Shifting from Risk Management to People Power

If you’ve been reading our blogs for some time, you know that I’ll acknowledge one universal truth about companies: Human Resources is not your friend.

I fear, though, that in expressing what can be harmful encounters that people—especially women of color—have with the division, I’ve contributed to a narrative that paints HR as the boogeyman, when it has the potential to be so much more. 

This is the one (and likely only) instance that a “both sides” discussion might actually be useful, to  talk about what HR is really for, why so many employees rightfully don’t trust them, and what needs to radically change if HR is ever going to be a meaningful part of building equitable, accountable workplaces.

HR teams are under-resourced 

Most HR departments are stuck in a lose-lose position. They’re expected to be culture keepers, crisis managers, and compliance and accountability officers all while being excluded from major decisions and denied the resources required to do any of that work well.

In our work with organizations over the past year, 68% of HR professionals told us they were not included in org-wide decision-making, yet 82% were responsible for implementing those decisions. That’s not strategy — it’s scapegoating.

How can you be tasked with repairing trust in an organization when you don’t have any true power to do said repairs? How can you advocate for employees when you’re being directed by the very leadership that’s causing harm? How can you transform workplace culture when your team consists of one person with a job description meant for five?

HR may not be your friend, but that’s largely in part because White Supremacy Culture in many spaces morphs the department to be one that structurally is set up to fail the very people it’s meant to protect. 

Trust can’t thrive where power hasn’t been shifted. 

Too many employees—especially Black and Brown women, queer folks, disabled folks, and more—have been gaslit, retaliated against, or silenced by the very departments that were supposed to protect them. Their mistrust isn’t paranoia. It’s an informed response to a system they know was not built for them. 

And yet, if we’re serious about building workplaces that are actually just, we have to reimagine what HR can be and demand that it be resourced accordingly.

When HR is resourced—when it has power, budget, staff, and proximity to leadership—we see a tangible shift. Over the last year, our data showed that organizations who invested in building HR capacity saw 25% lower turnover and 40% better communication outcomes. 

We’ve seen what happens when HR is empowered to listen deeply, challenge executive decisions, and center the needs of workers at every level. We’ve also seen what happens when HR is treated like a dumping ground for liability and punishment. The difference isn’t subtle — it determines whether employees stay or not. 

How to build an HR team centered on equity and uprooting White Supremacy Culture 

We have to interrogate why failures with HR keep happening. The answer isn’t “better training” but instead is a radical shift in how HR is positioned inside of our systems.

That means:

• Putting HR on the executive team—with decision-making power.

• Funding HR teams so they aren’t flying solo or burning out.

• Shifting HR’s core function from “protect the company” to “protect the people who power the company.”

• Making HR accountable to the workforce, not just the CEO.

HR is broken because the system is working exactly as it was designed—to manage risk for the employer, not justice for the employee.

But we believe in systems change. And we believe in building HR teams that are not only your friend, but your fiercest advocate.