Dear All
Why HR is required, what is the importance and accountability of this department? What all function this department does can be done by HOD’s itself then why a separate department required. In such a bad time when recession is all across the globe why not HR should be first to receive pink slip.
These are few questions my friends frequent asks me and I feel that we all must have faced such questions somewhere in our career.
Not only friends, at times people from Sr. Management also say that whatsoever HR does is not of any monitory benefit to the organisation.
I request to all citeHR members kindly let me know how to justify the importance of HR to Non HR People.
Awaiting for your response.
From Nigeria, Lagos
27Why HR is required, what is the importance and accountability of this department? What all function this department does can be done by HOD’s itself then why a separate department required. In such a bad time when recession is all across the globe why not HR should be first to receive pink slip.
These are few questions my friends frequent asks me and I feel that we all must have faced such questions somewhere in our career.
Not only friends, at times people from Sr. Management also say that whatsoever HR does is not of any monitory benefit to the organisation.
I request to all citeHR members kindly let me know how to justify the importance of HR to Non HR People.
Awaiting for your response.
From Nigeria, Lagos
Hello Sujeet,
Whenever anyone asks you that question from now on, just ask that guy if he is married.
And if the answer is yes, ask him if his wife works. And if the answer is NO, ask him to go home and ask his wife to tell him how much is her work @ home worth in terms of MONEY.
Just in case, if the guy isn't married, repeat the same putting his mom for wife...got it?
The same answer holds good for HR 7 for that matter all such non-quantifiable functions.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
Whenever anyone asks you that question from now on, just ask that guy if he is married.
And if the answer is yes, ask him if his wife works. And if the answer is NO, ask him to go home and ask his wife to tell him how much is her work @ home worth in terms of MONEY.
Just in case, if the guy isn't married, repeat the same putting his mom for wife...got it?
The same answer holds good for HR 7 for that matter all such non-quantifiable functions.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
Dear Sujeet,
There are three pillars in organisation building—structure, processes and people. Out of which the first two are passive without the third one, that is the people. “HR can play a significant role in getting the right people, help them learn and develop, become a sounding board for the employees, the bridge between various management levels, create the right environment for them to deliver, and most importantly it can act as the ‘change agent’ in these days of uncertain external environment. HR has made significant progress in aligning and partnering with the business. The fact that HR has got considerable time and attention from the CEO’s office reflects the direction.”
A knowledge-based industry like IT, where the vital resources are the human capital who work in the organisation, has seen a faster evolution of HR than perhaps any other industrial sector. IT and ITeS sectors are truly “for the people-by the people-and-of the people”. “HR certainly has evolved faster in the IT and the ITeS industry. The sheer speed of growth of this industry has enabled this. Gone are the days when HR was a record keeping transaction-oriented back office, it has come out on the “board” and also in front of the customers. More customers want to meet
HR heads before signing any deals,” .
In the IT industry, the HR is already a strategic business partner and its impact will be greater in the near future. The widening gap between the demand and supply of talent, accentuated by the shortage of specific skills and vast employment opportunities will ensure this.
“There cannot be more significant times for HR than now and in the foreseeable future. HR shall continue to remain a strategic business partner by literally moving out ‘transactional’ HR to outsource vendors.. Any organisation has several key pillars like sales, marketing, etc. But HR remains to be the foundation that supports all these pillars in creating a powerful organisation. “So while most organisations perceive these pillars to impact the business growth, I feel the time has come for HR to be a dominant decision-factor
Regards,
ROY
From India, Delhi
There are three pillars in organisation building—structure, processes and people. Out of which the first two are passive without the third one, that is the people. “HR can play a significant role in getting the right people, help them learn and develop, become a sounding board for the employees, the bridge between various management levels, create the right environment for them to deliver, and most importantly it can act as the ‘change agent’ in these days of uncertain external environment. HR has made significant progress in aligning and partnering with the business. The fact that HR has got considerable time and attention from the CEO’s office reflects the direction.”
A knowledge-based industry like IT, where the vital resources are the human capital who work in the organisation, has seen a faster evolution of HR than perhaps any other industrial sector. IT and ITeS sectors are truly “for the people-by the people-and-of the people”. “HR certainly has evolved faster in the IT and the ITeS industry. The sheer speed of growth of this industry has enabled this. Gone are the days when HR was a record keeping transaction-oriented back office, it has come out on the “board” and also in front of the customers. More customers want to meet
HR heads before signing any deals,” .
