Woke HR policies have replaced basic efficiency

sir – Some human resource managers have fully absorbed the woke dogma that “my feelings trump your facts” (“How the HR monster destroyed the workplace”, Comment, June 18).

Earlier this year I left my job as a university lecturer in a business school, in part because I was tired of the politicisation of both the curriculum and the institution, much of it facilitated by human resources. I think, for instance, of Universities UK’S expensive campaign in 2016 against Brexit, the hostile atmosphere that this generated for those of us of a different mind and, more recently, the uncritical acceptance of “critical race theory” – not too subtly camouflaged as the Race Equality Charter of the charity Advance HE (report, June 19).

On leaving, I found that this political posturing seemed to have replaced the efficient completion of basic humanresource practice. I spent two months trying to obtain a leaver’s payslip and

P45 from my HR department, even though the law states that employers must provide these. Eventually, when I mentioned the possibility of legal action, a human resource manager sent the PAYE documents to me, but not before chastising me for the “tone” of my email and the “impact” that it had had upon her.

Rod Thomas

Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland

sir – I had the misfortune to work for a large organisation whose HR department loudly trumpeted its movement “from the transactional to the transformational”, which coincided with the promotion of the HR director to the board. Any useful functions were eradicated and replaced by a series of unnecessary hurdles for management and staff. At the same time, the numbers of HR staff grew.

M J Millar

North Berwick, East Lothian