Respect for HR
BNet's HR Newsletter points to a recent article on Business Week Online which discusses three reasons why HR gets no respect. When I first glanced at the article I thought it might be another belly-aching HR person talking about how the world doesn't appreciate them. Thankfully, the author isn't belly-aching. In fact, several others have beaten me to the punch in referencing this article in their blogs. See blogs written by Lori Dorn and Regina Miller for more thoughts from the HR trenches.
- Business leaders don't understand HR - I though this one would be about how the world doesn't understand what we do.... No, it's about the fact that CEO's don't know what they should expect, so they tolerate mediocrity. They focus on compliance rather than effectiveness - Then end up with the functional specialist rather than the visionary leader.
- Top Execs Undervalue the HR Leadership Role - Where does the HR leader report? Is he/she on the same level as the other functional areas like sales, finance, IT? The author states that you can't say people make your organization and then have only a lowly HR director, while everyone else is a VP who reports to the CEO.
- Reporting Structures Send a Signal - Does HR report to the CEO or somewhere lower on the totem pole?
I think this last quote says it all.... "Any CEO can snap her fingers and break that cycle, however. To do so only requires a relentless determination to find a creative, fearless, and business-savvy HR leader. Pay this person appropriately, demand that he produce results -- meaning, assemble a championship team both for now and the future -- and stand back." Amen.
