Why We Love To Hate HR…and What HR Can Do About It

Human resource management Why We Love to Hate HR…and What HR Can Do About It Five smart moves that will help. by

• Peter Cappelli

by

• Peter Cappelli

From the Magazine (July–August 2015) · Long read ARTWORK: Do Ho Suh, Floor, 1997–2000, PVC figures, glass plates, phenolic sheets, polyurethane resin; modules 100 x 100 x 8 cm Installation view at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York Summary.

Complaints against HR, which are nothing new, have a cyclical quality. They’re driven largely by the business context. When companies are struggling with labor issues, HR is seen as a valued leadership partner. When things are smoother all around, managers wonder what the function is doing for them.

This is a moment of enormous opportunity for HR leaders to separate the valuable from the worthless and secure huge payoffs for their organizations. The author outlines some basic but powerful steps they can take:

Set the agenda.

CEOs are rarely experts on workplace issues, so the HR team can show them what they should care about—such as layoffs, recruiting, flexible work arrangements, and performance management—and why.

Focus on the here and now.

This means continually identifying new challenges and designing tools to meet them.

Acquire business knowledge.

HR needs first-rate analytic minds to help companies make sense of all their employee data.

Highlight financial benefits.

HR departments don’t usually calculate ROI for their programs, but quantifying costs and benefits turns talent decisions into business decisions.

Walk away from time wasters.

Often programs lack impact unless top executives lead them, transforming the culture. Otherwise HR is just a booster for initiatives it can neither enforce nor measure.

HBR Reprint R1507C

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Idea in Brief

The Problem

When talent is in short supply, business leaders see HR as a valuable strategic partner. But when the labor market loosens up, HR suddenly seems like a nuisance, because we don’t like being told how to behave—and we see no immediate benefit to complying.

The Opportunity

Instead of sitting tight until the next market shift changes leaders’ perception, HR managers should set the talent agenda now. They have the required perspective and expertise.

The Solution

HR managers can score big wins for their companies by rethinking programs that have been around since the 1950s, making a business case for the initiatives that matter, and cutting loose pet programs that lack impact.

Recent complaints about the HR function have touched a nerve in a large, sympathetic audience, particularly in the United States. The most vocal critics say that HR managers focus too much on “administrivia” and lack vision and strategic insight.

A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2015 issue (pp.54–61) of Harvard Business Review. Read more on Human resource management or related topic Organizational change

• Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at the Wharton School and the director of its Center for Human Resources. He is the author of several books, including Our Least Important Asset: Why the Relentless Focus on Finance and Accounting Is Bad for Business and Employees (Oxford University Press, 2023).

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Read more on Human resource management or related topic Organizational change

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