Employee notices payroll error, HR insists that $26.38 an hour is a 10% raise from $26.35 an hour: 'If your HR department can’t do simple math, you might want to think about working somewhere else'

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Aug 30, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

If you've been in the workplace long enough, you've probably encountered some less-than-brilliant HR professionals. They say, "I'm here for you no matter what," but at the end of the day, they're here for the company first and you second. They routinely ask that midwestern employees not say "guys" because it's not inclusive but turn a blind eye to actual instances of exclusion and harassment. There are definitely some gems in the HR profession, but not all of them can do their jobs above and beyond. Like all professions, some can't even do their basic duties.

An email from an incompetent HR worker recently went viral, and it's making all of us with more than a 6th-grade math education scratch our heads. The email is responding to an employee saying that her raise has not been applied to her recent paycheck, and the HR person doubles down on significant miscalculations.