Misconduct scandal | 'HR isn't interested in stopping harassment'

The ‘dystopian’ department of HR isn’t interested in helping employees, it’s interested in just two things: stopping lawsuits and bad PR. Or at least, that’s the view that technology journalist Holly Brockwell shared in a Twitter rant that swiftly went viral, and was met with heavily divided opinions from other users.

Brockwell's claims are very serious. Stating that she went to HR over a serious claim, she writes: "I didn't used to know this [that HR is only interested in stopping bad PR] and went to HR about an assault expecting help and sympathy. What I got was 'you should have drunk less' and the suggestion that I'd never win a case because of that,” she says.

In the seven-tweet thread, Brockwell goes on to discuss the function of HR. She states that she is “not sure that companies could have been much clearer in their intentions than by referring to you as a ‘human resource’ instead of a person” and that “people don’t seem to notice that”.

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Later in the thread, Brockwell expands on her argument with an example of HR’s function in mediating a work-related issue. “If you’re about to report your boss for sexual harassment, it’s important to know going in that HR isn’t primarily interested in stopping the harassment or helping you recover, but stopping the spread of news about it and making sure you don’t sue,” she writes.