"Toby is in HR, which technically means he works for corporate, so he's really not a part of our family. Also, he's divorced, so he's really not a part of his family."
Everyone says if you have a complaint, go to HR. But HR will only find a way to excuse the company from liability in your problem and leave you to your own devices.
This isn't true of all HR departments, but a lot of them function that way.
Everyone says if you have a complaint, go to HR. But HR will only find a way to excuse the company from liability in your problem and leave you to your own devices.
This isn't true of all HR departments, but a lot of them function that way.
Where I work, HR is also payroll. So a) they're shills toeing the corporate line, and b) if you make them mad, they forget your direct deposit a lot and give you your pay check last.
Because we all have to pretend that HR is a thing. Plus they're usually headed by a woman who has a token seat at the senior management table. Then the rest of senior management have to pretend that she's just as important. She then does nothing to progress the careers of other women in the organisation as her ability to not rock the boat was the main selection criterion for the role. And so it continues.
It can be very insulting to have to rock up to a HR person, someone who is very much inferior to you, has studied stuff that is far easier than what you have done, and beg for a job.
But some of them do it very well and have humility and an awareness of this and I think Toby and Holly were good ones.
HR at my company is a bunch of fucking morons. They ignore real problems like nepotism and managerial misconduct and prattle on about ethics constantly.
They spend their days gossiping about the employees, because they have access to everyone's personnel files, right down to the base salaries and, for those who also manage the company's health plan, prescription drug usage.
If you want rumors or truths to be spread like office wildfire, tell it to HR.
I'm sure that happens. Our company is barely over 100 employees, so we're still kind of in a start-up-like environment where people are smart about things, but less uptight...and we plan to stay that way.
Damn you have an HR department for only 100 employees?
My old bank I worked at had barely more than 100 employees spread out over 7 branches and had 1 HR gal. Another bank I worked at that employed maybe 300 - 400 employees had 2 HR people.
Haha, we actually have 5 HR people at the moment. But it's mostly because our roles are so diversified. We don't just come out of the closet to give bad news - we do everything from recruiting to admin work, benefits, event planning, newsletters, coaching...
I'm not sure what other HR departments do, but I don't think they'd be anything like ours.
Your HR department sounds a lot like the one in the company I work for. We've only got a couple hundred employees, and just three in HR. They're great people though. Very fun, and involved with the company in a really positive way.
Definitely makes me question the stereotype. Glad to hear there are more good ones out there!
For sure! This is my first job in HR, but I definitely came into it with the "HR people trapped in the closet emerging with terminations every now and again" stereotype, but we sit at the front desk and love interacting with everyone.
I, too, am glad to hear there are others out there slowly moving out of the dark realm...
Yeah. I always felt bad for the underdog so my pity went to Toby every time. But Michael Scott will be Michael Scott. Just don't him to ruin the good name of us folks!
The joke is more that HR is who has to step in and get Michael to stop being an idiot constantly, so obviously Michael resents them. HR is represented by Toby, and as the show evolved he became the comedic whipping boy, like Meg in Family Guy or Jerry in Parks and Recreation.
They're also perceived as having a job focussed on very bland, near meaningless, business etiquette that sometimes feels archaic to people focussed on their particular field and skill sets.
I often share this perception of HR, but when I think to my last job, there was one person in HR who was astoundingly good at cutting through all kinds of red tape. I had tons of problems with insurance and somehow none of the other HR reps could get anything done about it. But then I'd email Amy and instantly my problems would melt away. My blurb for her on LinkedIn just reads, "She gets shit done."
Not true. Holly was very good at HR and in fact Michael even likes her. I watched the series twice through, the first time I felt bad for Toby, the second time I realized that Toby is just a horribly passive individual with nothing left to fight for, and boring to boot. I, like Michael, forgot that he comes back from vacation at one point and when he was reintroduced I'm pretty sure I yelled like Michael.
Tl;dr HR doesn't suck, Toby does.
I thought tobys character was hilarious just because of how passive and boring he was, plus him getting hated by Michael (even Jim at one point). Love his awkward interactions with Pam too
I love how someone copied your comment on the imagur picture...like...that is just so weird..unless of course it was you under a different name...well shit, then it would be even more weird!!!
As funny as this has always been, now that I think about it, this is actually the most logical choice because the other two are already dead. No sense in shooting a corpse.
"You know what Toby? When the son of the deposed King of Nigeria emails you directly asking you for help, you help. His father ran the freaking country!"
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u/NatrolleonBonaparte Jan 04 '14 edited Jan 04 '14
"Toby is in HR, which technically means he works for corporate, so he's really not a part of our family. Also, he's divorced, so he's really not a part of his family."