HR is about People, and only People

How often do we see Operations and Finance working towards well-being of their people? Don’t they realize that showing empathy and motivating employees can achieve exceptional results? Simple formula; Take care of your employees and they will take care of your business. Well, this isn’t a common practice and unfortunately HR seems to be ignorant as well.

We see HR trying hard to find a seat on the table with Operations and Finance by learning their traits. They deep dive in numbers and use operational jargons to connect with business as a ‘business partner’. What HR ignores here is ‘people’. HR gets so busy in trying to prove themselves that they understand operations and are good at numbers that they don’t focus on basic HR responsibilities. HR talks about numbers and how to be efficient (mainly by reducing labor cost) and completely forgets that as HUMAN RESOURCE, they are expected to talk about PEOPLE and work towards their betterment. HR currently appears to be a sub-function of Finance and Operations, instead of having a standalone value to safeguard employee rights and be a bridge between business and the workforce.

Worse happens when employees stop trusting HR for not being able to listen to them and solve their issues. Just like business, HR speaks the same language of keeping employees under pressure, having them to work without asking ‘why’ and suggesting them to be thankful for having a job! This isn’t HR. HR is supposed to be a business partner and represent employees. HR is to earn place on the table by being master at people strategies, rather than being a sidekick for Operations and Finance. HR is to earn respect from business by balancing employee and operational needs and not agreeing to whatever business decides and forcefully implements on employees. HR should be working independently and be the custodian of company policies, just like all other functions. If an exception to policy is made, it should be for all and not only for the chosen ones. Sad, but HR loses respect by not following its own process of eliminating biasness and providing equal opportunity to employees.

HR needs to work for its people. Repeatedly, great leaders have emphasized that ‘People are the most important asset for an organization’. Employees shouldn’t be weighed against cost at all times and be treated as a $ value. Balance needs to be found and HR should be doing this job by having business onboard. If HR cannot empathize and listen to employees, then it’s time to have AI take over this profession as well.

HR is no inferior or superior to any other function and should earn the seat on the table by being SME for managing people affairs. HR need to know as much about other functions as much other functions know about managing people. Why is it expected that HR should know business just like everyone else, whereas no one else is willing to learn about people and how they should be managed?

HR will earn respect when they respect their existence and abilities to make changes in an organization. HR is for people and only people make organizations. Rest is known as jungle.