Re:Myth: HR is on your side. Reality: The Uber sexual harass...
by SilasX on Monday June 19, 2017 @04:30PM
(#14590204)
Yes, yes, it's become a cliche to point this out. (See: every comment posted as of this moment.)
But that's not the real lesson here -- we now see that this stonewalling/gaslighting didn't even help the company, since HR were so hardcore about being so kafkaesque that Uber got stuck with a major PR scandal that cost numerous managers they were ostensibly protecting!
That's a particularly nasty kind of frustration -- not simply when someone opposes your goals, but does it so confusedly that they're hurting themselves in the process and yet you're still powerless to stop it! (Anyone can relate to Fowler's experience if they've had to deal with that kafkaesque, self-hurting bureaucracy "that will make you look bad if anyone actually takes an interest in the case".)
So no, it's not enough to dismiss this case as "HR protects the company,"; that logic wouldn't explain why, in this case, they "protected" the company by doing extremely risky things that could blow up badly.
But that's not the real lesson here -- we now see that this stonewalling/gaslighting didn't even help the company, since HR were so hardcore about being so kafkaesque that Uber got stuck with a major PR scandal that cost numerous managers they were ostensibly protecting!
That's a particularly nasty kind of frustration -- not simply when someone opposes your goals, but does it so confusedly that they're hurting themselves in the process and yet you're still powerless to stop it! (Anyone can relate to Fowler's experience if they've had to deal with that kafkaesque, self-hurting bureaucracy "that will make you look bad if anyone actually takes an interest in the case".)
So no, it's not enough to dismiss this case as "HR protects the company,"; that logic wouldn't explain why, in this case, they "protected" the company by doing extremely risky things that could blow up badly.