The BBC, Asda and HP have recently shed or announced cut backs within their HR departments; Editor’s Comment looks at the long suffering of HR and ponders why they are always the first to go.

Earlier this year the BBC shed hundreds of HR jobs. Other victims include HP, the IT giant, who recently announced that 14,500 employees are to go in the next 18 months with HR jobs under considerable threat. Supermarket chain, Asda is also planning sweeping cuts amongst its management force which includes HR posts.

And the phenomenon looks to be spreading particularly within the public sector which has seen the ramifications of the Gershon review in a much-reduced HR service.

Mike Emmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser told me that many local government departments are responding to efficiency drives by merging HR departments across localities but warned that within the private sector management conclusions that HR is not adding value because of its offline nature could be clouded.

“People may conclude wrongly that they can remove those staff without damaging output. It’s a short-term expedient.”

But while this problem of image persists HR still has a problem.

Perpetual soul-searching for a justified existence has seen HR professionals re-invent the wheel more than once.

In People Management and Development by Marchington and Wilkinson, theorists, Guest and Hoque suggest three reasons why this self-analysis has reached such proportions.

Firstly, they say the history and emergence of the profession has put it in an ambiguous position. Historically organisations and academics have held opposing views about the purpose of the function. Should HR be concerned with welfare or efficiency, intermediary or managerial control for example?

Secondly UK culture has traditionally showed ambivalence for people management issues placing more focus, energy and importance on financial control and short-termism at times to the neglect of longer-term human resource development considerations.

Thirdly, UK Plc has always been sceptical about the value of HR because the contribution is often intangible with the benefits difficult to quantify. This is largely because the role works closely with line managers making HR effectiveness dependent upon them to put systems and policies into effect.

For many proponents in the field a continual justification of the function through value-add and business partnering is the only solution.

Frank Beechinor, CEO of Vizual Business Tools said: “The HR Director’s role has changed beyond recognition – some may even say it is now redundant. Many facets of the HR role are being devolved to the employees to create a ‘self-service’ environment. This should be seen as an opportunity as it clears the way for the re-emergence of an HR function that actually adds value to the business.”

A view that Graham Alexander, supercoach supports: “They will survive but only if they position themselves as business partners and as part of the business agenda. If they continue to be seen as providers of recruitment, employee benefits and training then they will not survive. These services can be outsourced, resulting in a very small HR presence in most businesses.”

Professional body, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development disagree, however with the view that the function is under threat. Speaking to HRZone recently, Duncan Brown, Assistant Director General said: “Our research shows that the scope of HR outsourcing has been exaggerated. The whole strategic HR business partnering model relies on freeing up the time of HR people to play a more proactive business related role and that requires efficient HR administration to get information on how effective people management is in the organisation.

“Heads of HR want to spend time on developing HR strategy feeding this into key business issues, but they actually have to spend their time reactively on administration. Rather then a threat we see it as a critical part of the way forward.”

Strategic hands-on HRM, however, is a dream for many HR departments who don’t even get close to getting a seat in the boardroom. Evidence suggests that a business partner role is enhanced when an HR director can bring both HR and operational expertise to the table. In other words, businesses require senior HR professionals to make a contribution to the business first with HR issues coming in as a second priority.

Indeed most HR managers would cite the best route to the boardroom as being the ‘zigzagging approach’. That is professionals who have undertaken periods of time in general or line management before reverting to an HR specialism.

The future success of the HR function seems to therefore lie in aligning the role with strategic decision-making. The challenge will be for HR professionals to develop new ways to assess and develop the skills and talent in an organisation and ensure these match the businesses strategic long-term needs.

The ambiguous and continuously changing nature of the HR function has exposed it to criticism. The situation is made worse by the trend for employee self-service and outsourcing of administration together with often inappropriate measurements of success and the tendency to seek quantitative assessments of HR work which are often too simplistic and meaningless.

With this in mind many have questioned what the future holds for the HR professional. The answer is for HR to take up the challenge and start making the ‘business partner’ dream a reality by making improvements in the bottom line and adding value through strategic HRM. In this way the HR function can rescue itself from redundancy.

I’d like to hear your views – why do you think HR is always the first to go?

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