Mindset of HR Profession

A few weeks ago, I was prompted to do a post by someone who sent in a comment with a personal story about sexual harassment.  After I did the post, the commenter sent another comment saying, among other things:  “HR personnel everywhere–Unfortunately, the mindset of your profession has shifted.  It has become less about the employees and more about protecting the company from lawsuits.”

So what is the human resources professional’s mindset these days?  Is the commenter right? 

I’ve thought about this on and off since I received the comment.  I haven’t consulted any so-called experts.  I’ve mainly thought about my 34 years of experience in dealing with employers, employees, and HR professionals.  Although I’m still thinking about it, I decided to provide my own comment.

HR has, to some extent, always been caught between the proverbial rock and hard place.  You are a company respresentative, and you have responsibilities toward your employer that may, at times, conflict with employee desires or concerns.  You are also the company’s liaison with its employees.  On the other hand, the best way you can help employees do what’s in the company’s best interest is to have a meaningful relationship with them.  If the company thinks you’re leaning too far toward the employees’ point of view on some issue, the powers that be may lose confidence in you.  If the employees think you’re nothing more than the company’s mouthpiece, the employees may lose confidence in you.  Rock.  Hard place.

I don’t want to oversimply something that can indeed be complicated at times, but sometimes, I think we make it too complicated.  If your employer wants you to be nothing more than its mouthpiece, you need to find another job if you view yourself as an HR professional.  The employer is asking you to do something that’s not in the employer’s best interest.  So, it seems to me that your job becomes pointless.

Smart employers want their HR professionals to have a close relationship with employees.  Smart employers want someone to whom employees will listen–someone they will respect.  Smart employers want someone who will honestly convey to the higher-ups what employees are thinking, how they are feeling.  Smart employers want an HR person who is a professional.

You will, of course, have to fire people.  You will have to say no at times.  You will occasionally have to tell employees they’re just plain wrong.  You do have to worry about protecting the company from being sued.

But if your employer thinks your main responsiblity is to keep employees in their place, minimize employee benefits, ignore employee concerns about fair treatment, and never put employee needs ahead of the company’s (because, sometimes, putting employee needs first is best for the company), then you’re working for an employer with a terrible people strategy.  That’s not to say you’re working for a financially unsuccessful company.  In my judgment, however, it’s not as successful as it could be if it meant what it said when asked, “What is your most important asset?”  Almost always, the answer is, “Our most important asset is our people.”

I’m afraid most employees don’t believe that.  If you’re an HR professional and you believe it, then you need to do the best you can to help your employer get to that same belief, not just pay lip service to a cliche.  It’s just that simple.  It’s not simple to pull it off sometimes, but what the mindset of the HR profession should be is a clear-cut proposition.