In the IT industry, the HR is already a strategic business partner and its impact will be greater in the near future. The widening gap between the demand and supply of talent, accentuated by the shortage of specific skills and vast employment opportunities will ensure this.
“There cannot be more significant times for HR than now and in the foreseeable future. HR shall continue to remain a strategic business partner by literally moving out ‘transactional’ HR to outsource vendors.. Any organisation has several key pillars like sales, marketing, etc. But HR remains to be the foundation that supports all these pillars in creating a powerful organisation. “So while most organisations perceive these pillars to impact the business growth, I feel the time has come for HR to be a dominant decision-factor
Regards,
ROY
From India, Delhi
Dear Sujeet,
This question has been asked many times in citehr. Anyways.. I dont mind explaining again, as I find there are more reasons linked to ur question (Does recession require HR?)
"HR is like the lady of the house"
HR is essential to make sure others continue remaining.
Many ppl mis understand cost cutting as "head cutting ONLY". Actually its removal of non profit making areas, or NON AFFORDALE areas.
At this point of recession, comany safeguards the valuable assets...employees are also one of their assets. HR makes sure this asset is safeguarded by : Retaining the top talent, identifying the core skills in the company and imparting training to the existing members, preparing the existing employee base to be equipped to beat the recession (by identifying areas of improvement)
And moreover recession has only added to the stress that earlier existed. So u need to have seperate sessions where employees feel motivated and happy abt working with the company. just becos recessiona has hit, it does not mean that employees will fall on the feet of the employer and do everything. Remember, there are companies that are doing good and are hiring now. Such companies focus on getting good talent, fostering and retaining them. The very question of removing HR indicates to the outsiders and potential employees that the company does not care for employee related issues. If HR is non existent - chances of autocratic leadership is 100%.
The question ur fren asked - cant the company do the things by themselves instead of having HR? When the employer and other profit making section is keenly focused on how to make business, they sometimes tend to overlook at the needs of the employees. This can hurt the business in the long run.
Recession will be temporary and the company will still need people to run the business. When things get back to shape...at that point u cant think of re considering the HR policies and emolyee-employer relations, becos at that time... u will be far behind everyone in the race. When things get back to normal - - it is not survival which is in question, it is in who is leading.
I hope I have answered at least 10% of what u expected.
Even in Human Resources - people will have to plan the activities to suit the needs of the business and help in its growth
From India, Madras
This question has been asked many times in citehr. Anyways.. I dont mind explaining again, as I find there are more reasons linked to ur question (Does recession require HR?)
"HR is like the lady of the house"
HR is essential to make sure others continue remaining.
Many ppl mis understand cost cutting as "head cutting ONLY". Actually its removal of non profit making areas, or NON AFFORDALE areas.
At this point of recession, comany safeguards the valuable assets...employees are also one of their assets. HR makes sure this asset is safeguarded by : Retaining the top talent, identifying the core skills in the company and imparting training to the existing members, preparing the existing employee base to be equipped to beat the recession (by identifying areas of improvement)
And moreover recession has only added to the stress that earlier existed. So u need to have seperate sessions where employees feel motivated and happy abt working with the company. just becos recessiona has hit, it does not mean that employees will fall on the feet of the employer and do everything. Remember, there are companies that are doing good and are hiring now. Such companies focus on getting good talent, fostering and retaining them. The very question of removing HR indicates to the outsiders and potential employees that the company does not care for employee related issues. If HR is non existent - chances of autocratic leadership is 100%.
The question ur fren asked - cant the company do the things by themselves instead of having HR? When the employer and other profit making section is keenly focused on how to make business, they sometimes tend to overlook at the needs of the employees. This can hurt the business in the long run.
Recession will be temporary and the company will still need people to run the business. When things get back to shape...at that point u cant think of re considering the HR policies and emolyee-employer relations, becos at that time... u will be far behind everyone in the race. When things get back to normal - - it is not survival which is in question, it is in who is leading.
I hope I have answered at least 10% of what u expected.
Even in Human Resources - people will have to plan the activities to suit the needs of the business and help in its growth
From India, Madras
Dear Friends
Thanks for such a quick and prompt response.
Thank you very much Roy and Asha for your wonderful explanation I am very much clear now with few of the queries I raised.
My One query is still left, I request you all to respond on that as well. The query left is - What is the accountability of this department and whatsoever HR does is not of any monitory benefit to the organisation.
