Asia HRM HRBP Stories

My beginning as an HR Business Partner has started with a tough time, and since then, it is always a virtue of learning and contributing at large and has been a never stopped challenge at work. And this is my story that I want to share with all of you!

I came from Bangladesh, and I felt that the HRBP job role in my country's context went with a broader range of misconceptions mixed up with the concept of traditional HR operation, which is still seen as hiring and firing. No wonder it is a term much discussed, taken pride as an employer with the employment of HRBP in the scene without actually defined HRBP role to play. In my country, it is disturbing that some organizations do little more than title their traditional operational roles as that of HR Business Partners to only luring talent. The title holds allure and some aspirational value. Thus, given the wide variation, it becomes even more critical to parse the role behind the title before accepting an offer.?

If I am to describe my role in a single sentence HRBP in my organization, I am one of the business consultants for my employer. I come with numbers in a meeting showing the figures after analyzing business data for making wise decisions regarding people as assets, not as a cost center. I work with a team where personnel skilled in numbers and figures constantly work as per the events and requirements and produce results. I tend to follow competitors' sales, workforce planning, benefits administration, and succession planning movements. Considering those, I work with the sales team, business development team, and logistics & Supply Chain team with the derived data to make sure the right talents are in place. They are being used wisely as per set KPI and keeping the talent with providing right benefits considering a business opportunity. I work closely with the Finance team to exchange data for making sure ROI is appropriately utilized and engage and enable them to make the right decisions in business meetings.?

My role wasn't the same as always as it is now. Sometimes it gave me a hard blow when I saw my decision-makers didn't move from their traditional HR concept of hiring and firing. Sometimes, I felt down, but I was hopeful that they lived in an age of digitalization and gradually changed management culture. All I had to come with was a productive work result. They took a long time to understand that HR can also be a key patron in business decision-making. When I started working on KPI for the first time here, they took no time to like the concept. Immediately, I started designing the entire KPI process involving them actively, taking their prudent feedback in all steps, and slowly knowing the expected performance standard from the employees, converted in weightage and percentage. Eventually, I made them understand the value of using HRIS and leveraging the KPI data to evaluate performance-based decisions. Now, they are pretty used to seeing the HR analytics data, showing cost and opportunity, and love the concept of human ROI.?

Now, I actively coach managers and department heads to help them manage issues on the sales and operations, encouraging them to direct employees to the HR operations team for transactional work.?

I feel an HR Business Partner is not is a one-stop employee problem solver. All respective managers should be able to solve other problems, and it is my duty as an HRBP to coach them.?

I'm utterly hopeful to see the long-drawn picture in the coming days when most of the progressive companies in Bangladesh will start to see the HR managers as their most trusted business consultants as an HRBP. I'm optimistic that HRBPs would work in the mainstream of all sorts of business decisions and shall come out with impactful suggestions for the business in need.?

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren't enough hours in the day, but if we do each thing calmly and carefully, we will get it done quicker and with much less stress. - Viggo Mortensen

Jaker S Abdulla - Head, HR Operations (Miniso Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. Bangladesh Operation)