Defending the HR Profession

Q) Are you aware of the prolonged criticism of CIPD and the HR profession?

Yes, but I'm not really conscious that it has become any worse in recent years compared to, say, twenty years ago. Whilst voices mindlessly repeating "HR is not your friend!" are commonplace, I have seen an at-least-equal number of people speaking up who have a more nuanced understanding despite not being HR professionals themselves.

Q) Have you responded to the criticism? Is it a worthwhile discussion to have?

Occasionally. Usually to educate people on the role of HR. This is when we see people saying things like "HR says management has to fire me" or "HR has decided that I'm redundant" and I have stepped in to explain that HR advises managers but doesn't make decisions and, if their managers are blaming HR for decisions the business it taking, then the managers are trying to avoid blame for the decisions they themselves have reached.

Q) Is it easy to criticise the HR profession because it has an image problem?

No more, in my experience, than finance, IT, legal, marketing or any other support function in business.

Q) Does it make you worry about your jobs?

No.

Q) Anything else you would like to say?

The cited examples are all illustrative not of a problem with HR but of a problem with management. British business (and we're not alone, but are paradigmatic) has spent three decades under-investing in management training and development whilst fetishising "leadership", creating a whole generation of business "leaders" who don't actually understand how to manage businesses, they just know how to lead. But businesses only need leading when they're in a crisis (the rest of the time, they just need to be managed), so business leaders keep latching onto or even creating crises that good management would have simply avoided in order to give themselves something meaningful to do with their time.

This is, of course, reductive. But it is symptomatic that the heads of businesses that are forced to make unpalatable decisions but who lack the management understanding to clearly rationalise their decision-making will blame the technical functions providing them the advice they use to reach those decisions.

"HR says we have to fire you."

"Finance says we can't afford it."

"IT says it's not technically possible."

Thus, they throw up their collective hands and say "It's not *my* fault! It's them! It's their horrible woke agenda that says I have to do what they say!" When, actually, what we said was "If you dismiss that person simply because they've come out as trans, and if they were to claim unfair dismissal, they would certainly win because that's blatant discrimination; not only would that cost us a lot of money to settle, but it would be dreadful for our public perception and potentially lead to a lot of online criticism that could damage our bottom line".

God forbid managers will actually performance manage their staff rather than just let them fail over and over before finally asking me, three years later, if they're allowed to fire them yet.

Can I give you all of the applause for this post Robey! Absolutely spot on.

Hi, Robey's response is absolutely spot on and I completely agree with everything he has said. If I had to add anything it would be

Q) Are you aware of the prolonged criticism of CIPD and the HR profession? - I have seen a lot of criticism of the CIPD by people saying they are setting up their own consultancy service in competition to quite a few of it's members. I haven't been able to identify if that is true, but if it is then I can understand that criticism. In terms of HR, as Robey says, it is based on a complete misunderstanding of our role and managers not wanting to own their decisions.

Q) Have you responded to the criticism? Is it a worthwhile discussion to have? I will often correct the misunderstanding of our role. I think it is a worthwhile conversation to have as I have had success. I think part of the problem is that as a profession we do have a tendency to try to be all things to all people, so I can see where the confusion arises..

Q) Is it easy to criticise the HR profession because it has an image problem? I find the CIPD a very good professional organisation, but my one frustration has always been that I think it could do more to engage with business and be clear what our role is and how we can support a business if it we are treated as a trusted professional advisor, engaged in business strategy and planning from the outset and not just wheeled out to deliver unpopular messages or when things have gone pear shaped

Q) Does it make you worry about your jobs? I'm too close to retirement to worry.

I have no problem with you including my responses where you would like to

Hi Paul great that you're doing this. where are you planning to publish your blog?

I couldn't agree more! well-done Robey

Hi Cecilia, thank you. The podcast and blog will be for my website www.watchingworkingliving.co.uk/ If I have enough to say I will submit to HR news sites too.

Hi Robey, thank you for being so reliable as a contributor, which is much appreciated.

Hi Teresa, thank you for your responses and honesty.

Q) Are you aware of the prolonged criticism of CIPD and the HR profession?

Yes throughout my long career I have heard the HR profession being vilified both internally and in media. As a profession I feel that we are often diminished or not taken as seriously as other professions such as chartered accountants or marketeers. I was once asked by a recruiter if the MCIPD qualification I held was the 'bought' version. Many times I have heard line managers say 'HR made me do this' or 'HR told me to say this' because they themselves lacked the leadership skills and confidence to take ownership of the people management side of their role. As another anecdote a friend's daughter approached me saying that she had been asked to take on HR within her company and was there a course she could do? I signposted her to CIPD and she replied that she was looking more for a 2 hour online course that 'covered everything'. It is this perception of our profession that causes us issues. We are seen as the internal police force and the people who do nasty things and say no to others. I have taken my MD and our Quality Manager to an annual employment law update session and both have come away saying that they were floored by the complexity of our role and the knowledge in the room. This year I am taking the Ops Director which may be interesting!

Q) Have you responded to the criticism? Is it a worthwhile discussion to have?

It depends.... often I coach line managers and directors (!) with my mantra - that I provide the training, the policies, the coaching, the frameworks and the support to enable them to manage their teams - but I am not managing their teams for them. Another criticism levelled at me once was that everything regarding people was running smoothly so did they need me anymore? My reply was that it was running smoothly because of me and the initiatives and work that I have undertaken.

Q) Is it easy to criticise the HR profession because it has an image problem?

Yes we do have an image problem because we are often blamed for the nasty stuff. We are right at the heart of most employee issues and have to deal with very tricky situations when emotions are running high. I was once asked by a director if I was part of the cause of an employee issue 'because my name always came up when there was an employee problem and I seemed to be common factor'. Well, no *** Sherlock - it is part of my role to be involved when there are employee issues - in fact it goes to the heart of my role.

Q) Does it make you worry about your jobs?

No. My career is coming to an end and I am seriously looking at a late life career change. Internally I have been seconded to an under-performing division where the issues are being caused by people problems and I've been tasked to resolve the problems. I am loving being in an operational role where I can really see where my people skills and knowledge are adding value.

Q) Anything else you would like to say?

Q) Are you aware of the prolonged criticism of CIPD and the HR profession?

HR has often been the subject of complaints. Its nothing new, lots of new(ish) laws,, GDPR and especially the 'wokery' issues and ham fisted attempts to deal with the latter (Xmas cancelled as it might upset someone) hasn't helped.
My brother was a part of the senior management team in a large company in the 1980s when I started my DPM at uni. My brother made it quite clear why they would never have a HR department. "HR are often explaining why you cant do this or that but they don't run the company and don't have to take calculated risks. We'd never survive - running a company is about taking calculated risks".

Q) Have you responded to the criticism? Is it a worthwhile discussion to have?

Sometimes its best not to respond - you just feed the monkeys.

Q) Is it easy to criticise the HR profession because it has an image problem?

HR only has an image problem when it performs poorly. I've not come across it personally. Management often sees HR, done badly as a barrier to getting things done. Many HR functions don't have to take the risks that other management functions often have to. I have never had to say that, "if you do this, we might get taken to a tribunal and loose, ............ etc.,.". Thats not the way to do it. I would have said something along the lines of,
"There are a couple of ways to handle this, A, B C & D., B is probably the least risky course but obviously it is your decision. There is a risk, but its rather low. Management runs the company not HR.

Q) Does it make you worry about your jobs?
Not at my age. Even if I was in my 20s, there's always the opportunity of doing something different for a living.

Q) Anything else you would like to say?

Lots, I'm rather busy at the moment though. :-)