Poking fun at the absurdity of office life via a mockumentary set in Slough was a brilliant idea for a TV show. The Office, which first aired more than 20 years ago, was inspired by real people.
From the tick-boxing appraisals (“Under weaknesses, you’ve put eczema,” manager David Brent told accountant Keith) to the pointless training days, millions could relate to life at fictional paper company Wernham Hogg.
A 2022 version of The Office would not land in the same way. Instead of staff trying to annoy each other by putting staplers in jelly, they would organise a video call to discuss their differences because they are all working from home. Keith’s lethargic appraisal would raise alarm bells that he might be unsatisfied in his job.
The office itself may have ceased to exist. Middle manager David Brent would be replaced by the new engine room of power in corporate life: HR.
HR has transformed during the pandemic, making it one of the most powerful departments in global business. The ramped up focus on workers’ rights is unequivocally a good thing, but it has left HR suddenly wielding huge power that can frustrate businesses.
As unions shrink, these departments are growing. The number of HR chiefs hired in the year to October rose by 56pc, according to Linkedin, while in the private sector trade union membership numbers in 2020 fell to one of the lowest levels ever.
Employee relations are more important than they’ve ever been, with Covid placing an unprecedented emphasis on working life. Having once just dealt with hiring and firing, HRs are now playing the role of union, mentor and doctor. “Your head of HR is now basically the school nurse,” the New York Times wrote last week.
But HR cannot be all things to all people. They cannot replace the unions, be the nurse, defend their employer, transform a culture and cut a workforce.
While there is no doubt that the workplace has modernised for the better, particularly for women, bosses are getting frustrated with the ballooning power of HR and the bureaucracy that comes with it.
As one aggravated boss puts it, never before has so much money been thrown at a department to do so many things that they are unqualified for.
A secret mission that was unearthed at Google last week apparently highlights the problem with HR’s newfound power. Dubbed “Project Vivian”, the search giant hired an “anti-union” consultancy in 2019 and then reportedly tried to quietly convince employees that “unions suck”, according to court documents seen by Vice.
Google’s apparent fight against staff activism follows a string of public clashes with workers and the creation of an informal union a year ago, but the “Project Vivian” campaign is misplaced.
Not only has this whole episode been embarrassing for one of the world’s largest companies, but only a fraction of Google’s 120,000 staff have even signed union cards. The decision to hire the anti-union consultancy was reportedly driven not by lawyers, but by various staff including a HR executive. Google responded to the incident stating that it has always supported and protected its workers’ labour rights.
This colossal waste of time could have been avoided. Google’s reported campaign shows how much the lines are blurring as HR teams, more powerful than ever, are torn between trying to back the worker and defend their employer.
Here is a company known for having a “chief happiness officer” and doling out free food such as lobster and sushi rolls at lunch, while also embarking on a secret mission to try and convince staff not to unionise.
