As a human resources manager, it can be difficult to become a major contributor to company strategies and decisions. However, more and more research is beginning to support human resources as a decision-making partner in organizations, and can help you show how you can contribute.
What more can you do to earn that coveted seat at the executive table? As a human resources manager, you are charged with maximizing your company's biggest asset – its workforce. All too often, you're relegated to tasks like distributing benefits information and interviewing candidates that, while important, tend to be highly administrative; you can contribute much more.
For years, management experts have been urging you to "take a seat at the table" and become strategic business decision-making partners within your companies. After all, as the link between employees and executives, you should have a major say in the decisions that affect the company as a whole, and, ultimately, the workforce. So why don't you?
Well, it's certainly not for lack of trying. You've tried to communicate the value you bring to the company, but top management just doesn't seem to get it.
"The reason why HR professionals don't have a seat at the table in major company decisions is because senior management tends to perceive HR as simply a cost center that doesn't contribute to the bottom-line or strategic direction of the company," says Mark Kotzer, principal and founder of a Seattle-based business consulting firm.
True human resources professionals ultimately affect the bottom line by enhancing morale, increasing production and limiting job turnover, but there is no easy way to quantify these results. Without tangible evidence of the benefits of human resources efforts, business executives – who often make decisions based on numbers, profit and the bottom line – are unlikely to give much weight to these claims.
Fortunately more and more research is surfacing to help dismiss the notion that HR doesn't contribute to the strategic direction of a company. Results from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's recent three-year study suggest that human resources practices have a positive effect on organizational success, particularly when it comes to influencing employee commitment and performance.
Even more recently, leading smoothie chain Jamba Juice released a case study about their development of a succession management strategy to develop leadership and expand in a way that preserved their culture. The study revealed how, by working in partnership with human resources and operations, the company reduced its overall turnover rate by 13 percent in 18 months and began filling open positions immediately or within 30 days, among other findings. Read the complete study here.
Despite the growing evidence, however, human resources professionals still find themselves unable to effectively communicate their impact a company's financial performance and its overall health and well-being. Why? "Most human resources professionals do not speak in business terms," says Kotzer. "They tend to be uncomfortable with numbers and have difficulty communicating the financial and strategic implications of HR decisions."
Why is it so important for human resources executives prove themselves as key business players? Simply put: it's a matter of professional survival. "HR people are an endangered species," says Amie Devero, the founder of a professional management consultancy based in Florida and author of the book Powered by Principle. "The trend in outsourcing HR, payroll, training and development is continuing to grow," she says. Outsourcing has become a very convenient and inexpensive way for companies to fulfill many of their needs, and unless human resources prove themselves to be essential business partners, they are in danger of falling victim to this trend.
Today, more than ever, human resources professionals need to become a major partner in business strategy. "If they can add value to the strategy," says Devero, "they'll become a strategic partner; otherwise, they become dispensable."
While factors such as money play into the ease with which hospital nursing programs are attracting and retaining new grads, it is the reality of the actual work environment that determines whether a nurse stays or goes. The key factor may be the ability of nursing programs to keep young nurses connected with the reasons they became nurses in the first place.
Serious economic problems at financial institutions create morale, retention, and productivity issues for employees who await layoffs or struggle in the wake of layoffs. Understanding the situations and concerns of employees and making the right organizational adjustments can be the difference between success and failure.
If you are not prepared, you can easily destroy an interview by asking the wrong questions. The way you ask questions in an interview can easly get you or your company in legal trouble.