Quite right Gordon,
HR is an infection that has complicated workplace relationships across all industries. Wedging themselves into every conversation they are now a cornerstone of modern 'management practice'. Teaming with IR they make the experience of work, more complicated, more adversarial and less productive.
Candidly, in years to come it will businesses like Southwest that become the benchmark rather than the O'Leary adversarial model. Staff cost you money that is a given, but respected people in any profession deliver far more than the bookkeepers can ever measure on an excel spreadsheet.
In the short term, the bite of staff shortages with long lead times and numerous barriers to entry is amusing to watch from the sidelines.
