Has HR Bureaucratized Itself Into Complete Irrelevance?
SHRM - the self-appointed "governing body" of human resources - just lost another federal lawsuit. This time, for refusing to accommodate a service dog for an employee managing Type 1 Diabetes.
Let that sink in.
The organization that sells certification badges to the entire industry failed at the absolute baseline of human resources: a basic interactive process for a $0, zero-disruption medical accommodation.
Instead of saying "yes" to a non-invasive tool that keeps a worker healthy and productive, they tried to play doctor and suggest alternative ways for her to handle her own chronic illness.
It is arrogant, punitive, and wildly out of touch. But worse? It exposes the deep rot in traditional HR.
Over the last 30 years, corporate HR hasn't solved workplace problems; it has manufactured them.
We replaced leadership with handbooks: HR departments engineered 100-page policy manuals designed to eliminate "grey areas." In doing so, we didn't eliminate risk; we eliminated common sense.
We neutered front-line managers: Supervisors on the shop floor aren't failing to manage because they lack skill. They’re terrified to have a basic, 5-minute conversation with an employee because HR has spent decades threatening them with liability tripwires.
We made "NO" the corporate reflex: We got so addicted to risk mitigation, spreadsheets, and line-item optics that we forgot the actual job: making work productive for human beings.
When an accommodation request costs nothing, creates no operational inequity, and keeps a capable human doing their job, the default answer is YES.
If HR continues to operate as an internal police force whose primary function is finding reasons to say no, then HR deserves to be bypassed.
Real operational integrity isn't built on rigid policies. It's built on equipping managers to lead, treating workers like adults, and cutting out the administrative rot.
I don’t practice traditional HR, and disasters like this are precisely why.
Is your HR department enabling your supervisors to manage, or are they just policing the hall?