I am sure my all senior friends will make me clarify with this query as well.
Awaiting for your response.
From Nigeria, Lagos
Thanks for such a quick and prompt response.
Thank you very much Roy and Asha for your wonderful explanation I am very much clear now with few of the queries I raised.
My One query is still left, I request you all to respond on that as well. The query left is - What is the accountability of this department and whatsoever HR does is not of any monitory benefit to the organisation.
I am sure my all senior friends will make me clarify with this query as well.
Awaiting for your response.
From Nigeria, Lagos
Hi Sujeet,
In response to this query: What is the accountability of this department and whatsoever HR does is not of any monitory benefit to the organisation?
The accountability can be explained in the following terms:
Recruitments:
Not just enough if the position is replaced. They see how soon the person is productive (which is linked to training), and whether the person stays at least for a specified period of time (retention).
For attrition – u can differentiate that as Healthy attrition and Bad attrition.
Healthy attrition is: If the person leaves if due to personal reasons he/she has to re locate (due to marriage or any such issue), or due to health reasons (i.e not because of a better opportunity or better place but due to circumstances)
Bad attrition is – when they move out for better pay, better work, better atmosphere and like wise.
Termination will be on the bad end – because of non performance (which could not be analyzed during interview)
Healthy attrition will not show as a black mark in the HRs performance, but bad attrition will.
Performance evaluation and training suggestion: As the company grows, so will the need of training employees grow. The HR must be able to identify these areas and prepare the plan for training and evaluate the training imparted too.
Now the Monetary aspect of HR:
Sales not achieved due to – lack of man power availability
Target not achieved due to - lack of training
Not completed the task on time as the employee was not provided with enough tools
Top talent leaves company – because he was not appreciated and re warded for what he did
Do you see a link to all the targets here?
Now your question can be – How to set the KRAs linked to these for the HR manager?
Some companies have their VP – HRs KRA as – ensuring the inventory level is within what is mentioned as normal
-Ensuring that the production and quality focuses on the work with no deviation in planning, resulting to – less errors on job (less defects), and on time delivey of the output.
i.e – say in case the Quality has deviated from the norms form .01 defect to 5 % defect.
The review will be – to find out the reason
Was this reason earlier reported during his evaluation?
If yes – what measure was taken for improvement? If taken – what is the training evaluation result?
If all this is fine – HR escapes (becos he has taken effective measures)
If no measure was suggested for improvement – HR is the person behind the 5% defect!
I mean – since the HR did not suggest or take measures for improvement, which was requested by the quality person – the expected norm was not achieved.
So – who is to blame? HR!
I have explained a little in depth. But I don’t know if sales ppl use this as an excuse – target not achieved becos HR did not give ppl / did not give the right ppl/ did not give on time…
All this falls on HRs monetary contribution!
Sorry for the lengthy explanation.
From India, Madras
In response to this query: What is the accountability of this department and whatsoever HR does is not of any monitory benefit to the organisation?
The accountability can be explained in the following terms:
Recruitments:
Not just enough if the position is replaced. They see how soon the person is productive (which is linked to training), and whether the person stays at least for a specified period of time (retention).
For attrition – u can differentiate that as Healthy attrition and Bad attrition.
Healthy attrition is: If the person leaves if due to personal reasons he/she has to re locate (due to marriage or any such issue), or due to health reasons (i.e not because of a better opportunity or better place but due to circumstances)
Bad attrition is – when they move out for better pay, better work, better atmosphere and like wise.
Termination will be on the bad end – because of non performance (which could not be analyzed during interview)
Healthy attrition will not show as a black mark in the HRs performance, but bad attrition will.
Performance evaluation and training suggestion: As the company grows, so will the need of training employees grow. The HR must be able to identify these areas and prepare the plan for training and evaluate the training imparted too.
Now the Monetary aspect of HR:
Sales not achieved due to – lack of man power availability
Target not achieved due to - lack of training
Not completed the task on time as the employee was not provided with enough tools
Top talent leaves company – because he was not appreciated and re warded for what he did
Do you see a link to all the targets here?
Now your question can be – How to set the KRAs linked to these for the HR manager?
Some companies have their VP – HRs KRA as – ensuring the inventory level is within what is mentioned as normal
-Ensuring that the production and quality focuses on the work with no deviation in planning, resulting to – less errors on job (less defects), and on time delivey of the output.
i.e – say in case the Quality has deviated from the norms form .01 defect to 5 % defect.
