We Blame HR: The Hired Scapegoat

“You’re in HR. You fix it. Stop gossiping.”

That’s what the CEO barked at me—after his friend got a DUI and was charged with concealing a weapon.

I wasn’t gossiping. I was asking the obvious:

“Is there a gun in the building?”

Instead of support or collaboration, I got thirty minutes of blame. Just another day as HR—the hired scapegoat.

In my head, I escaped to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, You know the scene: “Homeless, Not Toothless.”It made about as much sense as this meeting.

💥 Welcome to HR

We’re the department that gets:

• Screamed at

• Blamed

• Threatened

• Nearly punched

• Oh - and an C-Suite Employee said I smiled too much.

  
  

One manager even pounded his fists on the desk and shouted:

“I’m angry in this chair!”Me: “Try a different chair.”

🔄 The Real Problem

“The most common form of bullying HR pros face is ‘undermining professional integrity.’”– The International Workplace Bullying Survey

It’s not just toxic coworkers. It’s cowardly executives, too.

Like the VP who tells you to fire someone next week—while she’s in Aspen.The employee gets mad. HR gets blamed.

Because guess what?

People don’t believe the exec hiding behind policy.They believe us—the ones delivering the news.

We’re expected to clean up every mess, without backup.We enforce policies leadership wrote—while they sip Pappy’s in Bermuda.

🚩 Why This Behavior Sticks

• Scapegoating is easy

• Power imbalance is baked in

• Most companies still see HR as emotional custodians, not strategic partners

  
  

Google “bullied by HR” and you’ll find pages of content about HR being the bully. Meanwhile, HR professionals are quietly getting wrecked—and no one’s writing those articles.

🧠 What Needs to Change

1. Empower HR – Give us authority, not just tasks

2. Foster respect – Stop treating us like a complaint box

3. Create feedback channels – HR needs psychological safety, too

   
   

👏 The Shift Has Begun

AI is exposing dysfunction. People analytics are surfacing toxic patterns. Nepotism may survive, but transparency is catching up.

And here’s the thing:

You can’t keep blaming HR for enforcing policies you created.

HR doesn’t need a new chair. It needs a respect, and don't we all need that?