Since I started my career in 2005, I have been faced with many different attitudes about HR. Therefore, I have had to prove that I stood for something other than the preconceptions, and until now, I have not been able to recognise the allegations I was hearing.
From my perspective, the field of Human Resources – HR – is absolutely vital. Because, it’s about people. Not people as resources, but people’s welfare. For many years, the value of HR has been underestimated. The reason for this is that there has been a skewed focus on prosperity for the companies before the welfare of the employees.
This, among other things, has kicked off the global wave called ’The Great Resignation’. Statistics show that approx. every other person is considering a job change. The staff outflow that is increasing in several places reflects the fact that many do more than just consider this. Because now, people are taking action.
I am being contacted by my global network these days, and no brand, industry or salary package goes unscathed, regardless of loyalty. People's prioritisation of a life in welfare has become important. To many, more important than prosperity.
Therefore, people go where there is welfare. Where they feel that they are being treated with dignity. Where they feel that they can be themselves, with their unique talents. Where they feel the joy and sense of security of creating something with others.
Unfortunately, this is not quite as rosy as it may sound. Because, for many people, the transition is a struggle. A struggle that is only against an unconscious management, but in many places also against an unconscious HR system that has no desire to modernise, but maintains a centralised grip on the employees.
This means that several leaders who want to become skilled at leading consciously experience a lack of support to make decisions on their own.
The feedback is that HR want to be the employee specialists and therefore want the knowledge about employees to be centralised.
There are specific examples of HR being seen as wanting to be involved in all decisions and issues regarding employees: Right from the choice of tools for talent development to initiatives in departments and teams, the choice of external suppliers as well as the design of individual courses of development etc.
Therefore, in these places, HR is perceived as being focused on their own prosperity rather than the welfare of employees.
Instead of trying to make themselves indispensable, the HR departments should rather strive to become indispensable for the leaders, who have to spend energy on bureaucratic approval processes in an already demanding work life, instead of being able to spend that energy on leadership.
In order to get around this, I have been told that some choose to go around HR or prefer to avoid HR.
This means that the innovation and idea generation that could be contributed fully or partly by those who have the actual responsibility for welfare fails to appear. As a result of the leaders preferring to remain silent.
This also means that there is a risk that the staff outflow that needs to be intervened proactively these days increases further.
First of all, ‘people’ has been centralised with professionals who in these cases choose to work territorially instead of cooperating on an equal basis with their most important stakeholders, i.e. the leaders. Second of all, some places have also centralised ’culture’ with the same professionals, who then call themselves ’People & Culture’.
This might scale a hierarchical fitting-in culture, which is anything but liberating to the employees.
Luckily, there are many amazing HR departments that are at one with the spirit of the time and even at the forefront of this spirit, but these departments can only deliver quality because they are consistently working on becoming better.
Many, including myself, emphasise the importance of conscious leadership, and therefore, it is even more important that business management and HR work together and include each other.
Thus, this column is an invitation to revisit the matter of whether HR at your company constitutes the support function that is needed in the year 2022 or has completely misunderstood what support is in practice.
Because, I am seeing occurrences in several places of management wanting to grow, but having trouble raising the level because of the power structures in HR, among other things. An HR department that then upsets the applecart of the leaders’ initiatives, skills and renewed desire to lead ‘people’ and ‘culture’ towards something more sustainable in the current era.
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