your private life they could later use against you during negotiations, they did.

[wertywerrtyson]

What he said about asking for a low salary is true. My stepfather was hiring someone that seemed to meet all the requirements but when she asked for less money than he expected he chose to hire someone else who asked for more. It’s kind of messed up because you can be great at your job but humble or be bad at your job but feel entitled so it just makes it more likely you are going to employ narcissists and douchebags that think they are better than they are.

[itchylol]

Me, a Canadian: Hey, give our corporations some credit! They do plenty of worker exploitation too.

[starlmo]

I really do wonder what unions will look like in 10-15 years. I feel like they will either be dead or stronger than ever.

[Moosetick]

I regularly use HR's tactics against the company when it serves me. When they say "employee are the most valuable resource in the business", I call them on it. If a workplace has a "people first" philosophy, you can use that to point out policies you don't like as not being employee friendly and therefore against the company's culture. Obviously you have to be tactful in your wording and execution, but it can be a powerful tool.

Many companies also like to hype diversity now, and that's also good for employees to use. Diversity isn't just about gender and race. It can also relate to working styles and methodologies. So if you are being productive and some policy negatively affects that, you can claim the company is oppressing your "different" way to get things done and potentially get that policy changed and/or removed.

Its basically like how companies like to go on about how "the customer is always right", except in this case the employee is the customer. And we all know how easy it can be to use that philosophy to your advantage.

[j.j.]

The reason employers don't like people working from home is because they can't feel nor abuse their power as much.

[mycollegeshirt]

HR isn't there to protect you. It's there to protect the company from you.

[Isaac_L..]

I realized working as an RA that my university cared way more about me not being a liability to them than about me actually being a good employee. As I realized this I did the absolute bare minimum not to get fired (which was still far more than they deserved for what I got paid).

[JurassicJolts]

At my previous company I made a legitimate safety complaint regarding ladders. Made the complaint via email. Next couple of days we had a meeting where they were trying to push some new BS on us and I asked some very pointy questions that exposed them as the BS that they were. That being said, that ladder email definitely saved my ass because management hated me from that moment on. I was at a new company within about 5 weeks anyways. TLDR; make safety complaints via email it might save your career.

[robertewalt]

I, an American from the NYC area, was involved with Japanese and Korean companies in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In those days, the Japanese and Korean HR departments had a lot more power than in the US. They planned out the career path for workers, including outside education.

[David.Marquez]

That unethical life pro tip towards the end is particularly wild because It's so smart.

[jacobhebert]

A bit of wiggle room is not a sign that its a good system, an actual good system would have kept workers in mind from the start (in other words, not corporate controlled).

[MrAcuriteOf]

Correction; it wasn't strikes that were violent, so much as strikebreaking and the reaction to strikebreaking that was violent.