My CEO Life

I have been thinking about the role of HR in a business and a question that goes through my mind is “do you really need an HR team”.  Now i can hear the chorous of “of course you do” – however the question is what is it that HR does that a line manager cant do themselves?

Lets think through the key people issues of hiring, firing, remuneration, motivation, feedback, culture and development.

Hiring

Now this is the obvious area where a manager will say to an HR person “please find me a new sales person” for example.  Well that is great – but the reality is if the successful candidate is not someone that the manager wants working for them, then the candidate shouldnt get the job.  In many cases the HR team act as a gate keeper – a filter – the problem with this is that often only the people HR like get through and unless HR truly understand the business and the culture, the wrong people can be placed in front of the line manager to select from.  When i was at McKinsey and Co, the consultants did the filtering of resumes, the interviewing and the selection.  Like hiring like! Therefore an arguement can be mounted that at best, HR should act as a process manager for the recruitment process.

Firing

OK – a tough one.  I know a number of managers who defer the firing of people to HR.  Now this is a weak way of managing a business and the firing of people is something that should be done by the line manager.  HR can be there to help and make sure that the correct procedures are followed, however they should not be any more than that.

Remuneration

In many businesses, HR is responsible for setting the pay scales. Well i dont agree with this.  THe market should be setting the pay scales and people should be paid for performance not pay for position.  When a manager is doing their budget, they need to think about the people, understand what the market is paying and then make recommendations within the budget framework as to what someone should be paid.  The finance team can then look at the salary costs in total and make recommendations back to the line management as to what the overall salary line item should look like.

Motivation and Rewards

Well i think that this goes without saying.  Often motivation is tied to culture and to the intrinsic rewards of the job.  This is something that HR can not affect as only the line manager can.  Line managers should also think about non-financial rewards as motivators – such as employee of the month, on the spot awards etc.  Often these are overlooked by HR and it is the line manager who is best positioned to understand the effectiveness of these rewards and the awarding of them.  Once again, the role HR can play here is a process one, of making sure that rewards occur.

Feedback

How often do you hear that it is “performance review time”.  Well i think that if a line manager is really doing their job well, they will be providing constant feedback to staff members on how they are going and the formal review process is simply the documentation of this feedback.  Too many manager dont provide constant feedback and use the performance review process as a way of unloading their issues all at once – often with unexpected results.  The role HR should provide here is process management (again) in ensuring that there is consistent approach to performance reviews and that they get done.  All of which an “on the ball” line manager can do themselves.

Culture

Now dont get me started.  A fish rots from the head and therefore it is the senior management and line managers who must take responsibility for managing and developing the culture.  Employees watch everything that a manager does and this gives them signals as to what is right and what is wrong in the organisation.  The role an HR team might be able to play is in surveying the staff to understand attitudes across a business however these often get unweildly and provide little true insight into the business.  Perhaps the best thing to do is just go and chat with the staff – it is amazing what they will tell you.

Development and Training

The final area is development and training.  Well the requirements across a business for this are many and varied and it is only the line manager and the employee that truly knows what is important for their long term development.  The line manager should take on the responsibility for developing their people and use the training budget allocated to them.  Perhaps the role that HR can play is to ensure that compliance training – like OH&S – are undertaken.  Once again, this is something that is very process driven.

I guess having written this, the answer that i come to is that there is a role for HR in the business however in top businesses it is probably more process management and clearly in support to the line management.  I think it is up to the line managers to truly take control of the HR and people management part of their business.

The more a line manager uses HR as a crutch, the more they lose touch with their number one asset – their people!

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