How HR Is Changing (And Why It Should)

If you identify as an HR professional, raise your hand. Well, if you feel silly sitting in your office with your hand in the air, just imagine. Now, think about the last strategic meeting you attended. Were your responsibilities making sure the room was ready, coffee was made, and everyone was happy? If the answer is yes, put down that imaginary hand. HR is changing, and there’s a good reason.

The New Role of HR

Fifty or even a hundred years ago, the role of an HR manager was narrowly focused around taking care of a company’s personnel: “Hiring and Firing,” making sure payroll got out the door, and filing the necessary employee forms. HR’s involvement in strategic meetings where long-term plans were discussed and decisions were made was as a behind-the-scenes planner. If HR managers attended at all, their job was to make sure everything went smoothly. Expectations were similar for larger meetings with professionals from other companies: Reserve the venue, hire a caterer, and have name tags and sign-in sheets in place.    

Today, the parameters of HR departments are expanding, driven in part by a changing economy. Increasingly, technology and information are integral to companies, no matter the product. In many companies, Information is the product. In this economy, people are the greatest asset. In order to recruit and keep engaged employees with skills needed to move the company forward, the HR manager needs to be aware of the big picture: Where is the business now, and where is it going? What skill sets will help it get there?

Effective HR managers can no longer be only the “parent” who keeps everyone happy. That’s still an important aspect of the job, but not the defining one. HR managers need a broader vision. They must think like a business partner, eager to help the company achieve its goals by aligning HR goals with business’s strategic plans. If part of the company’s plan is to incorporate more technology, HR can use it to expand its capabilities and to provide data that helps revise hiring goals or adjust compensation systems.

Thinking More Like a Business Partner

HR has a unique knowledge of employees and their functions in all departments and can bring that knowledge to the table. For example, imagine a company that wants to develop business in the New York area where Spanish has surpassed English as the most spoken language. The problem? Documents and forms must be available in Spanish. Who better than HR to know if the company has employees who speak Spanish and could help translate? Or, knowing that isn’t the case, to investigate who, how, and where that service can be provided? That’s thinking like a business partner and not only as an organizer of a party to celebrate the expansion with a Piñata and tacos. (Which is also good!)

Working out of this larger vision, HR managers no longer just set the table, they sit at it along with mangers from R&D, Finance/accounting, Sales/marketing, Operations, and IT, contributing their expertise to the discussions and decisions. 

Now, if you can begin to see yourself as a Business professional with deep knowledge in HR, wave your imaginary hand in the air!