The debate about the usefulness of human resource departments has been reignited after Bolt Financial's CEO Ryan Breslow sacked his entire HR team, citing that they created too many 'problems that didn't exist'. This move comes on the heels of a report from the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange, which claims HR departments have become bloated and over-encumbered.
The debate about the usefulness of human resource departments has been reignited after Bolt Financial 's CEO Ryan Breslow sacked his entire HR team, citing that they created too many 'problems that didn't exist'.
This move comes on the heels of a report from the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange, which claims HR departments have become bloated and over-encumbered. The report argues that HR is more concerned with pushing 'radical' equality, diversity and inclusion policies and protecting corporate interests rather than looking after staff, and are costing firms £10billion a year.
HR has exploded in Britain over the last 15 years, with the number of people working in resource roles growing 83 per cent between 2011 and 2023. This has led to increasing bureaucracy, with six-figure senior HR roles and a smorgasbord of equality training initiatives that critics say are distracting people from getting on with their work.
The Government is also under scrutiny, with a 2022 audit of the Cabinet Office finding that it had around 700 HR staff out of around 11,000 people in the government department, or six per cent of the total workforce. The report's author says that this growth has led to HR departments becoming more concerned with taking the 'right' political positions rather than looking after staff.
This has led to a culture of fear, where staff are cowed into keeping quiet lest they say the 'wrong' thing. The debate about the usefulness of HR departments has been ongoing for years, with some arguing that they are necessary to protect the interests of employees, while others argue that they are a hindrance to productivity.
The case of Carl Borg-Neal, who was sacked by Lloyds Bank after he tried to ask a question relating to the use of the N-word by black people during an HR training session, has also raised questions about the purpose of HR departments. Borg-Neal was awarded almost £500,000 in damages after an employment tribunal ruled that his question had been asked without malice.
The case of Kristin Cabot, the chief people officer at tech firm Astronomer, who resigned after she was seen in a romantic embrace with her boss, CEO Andy Byron, at a Coldplay concert, has also raised questions about the purpose of HR departments. Cabot has since claimed that Byron lied to her about his marriage and that the scandal has rendered her 'unemployable'.
The case of Octopus Energy, which has no HR department, has also been cited as an example of a company that trusts its staff to resolve issues including bullying themselves. The company's founder, Greg Jackson, has said that he doesn't want employees to 'drown' in bureaucracy
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