6 Things an HRMS Manager Would Never Say

Often, a savvy HRMS Manager learns how to translate thoughts to a more appropriate version for their HR Partners. As such, there are a few phrases that you may never hear your HRMS manager utter. Instead, they rely on a system of smokescreens and mirrors to translate their tumultuous thoughts into more palatable phrases.

Do you really need to do that process in HR? I was just thinking the other day as an employee, that I’d really find this to be a time waster.

What they really say: I’m always trying to learn more about HR processes—what would you say are the key benefits of this one for an employee?

That can’t be how you really do this process/report/etc., is it?

What they really say: I haven’t had a second cup of coffee yet today, can you explain that one to me again, please?

Could we go a little more manual in this process? Maybe less technology, more paper?

What they really say: While technically anything is possible, that would be quite difficult for a developer to build or automate, or it would be very costly to do so. Maybe we could fashion a more manual workaround for you, nothing too time-consuming, of course!

No, I cannot just make the system ‘figure it all out’ unless you are able to define some rules around the data.

What they really say: Sorry to get so caught up on the details but (sigh) we always need to document it fully to put in the request to assign it to a resource. Can you walk me through your thought process, so that I can translate that into ‘system speak’?

We’re targeting such an update for 2020 at the earliest, if you’re lucky!

What they really say: It will depend on the management prioritization of the request list. I’d love to be able to do this one soon, but not sure how quickly it will get done based on the current queue of HRMS requests.

I’m sorry, my magic wand is broken.

What they really say: I can’t promise any miracles with your HR data/process/issue, but leave it with me and let me see what I can do.

I hope this list has proved to be a revelation in your communicative journey with your HRMS manager. At the very least, I hope it provided you with a few laughs on a Monday morning.