Transition to HR from Finance

Welcome to the Community, Nikita... and always good to see a poster engage with and appreciate the contributions of others. Thank you.

Thank you Steve! Yes I definitely do appreciate any advice, as a transition into HR can be an exciting but scary move!

Hi Nikita,
In our company, HR was a generalist role and we had someone come into the department from Finance. She did not struggle with the confidentiality at all - but rather with the times she had to be involved in disciplinary proceedings or other times when things were not necessarily fun (e.g. when tricky employee relations issues were going on) and some people became antagonistic just because we were HR.
In finance, she always went out of her way to solve problems for people and struggled with sometimes having to say to people that some of the issues were not things that could just be "given".
Having said that - it is possible to still enjoy the social side of the company whilst in the role but you need to be clear where the boundaries (the company's and your own) lie.

That’s really helpful thanks Karen! This is exactly my reservation, as I am used to solving problems for the organisation with my finance background, so I am nervous about handling ER cases etc in HR. Should this reservation be enough to reconsider transitioning to HR? Or are there more areas to develop in please? Thank you!

HR is all about solving problems for the organisation.

Both HR and Finance are used to working within a legal framework. If the person in Karen's example was asked to process an unauthorised invoice (or some other better finance example you can think of and mentally insert here!), I'm sure she wouldn't have hesitated for one second to bounce it back and tell the person to collect the required signature.

There are a number of myths about HR. I have more than once heard people say that they think they would have been good in an HR role because they were a people person. If you think HR is all about tea and sympathy and being good with people, disciplinary issues will come as an enormous shock. You are also going to find redundancies very stressful. Having said that, I find it strange that someone handling an ER issue wouldn't perceive it as solving a problem for the organisation. Believe me, the managers who have the staff problem will absolutely see you as solving their problem! In my experience nothing stresses line managers like grievances, performance issues and disciplinaries, and redundancies are often considered the hardest thing a line manager ever has to handle. That's when we in HR get to ride in like the cavalry.

There is another HR stereotype, and that is that HR are the internal police whose role is to say no. That view is as misguided as the "people person" view. Could the person in Karen's example have had that perception of HR?

You are right to think very carefully about all the aspects of HR work and how you would handle them. If you don't think ER is for you, then L&D might be more attractive. Browsing these threads will give you a very good idea of the kinds of issues that could end up on your desk if you were able to get your crucial first job into HR and then move up into an advisor-level role.

'Friendly but not friends' is an excellent description! Pretty much exactly what I aim for myself. I have seen a few HR professionals come unstuck with difficult work issues when they have developed too close a friendship with a non-HR colleague. That said, I have always been keen to compartmentalise 'work and pleasure' (to coin a rather old-fashioned phrase!) as a personal preference anyway. For example, I tend to embrace a commute, in the before times, at least, because I like the separation of my own life from my work life. But I'm also fortunate to have several circles of close friends and an active social and family life, which I appreciate is not the case for everyone and many will gravitate towards bonding with colleagues as a result. So it's different for everyone, but I'd counsel caution as to the potential 'risks' of getting too close. Finding an organisation with a friendly HR team is a good place to start, as friendships within the department are often less complicated than those between HR and non-HR colleagues. Goodness, that doesn't sound particularly positive! I hope it makes sense!

I'd also agree with Elizabeth that HR are neither fluffy 'people people' nor 'the police' and anyone who assumes either of those things are true will soon find they are not!

Hi Nikita we ran some free webinars about getting into a career in HR and the recordings are still available. There were some really good tips in there from people professionals and the CIPD. Might be worth a listen to add to all the great guidance you are receiving here on the Community! www.cipd.co.uk/.../building-your-career-2021

I think it very much depends on the business, and the type of role you go into with HR.

I started in a fairly large HR team so the social aspect was very much localised to the HR department. My current role however is a standalone HR role, therefore I've had to develop those social relationships with other departments in order to not be isolated. However the more social relationships I've developed (i.e the people I would be happy to pop to the pub with after work on a Friday) are within similar or linked departments that I work quite closely with on a daily basis - Quality & Health & Safety in my case.

It does also depend on the business. The Company I'm in at the moment is generally a very friendly company and the Leadership Team will happily have a laugh and joke with employees at levels (our Director this week has joined in with the workshops sweepstake for the Euros). But our employees know the limitations to that as well.

Thank you Johanna, I have watched a couple of these now and they were very interesting!