It seems like no one likes HR, except maybe other HR professionals. I get it. We get a bad rap because we often times deal with discipline, terminations, policy enforcement and delivering bad news. Most HR professionals understand the bad comes with the good and as a result, we don’t end up with many work friends.
But, it also seems, in addition to a general sense of dislike, most employees and leaders in organizations also hold a poor opinion about the effectiveness of an HR department.
If you think your HR team isn’t effective, they don’t understand the business or can’t seem to provide the right kind of solutions for your organization I urge you to keep reading. I want to tell you the real reason, the raw truth, about why that is!
Remember, all the information in this blog post is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. I am not an attorney, nor do I provide legal advice. The information provided is my personal opinion and not that of any organization, business, company, agency or other individuals. The author is not liable for any losses or damages related to actions or failure to act related to the content of this article. If you need specific legal advice, consult with an attorney who specializes in your subject matter. Any action you take upon the information you find on this website (www.hrraw.com), is strictly at your own risk.
Penny Horton | May 1, 2018
Leadership
You only have to look as far as the leadership team in an organization to determine how effective it can be. Ever heard the saying, you’re only as strong as your weakest link? Well, that definitely applies here.
HR departments spend the vast majority of their time executing the requests of the leaders in the organization. HR professionals have a responsibility for providing guidance and recommendations to leaders based off of their knowledge about employment law, change management strategies, organizational insight, best practices, company policy and precedent (history of what has been done before in the organization in similar situations). We lay out all the options, provide a recommendation and then, are typically directed to execute whichever option the leader chooses….which may or may not be what we recommended. Leaders often make poor decisions, don’t listen to advice, go against a recommendation, don’t understand the culture or ignore HR altogether, yet HR is left to execute the action and ends up being the face of the decision. Worse yet, leaders will often take action, prior to involving HR, leaving the HR team to bat clean up, bear the brunt of the decision and take the reputation damage.
Systems
What kind of systems is your company using to gather, maintain and manage HR related information? In order to effectively and efficiently manage people, you need information and it needs to be available, easily accessible, organized and usable through effective and efficient systems. HR needs to be able to access payroll, personnel, applicant, performance management, compensation, wellness, and training information. If your company has different systems for each, that do not communicate well with each other, then your HR team may be bogged down in manual, administratively burdensome and tedious tasks that monopolize their time and prevent them from executing on things that actually matter and have a valuable impact.
Budget
Yes, HR is a cost-center, just like any other support group in the organization. And as a result, companies don’t like pouring more money into cost centers than they feel they absolutely have to. Most of the time, profit centers are the ones that get the majority of the funding. But at the end of the day, why don’t companies invest more money into the department that can have such direct and valuable impact on the company’s largest expense and most important competitive advantage-human capital? The ROI on human capital investment is there…I promise. A skilled HR team can show it to you…and if they can’t, well, that’s another issue (see Expertise/Skills below).
Lack of Standardized Process
Most people don’t think of having standardized administrative processes. Is your HR department taking advantage of standardized work, documenting processes and cross-training to ensure consistency? Continuous improvement methodology has a place in HR. There are many processes that an HR professional performs on a regular basis. Making sure each HR team member follows the same steps, in the same sequence can reduce the amount of time, administrative burden, and questions that need to be addressed for these tasks. And, if the process is only performed once in a while then all the more reason to have the process well documented. Think of all the time that will be saved when you can give someone access to the information in an easy to follow format so they don’t have to hunt down an answer or take someone else’s time up while that person shows the other how to do it. Think exit interviews, new hire paperwork, data entry, report creation, interview scheduling, and others. The possibilities are endless! The less time HR spends on rote tasks, the more time they have to focus on what really matters!
