HR has been done to death already, but there is one specific type...
When I worked at the third largest newspaper in the Chicago area (family owned, for those making guesses), the human resources people were pretty much as you find elsewhere -- highly unpleasant and snotty when anyone didn't thoroughly understand the medical plan that HR knew intimately as part of their jobs.

Oh, and they ruled editors couldn't give raises anymore without using a special "rubric." And our best reporter who said he'd not go to the bigger and better paper if they just gave him a $2,000 raise (still less money or prestige than the other paper) -- of course, he left.

But we were in a money crunch. Everyone took a pay cut (and alleged hour cuts -- yeah, right), even the board of directors did, eventually.

It was in the midst of those cuts that we were having free food barbecues where "celebrity" chefs (our editors and their bosses) were cooking for us. Somehow, HR figured this would improve morale more than raises would.

Then I found out the clincher: the HR department had someone that specifically was supposed to plan "social" events like this. When I asked that person for help with something HR-related, she could only give me a form as she didn't know enough about the department functions.

That's right. We're bleeding money and making cuts, and HR has hired what amounted to a bloody CRUISE DIRECTOR!

And knowing that did not help my morale any.
(ChiTown Guy Dating when 35+: sane, single, attractive - pick 2, Mon 31 May 2010, 22:03, Reply)