Apr 8, 2009

Why are HR people looked down upon

I got this interesting email from a person who's been selected to join an MBA in HR course:

Query: Why are HR people looked down upon in Management Circles? Although i am very much interested in subject and am exited about reading it but whenever i tell this to my peers who also study at top B-schools,i get weird reactions. I fully realize that the scope of this feild is immense as i have read your blogs and also those at pagalguy. Why dont other streams of management realise the importance of HR? Why is it under-rated?

My reply:

There are lots of answers to your question, but the biggest two are:
  1. Organizational structures and processes often pay lip service to the importance of people processes. Ultimately organizations get boiled down to profit and growth. HR people need to speak this language to impact their organizations.
  2. All said and done of the millions of HR professionals, there are very few talented HR professionals – and largely the profession is staffed by mediocre (at best) people – even in reputed and successful businesses.
So welcome, it’s not an easy function – but that’s the big challenge to work in it
What would you tell this prospective HR professional - and why do you think HR gets 'weird' reactions ?

17 comments:

  1. Also bcoz they don't generate revenue. They are only a "support" function, not "The" function. Basically, they are not "billed" to the client.

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  2. Even at B-Schools, the number geeks get into Finance and Consulting, the smart talkers get into Marketing, the others give preference to General management rather than HR. I have seen firms mentioning that they would want to recruit females as HR managers- as it is to deal with people and they are high on EQ!

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  3. HR as a function and department in the organisation does not give quick and monetary results. The ROI factor is very much time constrained. For HR to succeed, huge monetary and time investment is needed from the management of the company. Management is always more interested in the bottom line. Of course we cannot stereotype but many a times management are not patient enough to wait for the returns from HR endeavours. This is the sole reason HR is looked down upon. It is upto the HR professional to convince and persuade the management to treat it as a profit centre.

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  4. Bang on, Gautam! The stark reality is that so many HR professionals around are at best mediocre, when it comes to business. As a result, HR doesn't speak the "business" language and doesn't talk about business metrics - degenerating its status to more "admin", rather than a strategic function.

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  5. I agree that HR domain is full of mediocres and that is why they fail to support the other BUs. People hate HR folks bcoz they are mostly daft & uncooperative. That is the reality.

    How many XLRIs & TISS type instis we have? In other B-schools mostly the most the low GPA guys go for HR. Sad!

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  6. At the end of the day it is an HR decision that decides our pay packages .. which very few in the world would be happy about..

    HR in a way is like the doctor who helps you out but you prefer if you dont need to visit him


    But somehow I see more company overseas giving a inclusive/sttategic role to HR than in India

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  7. Mediocre is being generous. My experience is that most people in HR are poor and there for the wrong reasons. Lets not fall for the income generation argument. Its as hard to measure the value of brand marketeers as it is HR, but they don't suffer from the self confidence issues that we do. We could start by not trying to relaunch ourselves every 10 years, Personnel, HR, Business Partner.....I give up!

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  8. HR work is looked down upon because it has no tangible and immediate rsults to show for its work. Its goals are long term, and in terms of developing people, largely unmeasurable. I run an active HRD function for a group of schools, and altho appreciated largely, I get the feeling that we are seen more on the liability side of accounts than asset. It is also true that HR professionals tend to get caught up with Management attitudes when in reality they need to help Management develop the right attitude towards employees. To serve and boss over the same function requires intelligence and sensitivity at the same time - dont know how many B-schools focus on that!!
    Upasana Saraf

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  9. Great post; it inspired me to write one of my own: one of my own. Check it out and let me know what you think.

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  10. HR, always seem like a crappy job. Having to impose the crappy business policy of crappy manangment who still disprected you is not my ideal job. The disrespect leveled at HR from anonymous 5:57 and HRD, is why I will never go into HR. Also it is not just HR people who are medicore at best, people in management and in the other business fuctions are just as medicore.

