HR was recently cited by one survey as one of the worst performing business functions – it even fell below the IT department in terms of appreciation. So what’s going on? John Mazted, CEO of Digby Morgan, a leading HR recruitment firm, presents his thoughts.
The recent Economist Intelligence Unit survey of over 500 board members across all key business sectors throughout Europe made for depressing reading for the HR industry.
Perhaps it is because we as a profession have not worked as hard as other critical business functions in raising the profile of our contribution to business success. However, whilst HR representation at board level is improving it’s still not as high as it should be and without a voice at board level, how can our opinions be heard and acted upon?
Many forward thinking CEO’s do quite rightly understand the strategic contribution that we make and many of the top performing FTSE companies have HR representation at board level.
In recent years we have also seen HR Director salaries come more in line with other departments such as marketing, finance and IT which demonstrates the value that is understood and fairly rewarded. However, there are often high profile cases such as the recently advertised 2012 HR Director positions which clearly showed the lack of importance attached to the role demonstrated by the inadequate salary package on offer.
The number and quality of university courses has steadily improved which has naturally improved the overall quality of graduates entering into the profession. The emergence of more HR focused MBAs from some of the top universities and business schools is also pleasing and the long term impact will no doubt be felt in future.
So why, according to this survey, do CEO’s not see value in our contribution? Many CEO’s still perceive HR to be more of an ‘activity’ rather than a business discipline.
Whilst personnel working within finance or IT often possess technical knowledge which immediately differentiates them from other departments, those working in HR require a broader range of skills which are a mix of organisational theory, behavioural science, commercial awareness and strong interpersonal skills i.e. components of general management. These are skills which many people feel that they possess but in reality fall far short of.
Do CEOs feel constrained by the HR division and held back from making quick decisions?
One Response
Misconceptions about HR
One reason why HR is sometimes deemed to be a poor performer is that non-HR managers don’t always take our advice or, worse still, don’t ask for it.
For example, a manager to whom I reported asked my advice about terminating a fellow employee’s employment. The course of action he told me he intended to take was clearly illegal and I told him so. I also told him what he had to do to complete a legally compliant dismissal.
He didn’t like the advice I’d given him and chose to dismiss a person and subsequently an unfair dismissal claim went before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. This took over 12 months to conclude and the organisation whose manager dismissed the employee had to make a large cash payout to the aggrieved employee.
Although nobody asked me to produce the copies of written memoranda and emails I had sent him with my advice, the general belief was that “HR had stuffed up”.
As someone once wrote, “It’s difficult to soar like an eagle when you work with turkeys.”