Chapter 7: Creating Commitment: The HR Challenge

Overview

Here are all kinds of employers wanting all sorts of servants, and all sorts of servants wanting all kinds of employers , and they never seem to come together.

Charles Dickens

The future role for HR is as a change agent - with broader, more business-focused skills.

(2003) HR Survey, CIPD

In an October 2003 HR Survey, the CIPD reported that, ˜one-third of HR practitioners currently see their primary role as being strategic business partners . Rather more than one in four see themselves as change agents and slightly fewer (24%) as administrative experts.' The CIPD goes on to report that, ˜In terms of their preferred roles, that is, the one they would like to focus on in the future, nearly three in five aspire to be business partners, while the proportion who see their role as being administrative experts in the longer term falls to just 4 per cent' (see Table 2 on p 131).

Table 2: HR Roles Now and in The Future

Category	Current role	Would like to play
Strategic business partner	33%	56%
Change agent	28%	30%
Administrative expert	24%	4%
Player	23%	15%
Employee champion	12%	6%
Source: (2003) Survey of 1,188 HR managers. CIPD.

Further reporting on the findings of the survey, the CIPD went on to say: ˜Although 23 per cent of respondents see their current role as being a business ˜player', acting as a coach, architect and facilitator, only 15 per cent see this as their preferred role, possibly,' they comment ˜because it would take them too far from their HR moorings. Relatively few senior HR people see themselves primarily as an ˜employee champion' and fewer still would wish to do so.' This,' the report goes on to explain, ˜may be partly because the language sounds unfamiliar to UK ears, or because employee relations issues are dealt with at a lower level within the organisation.'

The problem with these survey findings is that HR managers always say that they want to be more strategic, but in the real world they are bogged down in the day-to-day administration and support of line managers. What they need is a concerted plan to break out. Outsource the administration if necessary (although that has a backlash all of its own if it isn't handled well) and move into that more strategic role.

Well maybe. My concern is the total lack of interest in being the ˜employee champion,' because I think that is a major role for HR in the future. Not in sticking up for individual employees , but for all of them collectively. Someone needs the role of the conscience of the business and that is one - just one mind you - of the roles that HR needs to assume.

As I have already explained throughout this book, businesses today - regardless of size or industry - are complex, cruel places. If we are to employ all these people with their life-work needs and their expectations driven by lifestyle and workstyle, then we need an employees' champion. A person to take care of the people. That role has to be in HR. As psychologist Elisabeth Marx has explained to me on numerous occasions, ˜CEOs are NOT people people at all.' In 99 per cent of cases she is right. They are far too busy cutting deals and worrying about quarterly results to worry about the people. No matter what their pronouncements about ˜people being their greatest asset,' they need someone else to do the people-relations work. That, I think, means that HR gets the job. I mean, you are not going to make the finance director the people's champion are you?

And there are some very good reasons for having HR as the employees' champion. They are a natural support function, most HR people have a genuine empathy and they understand the need to keep people up and running, fuelled with knowledge and commitment. Not that they can't be hard-headed and business-like about this task. They need to be hard-headed. But they can form a terrific bridge between the top management strategists and the rank and file of the business.

Consider, if you will, the fact established earlier in this book, that the people we are employing intend to be themselves at work. Our Greenpeace activist, our weekend Hell's Angel, our sailor, swimmer and skier, all bring themselves and their personalities, traits and interests with them to work each day. If we want to engage them fully - while also understanding the personal aspects of their lives - we need to have a function within the business that can ensure that relationships between the firm and its employees work. A function that respects a person's lifestyle choices and in consequence earns that person's respect in return. I see that most clearly as a job for HR. Maybe not every HR person, but the majority need these skills of understanding employees' needs: and they need them now .

So, let's not get too enmeshed in this strategy debate. Let's do some good work on the engagement front first. The results that flow from having an engaged workforce will give you the credibility to help further your ambitions as a strategic business partner.

Later in this chapter, I am going to outline what I see as the array of responsibilities that HR has in the organisation of the future, but all of them are built around one premiss: being the ˜engagement' head of the business. HR is the Pied Piper of the firm, gaining the employees' trust and commitment.

It is interesting to see in the conclusion of the CIPD 2003 survey the comment that, ˜The boundaries of the HR function are becoming more diffuse as HR establishes strong links with other business functions. The scale of response in internal communications suggests that HR is competing effectively with the marketing function for the job of ensuring that messages are taken on board.' It ends by saying, ˜As we are increasingly aware of the importance of trust in maintaining employee motivation and commitment, there are clearly opportunities for HR to strengthen its position in this area.'

But that employee motivation, commitment and respect don't come cheaply. What needs to happen quickly - as the CIPD survey suggests - is for HR to divest itself of non- core activity and take up the position of corporate engagement officer. Now that would look interesting on a business card!

However, there is plenty to keep the HR department busy. Based on interviews in Europe and the US with senior managers, here are just some of the items on HR's ˜to-do' list:

• Aligning HR strategy with business strategy.

• Getting the succession planning and recruitment things right.

• Getting the outsourcing thing right.

• Getting the reward strategy right.

• Getting the assessment thing right.

• Getting the coaching thing right.

• Getting the golden handcuffs on star talent.

• Measure!, measure!, measure!

• Managing the boss.