Was she born yesterday?

We all know, or at least we’re all supposed to know, that it’s not polite to ask people about their bodies in the workplace. Even positive comments, such as complimenting a coworker on losing weight, are not always appreciated. It’s very common for people to lose a great deal of weight because they’re going through something really horrible in their life, and the stress of that is making them completely lose their appetite. You never really know what your coworkers are going through, and asking why they look a certain way can make them feel insecure.

If there’s one department in the average office that should know that you should never ask an employee why they have a weird haircut or why they don’t shave their armpit hair, it’s HR. Human resources are the people who are supposed to scold employees for being unprofessional with their coworkers. If your HR department doesn’t know the difference between an appropriate comment/compliment and a potentially offensive one, how can you expect them to enforce workplace norms amongst the other employees?