The review will be – to find out the reason
Was this reason earlier reported during his evaluation?
If yes – what measure was taken for improvement? If taken – what is the training evaluation result?
If all this is fine – HR escapes (becos he has taken effective measures)
If no measure was suggested for improvement – HR is the person behind the 5% defect!
I mean – since the HR did not suggest or take measures for improvement, which was requested by the quality person – the expected norm was not achieved.
So – who is to blame? HR!
I have explained a little in depth. But I don’t know if sales ppl use this as an excuse – target not achieved becos HR did not give ppl / did not give the right ppl/ did not give on time…
All this falls on HRs monetary contribution!
Sorry for the lengthy explanation.
From India, Madras
HR is a common department for whole of the organization. HR recruits,inducts,trains ,retains people and moreover provide health,safety & welfare to the people.
Rightly said HR is not generating revenue in direct terms but by indirect terms it does by means of optimum utilization of manpower and fixing productivity norms,motivating people to achieve.
Most of the results HR produces are intangible and therefore cannot be seen but cannot be felt.HR is GOD ie., Creation ,Protection and Destruction is done by HR by means of Recruiting,providing welfare and weeding out of unwanted people by taking disciplinary action.
HR coordinates with all the departments but each department does not have that role.HR to be seen as a glue to stick all the departments which cannot be seen but without glue all will not stick.HR has to maintain whole organizations employee database and their personal dossiers.Career Planning and Succession planning to be done by HR.Who recommends for Promotions and Increments to the employees it is HR. When there are IR problems HR will have to handle with the representative unions and negotiate for a peaceful settlement .HR is the conscience and mouth piece of the management.
Why police stations when there are no crimes in a particular place that is only in anticipation .
Why HR means it is only to avoid IR problems.Proactive HR can prevent any untoward incidents . HR is prevention but IR is cure.
When people say HR is a spending department they should be understood that they are talking about compensation management.
HR is not claiming any credit for their contribution to the organization but whether other functional people shy away from criticizing HR.HR is like a punching bag and can take as much as possible.HR is like a veiling wall of Israel where people keep their shoulders and cry.Who handles greivance of the employees that is particularly an employee has a greivance about his Boss.
HR people are qualified & experienced enough in understanding the psychology of people on how & what others feel about us.We request them to switch over to HR and experience themselves for sometime atleast and then make comments.
We HR fraternity with a open arm welcome everyone to join the HR bandwagon.
Jayaanandh,
Chennai
9840928274
From India, Madras
Rightly said HR is not generating revenue in direct terms but by indirect terms it does by means of optimum utilization of manpower and fixing productivity norms,motivating people to achieve.
Most of the results HR produces are intangible and therefore cannot be seen but cannot be felt.HR is GOD ie., Creation ,Protection and Destruction is done by HR by means of Recruiting,providing welfare and weeding out of unwanted people by taking disciplinary action.
HR coordinates with all the departments but each department does not have that role.HR to be seen as a glue to stick all the departments which cannot be seen but without glue all will not stick.HR has to maintain whole organizations employee database and their personal dossiers.Career Planning and Succession planning to be done by HR.Who recommends for Promotions and Increments to the employees it is HR. When there are IR problems HR will have to handle with the representative unions and negotiate for a peaceful settlement .HR is the conscience and mouth piece of the management.
Why police stations when there are no crimes in a particular place that is only in anticipation .
Why HR means it is only to avoid IR problems.Proactive HR can prevent any untoward incidents . HR is prevention but IR is cure.
When people say HR is a spending department they should be understood that they are talking about compensation management.
HR is not claiming any credit for their contribution to the organization but whether other functional people shy away from criticizing HR.HR is like a punching bag and can take as much as possible.HR is like a veiling wall of Israel where people keep their shoulders and cry.Who handles greivance of the employees that is particularly an employee has a greivance about his Boss.
HR people are qualified & experienced enough in understanding the psychology of people on how & what others feel about us.We request them to switch over to HR and experience themselves for sometime atleast and then make comments.
We HR fraternity with a open arm welcome everyone to join the HR bandwagon.
Jayaanandh,
Chennai
9840928274
From India, Madras
HR is a common department for whole of the organization. HR recruits,inducts,trains ,retains people and moreover provide health,safety & welfare to the people.
