HR: The Four-Letter Word

I’ve worked with a lot of folks in HR over the years and even more outside of HR so, I’d like to weigh in on the problems I’ve seen. Most HR departments have a horrible reputation in the business. Most are NOT seen as a business partner of any kind and at best are seen as a huge hindrance to the operation.

Jumping Johosephat! This is news to me!

Ok, it’s probably not. But, for some strange reason, it’s not openly discussed.

Why?

Here are the biggest problem statements that I hear:

• No alignment to the business. They just don’t understand our business and what we need to achieve.
• Initiatives are solely “feel good” activities. (How is this “team building” supposed to help us again?)
• Initiatives are solely based on “scare tactics.” (you will get sued if you don’t do what I say). Or worse, do it because I say so.
• No accountability to results or ROI. (Its “touchy feely” and hard to measure).
• Recruiting is destroying the Brand. Horrible recruiting practices including not responding to EVERY applicant who applies for a job, not asking the right questions around job requirements, not understanding or anticipating the employee marketplace. This one is worth a little extra mention. Candidates that you do/do not hire also buy/do not buy your products and services. They recommend/do not recommend employees to your company. In an age where responding to every applicant is as simple as pressing a button in your Applicant Tracking System, any recruiting department that does not do so has no understanding of how their activities tie to a business’s bottom line. This is the business equivalent of not answering the phone when someone wants to buy your product or service. In business, you would be fired for ignoring your customers. Recruiting is part of the business. Period. End of discussion.
• Duplicative processes. (Do I really have to sign into ten different systems just to work with HR? Why are there so many dag gone forms?)
• Training doesn’t prepare, empower or align with jobs. (We do their training because it’s required, not because we believe it helps us to accomplish anything).
• The Performance Review process is a convoluted mess. Everyone hates it and it doesn’t help to drive performance. (Goals are not related to anything important and everyone gets the same raise no matter what they do or DON’T do).
• Pay practices don’t seem to make any sense. Promotional policies have no rhyme or reason.
• HR is not strategic. Seems like they threw everything at us at the last minute and they don’t see even a few feet ahead of them. (Now I have to stop everything I’m doing to do some “HR” thing).
• I DON’T TRUST THEM!!! This is the worst of the problems. You can’t partner if you don’t trust. When there is no trust, I hear statements like: They are “Corporate.” They just dictate everything. I don’t even bother working with them, I just try to work around them. I have a problem, but I’m hiding it from HR.

Who is to blame?

Well, many times HR is. So, if your HR team is NOT guilty of this, take time right now, today, to go and thank them. Do whatever you can to retain them!

Many times, the business leaders are to blame. Everyone is accountable and like any other part of the organization, HR has to be accountable towards results, right? When they are not, do you call them out on it, or do you just throw your hands in the air and move on?

Also, does HR get what they need from you? When they ask for a meeting to dive into the skills and competencies you need for your team, do you bring your A game to the table? Are you involved in the strategic plan? Do you have a clear mission, vision and values statement?

What’s the fix?

Honestly, it really isn’t that hard, though like most worthwhile endeavors it takes some commitment and time. More often than not, familiar culprits play a role:

• Ability

• Will

• Trust

Ability:

HR ultimately reports to someone and that person has to hold them accountable. That person should always ask them to demonstrate how what they want to do ties directly to business results. HR needs to be able to explain the tie-in, measure and show results.

An astute HR leader will lead the charge to proactively ask these questions on a perpetual basis. They will not wait until their boss is asking them. Either way, the dialog needs to be there. Tie the HR leaders’ annual review to the achievement of measurable results, not just the completion of checklist style tasks.

Will:

Not much to say here. If there’s a lack of willingness, it’s time to replace someone.

Trust:

This is solvable. There’s no victim here, just volunteers. Without trust, not much will change. With it, the sky is the limit. Establish, re-establish or replace, do what needs to be done to ensure you have foundational trust.

I really have seen these problems solved many times before. It is possible.