HR Challenges: start with Accounting vs. Finance

After reading  Mark’s great post and the others he references about the possible future of HR and it’s ability to change (or not) - I wanted to elaborate on the thoughts about the challenges in the function especially related to the tactical nature of much of the foundation work.  An excerpt from Mark’s post:

“There has been an incredible amount of chatter lately regarding HR’s future/fate and it makes for a very good read. In the past few weeks alone HR was declared dead and then rose from the ashes. Maren Hogan wrote a nice post with the catchy title, “Slow dancing in a burning room“. And don’t forget when the smart folks at Harvard Business tackled an age-old missive by asking, “Do HR managers have the skills they need?“  The underlying assumption by each and every writer is the premise that HR must fundamentally change. That may be true, but my sense is that “do nothing” is not only an option, it’s a likely outcome.”

I agree with Mark’s view that “doing nothing” is a likely outcome precisely because it is tough (as a group) to enact change to the tenets that made the function up to now.  The HR challenge I see has 3 broad components: the first,  is one of functional and focus disparity – that is, the very skills and behaviors that make one successful in HR up to a certain level (and in many companies, the only level) – are the very things that hold these practitioners back and keep the business from respecting them.  My career background is finance and I liken this to the fundemental difference between most accountants and finance types. Now, that is not to say that one cannot cross over from one function to another, however as a whole, most people will align and prefer one over the other to a significant extent. My definitions, while broad, outline the fundemental issues HR practitioners have in crossing over (and should easily describe the personality types).  It easy to see that if you are successful in your career to a certain level in one of these columns, you are unlikely to change your stripes later on:

The second leg of the HR challenge stool I see is one of volume and significant changes in the landscape.  HR will always have a challenge relative to strategies for the business or be considered a partner of any sort if the benefits are not managed correctly, or the 5500 is not filed on time.  Unfortunately, if HR cannot deliver on the significant amount of transactional tasks inherent in its mandate, it will never be considered for a seat at the table.  Add to this the changes afoot with things like labor relations, pay reform, training and more – and you have a recipe for a very busy team just to keep up.

The last leg of my HR challenge has been discussed many times before.  Those at the Top, for the most part, do not see a need to change.  Add to this my view that many get or got to HR historically as a placeholder — someone that the boss did not know what to do with, and it is no wonder they don’t want to change.  (I know I will get howls on this one, but can name you more than a handful that came this way and are at the top now). 

My feeling given these 3 challenges is that the future of HR may truly lie in breaking the function apart and aligning the similar functions into groups that can support the business in new ways and attract the best talent which will allow the function to be seen as less of a backwater and more as function (or functions now) directly in support of the business.  I will be interested in your thoughts.

Tags: Audit, compliance, HR, HR consulting, human resources