Since I now work for the government now and have Memorial Day day off, I've spent the morning scrolling Reddit, as one does. I keep seeing in this sub “HR is not your friend, HR is not your friend, HR is not your friend.” It's not incorrect, and frankly, I've said the selfsame before myself. But I did want to share the time a HR professional did me an actual, personal solid.
I work in healthcare. Healthcare likes to use the , “How would you feel if your grandma got subpar care?” to keep employees doing more and more for less and less with less and less. I had worked at what is called a critical access hospital for 10 years, taking on additional duties throu the years as I became Clinical Manager, then Clinical Manager+scheduler, then Clinical Manager +scheduler +Pharmacy Operations Manager. Over the 10 years and multiple roll changes, we “received” 2 raises, both less than 0.5% addition in pay. Then the hospital went bankrupt (despite multiple CEOs having received $M contracts), we got bought out by an investment group and I was among the people let go.
I was two months pregnant at the time (they didn't know) and covid shut down my state two weeks later. I managed to get all of two interviews in before all hospitals went on a hiring freeze.
I was out of work for 7 months, got a job offer from one of the people I had interviewed with in Feb as I was getting covid tested pre-delivery. I delivered 3 days later and started 2.5 weeks later. But this isn't about the shitty way America treats new mothers.
It's about the HR rep who called and asked what my requested salary was. I gave her what I had been making at the previous hospital (less than 1% above what a junior staff pharmacist would have been earning more than 10 years previous). In my defense, I was desperate for work and in active labor. I wasn't really thinking clearly.
Now HR works for the company, so she could have taken my number and run with it, chalking it up to a company win. But instead she said something along the lines of, “Sorry, I think I misheard. The top of our bracket for someone with your years and management experience is $XX/hr (almost $20/hr more than I had requested). That's what you had said, right?” Thankfully I still had the wherewithal to agree.
So, long story short, to the HR professional who did a desperate pharmacist a solid even though it wasn't in the company's best interest,, I thank you.