HR. A symptom of who has the power.
Bolt's boss fired his whole HR department, saying it made problems that didn't exist. HR was always a sign of who held the power, and the workforce stopped growing.
THE GIST ON HR: "Power Cut"
Why are HR departments being cut?
HR departments are being slashed everywhere. Last month, the CEO of Bolt fired his entire HR department because, he said, they were making problems that didn't exist. But the problems are the job.
How did HR grow?
HR was paperwork until the 1980s: hiring, firing, payroll. Then it grew. By the 2010s it had become people operations, engagement scores, wellbeing programmes, DEI training and pulse surveys. The function doubled in size in most tech companies.
What happened when tech crashed?
Four years ago, the tech market crashed. The cuts started at Twitter, where Elon Musk fired three quarters of the staff in a single year, and most of the people ops, recruiting and culture went first. Meta followed, then Google, then Microsoft, Amazon and Salesforce, all cutting HR before they cut engineers. Last month, Bolt fired their entire HR department in one go.
Why did HR shrink fastest?
It was always about leverage. When there's a large workforce, workers have power, and so does the function that looks after them. When the workforce shrank, they lost it. The 2022 crash ended the talent war: interest rates rose, funding dried up and AI started writing code, so the workforce stopped expanding.
The function that exists to keep workers happy doesn't matter much when the workforce isn't big enough. HR was always a symptom of who had the power. So who has it now?
Does your workplace need an HR team?
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Quick answers
What did the CEO of Bolt do?
Last month he fired his entire HR department, saying they were making problems that didn't exist.
What did HR do before the 1980s?
Paperwork: hiring, firing and payroll. By the 2010s it had grown into people operations, engagement scores, wellbeing programmes, DEI training and pulse surveys.
Why did HR shrink fastest?
HR was always about leverage. When a large workforce gave workers power, HR grew. Once the workforce stopped expanding after the 2022 crash, it lost that.
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