HR pros: why are you bashing HR?

I am not an I/O psychologist, but as a recruitment entrepreneur, I love observing human behavior in the workplace. It’s endlessly fascinating to me to see how behavior adapts to the state of the economy, the hiring climate, and to the current trends of HR.

Currently, I’ve been utterly perplexed by behavior I’m witnessing: HR pros who don’t advocate for HR as a profession. In fact, they negate their worth and bash HR as if their chosen profession is something to be ashamed of; it’s very confusing to see. I see it come through in tweets, LinkedIn posts and in conversation. Many HR pros are out there advocating for HR every day, positively educating about their executive presence, demonstrating their strategic ability to partnering with the business and are very clear and proud about their value.

But, have you also noticed, others are doing the opposite?

They are holding themselves back (and potentially the HR profession back?) by saying very negative things about what they do each day (we don’t deserve to earn more, all we do is administrative stuff, anyone can do it, it’s not rocket science, legal and finance deserve much more than us, we’re just a cost center, we are non-revenue-generating so we are less valuable…etc.)

I’m left wondering: If we really want the external market to respect HR (I do! Are you with me?!) how can we get there if we aren’t seeing the value of HR from within HR?

Recently on Twitter, an HR Leader posted how we need to change the narrative about HR as a cost-center and therefore not worthy of respect. I assumed all HR pros would agree! I was sorely mistaken. When we talked about how Legal/Finance tend to get more respect, higher compensation, more of a ‘seat at the leadership table’…not all in HR found that to be a concern! In fact, a few HR pros said this was completely acceptable because others outside of HR do more important work than HR pros and have more of a specialization. Maybe HR isn’t worthy of more, they said…

Yikes!

HR Pros: it’s time to see your worth. Believe you are deserving of more! See that the time has come for you to earn higher salaries, thrive in bigger roles, join companies who value and respect you, partner with employees who see the progress they’ve made thanks to your leadership, development, and expertise.

What saddens me is that some of you are believing the story of ‘HR isn’t important’ or ‘HR isn’t a strategic function’ or ‘HR is an administrative function with very little executive value’ Why? Why are you believing this story? We need more of you standing up for yourself, for your profession, for your expertise. Do it for you, your profession, your peers, the HR pros coming up in the industry. They need your advocacy.

Sure, I know many of you tell me that we can get bogged down with cynicism based on the history of HR, its perception and how it is valued by others. ‘well, no one values us’ or ‘no one sees our worth’ or ‘leaders don’t invite us into strategic meetings’ , but that’s giving way too much power to negative external voices.

What’s most important is empowering your internal voice! Do you see your value? Do you know your worth? Do you believe you have strategic value? Do you believe you, as an HR pro, has a seat at the executive table?

We can talk all day about AI and HR Tech and HR innovation…and we should…But, let’s also start with the basics: Are HR pros advocating for themselves? Do HR pros believe in themselves? Do HR pros believe in their profession? Are HR pros prepared to defend their worth, not only to others—but to themselves?

 If we truly want #HR to keep moving, to keep disrupting, evolving, advancing…

We need to STOP the self-sabotage, the lack of self-worth and the HR Bashing and START advocating for HR from within. If we don’t believe in HR, how will they?!

#HRSelfWorth #HRSelfCare #HRAdvocate