Rightly said HR is not generating revenue in direct terms but by indirect terms it does by means of optimum utilization of manpower and fixing productivity norms,motivating people to achieve.
Most of the results HR produces are intangible and therefore cannot be seen but can be felt.HR is GOD ie., Creation ,Protection and Destruction is done by HR by means of Recruiting,providing welfare and weeding out of unwanted people by taking disciplinary action.
HR coordinates with all the departments but each department does not have that role.HR to be seen as a glue to stick all the departments which cannot be seen but without glue all will not stick.HR has to maintain whole organizations employee database and their personal dossiers.Career Planning and Succession planning to be done by HR.Who recommends for Promotions and Increments to the employees it is HR. When there are IR problems HR will have to handle with the representative unions and negotiate for a peaceful settlement .HR is the conscience and mouth piece of the management.
Why police stations when there are no crimes in a particular place that is only in anticipation .
Why HR means it is only to avoid IR problems.Proactive HR can prevent any untoward incidents . HR is prevention but IR is cure.
When people say HR is a spending department they should be understood that they are talking about compensation management.
HR is not claiming any credit for their contribution to the organization but whether other functional people shy away from criticizing HR.HR is like a punching bag and can take as much as possible.HR is like a veiling wall of Israel where people keep their shoulders and cry.Who handles greivance of the employees that is particularly an employee has a greivance about his Boss.
HR people are qualified & experienced enough in understanding the psychology of people on how & what others feel about us.We request them to switch over to HR and experience themselves for sometime atleast and then make comments.
We HR fraternity with a open arm welcome everyone to join the HR bandwagon.
Jayaanandh,
Chennai
9840928274
From India, Madras
Rightly said HR is not generating revenue in direct terms but by indirect terms it does by means of optimum utilization of manpower and fixing productivity norms,motivating people to achieve.
Most of the results HR produces are intangible and therefore cannot be seen but can be felt.HR is GOD ie., Creation ,Protection and Destruction is done by HR by means of Recruiting,providing welfare and weeding out of unwanted people by taking disciplinary action.
HR coordinates with all the departments but each department does not have that role.HR to be seen as a glue to stick all the departments which cannot be seen but without glue all will not stick.HR has to maintain whole organizations employee database and their personal dossiers.Career Planning and Succession planning to be done by HR.Who recommends for Promotions and Increments to the employees it is HR. When there are IR problems HR will have to handle with the representative unions and negotiate for a peaceful settlement .HR is the conscience and mouth piece of the management.
Why police stations when there are no crimes in a particular place that is only in anticipation .
Why HR means it is only to avoid IR problems.Proactive HR can prevent any untoward incidents . HR is prevention but IR is cure.
When people say HR is a spending department they should be understood that they are talking about compensation management.
HR is not claiming any credit for their contribution to the organization but whether other functional people shy away from criticizing HR.HR is like a punching bag and can take as much as possible.HR is like a veiling wall of Israel where people keep their shoulders and cry.Who handles greivance of the employees that is particularly an employee has a greivance about his Boss.
HR people are qualified & experienced enough in understanding the psychology of people on how & what others feel about us.We request them to switch over to HR and experience themselves for sometime atleast and then make comments.
We HR fraternity with a open arm welcome everyone to join the HR bandwagon.
Jayaanandh,
Chennai
9840928274
From India, Madras
gentleman,
We are not here to justify our profession. Neither we want you to bother about us. Only serious management across world and almost all countries and Industries knows what HR is all about.
Rashid
From Saudi Arabia
We are not here to justify our profession. Neither we want you to bother about us. Only serious management across world and almost all countries and Industries knows what HR is all about.
Rashid
From Saudi Arabia
I FULLY agree with Rashid.
I think a lot of time has been spent on this topic. If someone who did his HR degree [or for that matter degree in any specialisation] doesn't know WHY he/she did it....there's no justification for that person to ask the reason LATER. Just goes to bring out her/his actual outlook towards the career as well as life in general--this isn't a time-pass forum for sure.
I can understand queries asking for advice whether to join HR or not........
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
I think a lot of time has been spent on this topic. If someone who did his HR degree [or for that matter degree in any specialisation] doesn't know WHY he/she did it....there's no justification for that person to ask the reason LATER. Just goes to bring out her/his actual outlook towards the career as well as life in general--this isn't a time-pass forum for sure.
I can understand queries asking for advice whether to join HR or not........
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
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