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  11. This article should give a comprehensive round-up of all the research on why HR is perceived so:
    "Why we hate HR" : http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/97/open_hr.html

    Visit my blog at : http://beingikm.blogspot.com for more interesting thoughts

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  12. I like it! A classic Chicken & Egg situation. Some of the so called Brands, Corporations, do not even speak HR:)

    And till that eventually changes, we are stuck in the rut of mediocrity & Personnel People disguised as HR Managers

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  13. Came here thanks to your retweet on this post hitting a raw nerve.

    Having been in support functions across 3 IT companies (corporate communications) and having worked closely with HR teams to create and implement employee communication plans, I feel the HR teams are way too preoccupied with conventional tasks like recruiting and payroll, and not really bothered about elevating their roles as a critical decision support system for the senior management.

    Plus, I've seen many HR teams silently agreeing to the CEO/ MD's diktat, more often than not. Like any other support function (at least in IT companies), you need to justify your existence every working day and being creative to go beyond your task is the only way to do that.

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  14. Excellent provocation Gautam! And bang on! 99% of HR folks I have met are below average, lack an understanding of how HR can be a strategic core business function, and hence reduce it to a support function. I have yet to meet a CEO, who if you showed them tangible value would not back you to the hilt. So firstly, I wouldn't blame organizations.

    As an OD consultant, I have only sold services to CxO's and my first job lies in establishing what OD can do FOR them that will give me higher tangible business impact than they can with their present resources. Whenever I have managed to do this successfully, I have gotten business deals. HR folks need to understand this.

    To my mind, the number 1 reason this doesn't end up happening, is the positioning and input that aspiring HR professionals receive.

    Most aspirants I meet, say they want to get into HR because they are good with people and this is a people function. This is a flaw right at the beginning. Since by people function, they mean they understand or empathise with people. As a result, you get relationship focussed, non-assertive types getting attracted to the field. People who have a task-relationship imbalance to begin with. The few who are task focussed, are branded as being unfit for HR! :o)

    Neither industry nor any one of our over-rated premiere B-schools have done anything to right-position HR as a core business function. Not in their communication, or expectation, or in their curriculum.

    I meet lots of folks from XLRI and TISS, and they're good with the soft stuff, but get into the hard stuff and they're at sea. Check their knowledge of analytics and they will be found wanting. Their exposure to and understanding of how IT can be leveraged is limited.

    A microscopical few number of young HR folks get exposed to a mentor or a business role and this radically transforms them. Others continue to follow legacy HR mindsets.

    Even the supposed "I am good with People" folks, end up becoming policy maniacs, and their favourite phrase is "This is the policy by which we do things here" - people and their needs be damned!

    This is a question I have seen posted a million times on LinkedIn, discussed a million times in different forums. With most HR folks becoming defensive and retreating into their shells. Too much talk and too little movement.

    What I don't see is, action. What do you say we think of a way to bring about a change on this one? Any thoughts? Now that would be interesting.

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  15. Why does a company lose focus of the fact that it is people who will drive their business and lead to profit and growth? Lack of or ineffective people processes is nothing but hidden cash leak.

    And yes, most HR personnel are mediocre (I am being very charitable here). But that shouldn't deter anyone from opting for a career in it. Its a challenge that would be extremely rewarding and also offer scope to bring about revolutionary developments.

    When effective HR is combined with sharp business skills, phenomenal growth is more or less guaranteed.

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  16. It can difficult for HR to solidify their role in any company and I think that can lead to them being looked down upon. However, with the recent trend of using a PEO to outsource the HR, many are believing that HR is taking up space in office and budget.

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  17. To bring about change in the way HR functions - they need to integrate themselves in core business functioning. Unless they understand organization's vision and goals, they are not likely to go beyond recruitment, policy development and payroll. Even this is likely to be flawed performance.

    People skill is not just related to dealing with middle and junior level executives but also with senior level executives. It includes defining and pushing for reforms, processes which would contribute in achieving Organizational goals. Like @gurprrietsiingh said, if you justify a proposition with tangible results, only an incompetent (and there are some!) will override it.

    HR has to stop existing in silo - it needs to be integrated with the core business functioning. Either HR demands it or Organization brings in the change.

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