Organizational Culture
Is your organization, the leaders, the processes, the experiences, the past practices, or other factors creating a bias against HR? It could be blatant or subliminal. Either way, cultural stigma is hard to overcome. Does your HR team have a “seat at the table”….in a real way or is someone from HR just sitting at the table? Meaning, if the HR representative provides input, expertise, guidance or opinion does the senior leadership team actually value it and consider it or is it automatically dismissed? Is HR one of the last group’s to know or are they pulled in early into business discussions and decisions? Is HR the department to avoid or only use as the last resort? The interactions or lack of interactions with the HR department are obvious to the employees in the organization…..they set the stage for the perception of the HR department.
Expertise / Skills
I’ve hired and worked with a lot of HR professionals throughout my career. I’m here to tell you, not every HR professional is created equal. The HR profession, the purpose HR serves to an organization, and the skills required of an effective HR professional have evolved over the decade and a half that I have been in the field. It’s my opinion that many of the professionals in the field haven’t necessarily evolved at the same rate. The true value HR can provide to an organization is no longer simply an administrative, rule enforcing, feel good, transaction-based function; yet many HR professionals haven’t expanded their skills beyond tasks like policy writing and enforcement, compliance, HRIS entry, benefits administration, event planning or other tactical functions. I’ve always told my HR teams that the more time they spend out of their office, away from their desk the better they will be. HR professionals need the time and the desire to interact and engage with the workforce and leadership, learn the business and identify the solutions that can help it achieve its strategic objectives. But that takes someone who has the business acumen, the HR expertise and the ability to think strategically while executing tactically. That requires someone who has a strategic vision as well as project management skills. HR professionals must start sharpening their tools and skills to meet these growing demands.
Accountability and Measurement
Businesses run and are measured against objective metrics every day such as EBITDA, Unlevered Free Cash Flow, Gross Margin, Inventory Turn Time, Recordable Incident Rate, Revenue Generation, On-Time Delivery, etc. But very few HR departments track or hold themselves accountable to objective measures. And often times when they do, the senior leadership team doesn’t give HR the real authority to manage to them.
Often times the HR team feels as if they have little control over their targets (think turnover, time to fill, employee engagement, direct/indirect ratio, etc.) and want to “blame” other departments for negatively impacting them. That’s all fine and good except when was the last time the finance department got a pass on meeting EBITDA because other departments overspent their budget? Never, the last time I checked. In fact, if money is tight, finance often directs other departments to take action (such as re-forecasting their budgets, implementing cost-cutting measures, etc.) and guess what, the other departments listen and take the action. So why isn’t HR given same the clout and authority as other departments? Can your HR department say our direct/indirect ratio is off balance and we need to stop hiring? I’ve been in situations where I was told the HR department “owned” headcount and yet when I wouldn’t approve requisitions because they weren’t in the budget I was overridden. And at the end of the day that makes the HR team seem ineffective, is a sign of the cultural bias against the department and a reflection on the leadership team of the organization….what a vicious cycle!
Trust
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told by employees that HR is only there to support the management team. But I’m positive that it is equal to the number of times I’ve been told by managers that HR is only there to support the employees. Individuals inherently don’t trust HR….it’s the result of some or all of the reasons I’ve outlined here. I know that trust is earned through actions but if all of the leaders in the organization aren’t pulling in the same direction as the HR team then the efforts to establish credibility and build the trust will fail. Trying to make an HR department effective despite its leadership and culture is a recipe for failure!
All too often leaders in the workplace won’t provide direct feedback to individuals. Instead, sidebar conversations are had, gaps or shortcomings are minimized and avoidance ensues until frustration levels are high. None of this is helpful to anyone but it can be particularly detrimental to an HR team not to receive feedback if the perception is that the team isn’t meeting the organization’s expectations. While there may be an HR professional or a whole HR team in the organization, the function of human resources is actually the responsibility of every member of management. Employees typically outnumber the HR team and much like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a unified team to make an organization successful. So the next time you catch yourself thinking that the HR team at your company sucks, take some time to ask yourself what you are doing to help make it successful.
Who’s Your HR? can help you make sure your HR department doesn’t suck! I am available to assist you with HR consulting, contract or project work. Please review the Solutions and Service page or find my contact information in the menu to the left of this article.
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