What I wish someone told me before starting in HR
In this cross-posting from the LinkedIn agency influencer program Alex Delehunt reveals some of the harder parts of a career in HR.
HR has changed, in fact, most of us don’t even have ‘human resources’ in our titles anymore. It’s seen as an outdated description of what we actually do. Whether its People and Culture, Talent Development or People and Performance, gone are the days of just being responsible for hiring, firing and organising training.
We are now influencers of workplace culture, data interpreters and strategic thinkers. Organisations will generally have a Chief Talent Officer or Head of People and Culture sitting on the executive team. Whilst all this has changed, some of the old sentiments still linger that no-one ever told me about in my Commerce degree.
Alex Delehunt
You’ll never be one of the ‘regular’ people in the organisation that you join. Conversations will halt when you enter the lunchroom, people will make comments in the lift like “ssshhh, HR’s here” (even though you’ve told them 100 times that you’re People and Culture, not HR!). Whilst most of it is said in jest, you need to have a pretty thick skin at times. There will also be an unspoken high standard required of you. I mean if you wrote the workplace policies then you must abide by them to the gold standard right?
Obviously there are exceptions to the rule…but the rule generally is that no-one talks to HR willingly as they are simply seen as another arm of management. People either keep their mouth shut or go to the union. I think that more than anything is why the HR title has disappeared…bad branding.
Where ‘HR’ lacks is the ability to gain a seat on the board. You seldom see an HR Director (or equivalent title) occupying the top spot (CEO) when it becomes vacant .
HR is a cost centre and needs to do a better job at inverting that, demonstrating how the department saves (not just by reducing headcount) and adds to the bottom line.
Until HR has a better grasp on the economics of business (and better marketing / branding as stated in Hugo’s comment) then they’ll only ever be a bit player by way or organisation contribution.