Human Resources started its inception around the end of the nineteenth century in or to grow people and organizations, but little has changed in the industry in years. It started out as “Personnel,” devised to offer protection to women and girls in industrial environments. Over the years it transformed into other things such as hiring people, firing them, attendance and compensation.

In the 1960s and 1970s, organizational behaviour, motivation and selection assessments were added to their job description. Within the last 10 years or so, Human Resources has gained the title H.R. Business Partner. This means they are taking on a business-focused H.R. Management role but had little impact.

Until this time, it is basic knowledge for business leaders to explain their H.R. departments as being reactive, lacking basic business understanding and generally uncreative. This is because the Human Resources department is used to focusing on areas that don’t really add value to the organization. Organizations are beginning to understand this. How will H.R. handle this?

Human Resources Needs to Take on a Business Partner Role

As stated above, HR grew in complexity over the years and has evolved into a department that establishes business ROI, business forecasting, executing progress that could be directly linked to current and future business access – Human Recourses was forced by necessity to become something it was never designed to be.

Everything from manage funding for staffing agencies to running their own websites, they have become valuable business partners who not only evaluating new hires, fires or traditional advisory duties but so much more.

Human Resources are solving issues that are plaguing them such as inaccurate reporting of data such as headcount numbers, which is the single pain point for a lot of organizations and their most crucial decision data point. To solve these issues, they are adopting Artificial Intelligence and automation to control these weak areas.

Find Talent Who Will Love the Company

Many employees complain that organizations represent and market things they want to hear, but once hired, they fail to deliver. False misperceptions and marketing are the major reasons why many employment relationships end badly.

Human Resources hold the responsibility to create, market and sell Employment Value Propositions (EVPs) that reflect an organization’s true culture. Not only that but also provide a reason why it exists. When the employees and lower management are not representing a company’s EVP, attracting candidates to their company with a misrepresented EVP is disappointing.

If the Human Resources department isn’t sure what employees would say about their experience working for the organization, they should ask them directly or through an anonymous survey. In order to understand what makes employees happy, an organization has to communicate openly with their employees.

Every aspect a candidate experiences online, see and hears during their interviews should be reflecting who the organization is. Candidates will be passionate about what an organization stands for and what their culture is when they’re attracted this way.

More companies will be expecting HR teams to help them provide attributes and themes for them to use as a long-term foundation for their branding and creative work. By creating the perfect EVP, it will strengthen the company’s communication and guarantee that branding is unique, true and relevant to the important target groups.

As can be seen from this short article, Human Resources has come a long way since it was created to protect the rights of women. If your H.R department isn’t stepping up to the plate and providing more than simply hiring and firing people, maybe it’s time to reevaluate their role.