.png)
HR is not your friend. Where did we even get that idea? My take is simple: HR shouldn’t be your friend. HR’s role is to be useful - both to employees and the business- just like every other department.
But are they?
Before tackling this question, let’s unpack why people expect friendship from HR. It started when HR embraced the role of being “in charge of the people” and adopted a personal, almost familial tone with phrases like, “We’re a family” or “We love our employees.” This approach, often seen as emotional manipulation, backfired when tough decisions like layoffs had to be made. By then, the damage was already done. Never mix business with private life!
So is HR useful?
At its core, HR exists to ensure the company has employees coming in and going out—hiring and departures. But let’s be honest: you don’t need an entire HR department for that. An admin in each department, working with managers, could handle it just fine. So if HR only does this and runs some fun activities occasionally, I wouldn’t call them useful.
HR’s usefulness can be summarised in seven questions:
Are they attracting the right people?
Are they hiring the right people?
Is the onboarding process effective and efficient? Does it prepare new hires to work autonomously after 30 days?
Does the performance management system manage performance?
Does talent development successfully develop competencies the business needs?
Is the exit phase designed in a way that will bring & retain more talent in the future?
Do wellbeing, engagement and other interventions have a significant impact?
The answer is; we don’t know.
This week, I completed an employee experience lifecycle audit for a company with 1,300 employees. HR and business leaders love this audit because it highlights what HR is currently doing and reveals opportunities to address the seven key questions outlined above. The audit revealed that their efforts have resulted in a 78% employee engagement rate and a 34% turnover rate - solid numbers, but with significant room for improvement. As the head of HR put it: “I’ll use this report to advocate for more resources. These results reflect what I can achieve with the current support. If they want better outcomes, they need to invest more.” HR leaders value the standards because they provide insights and allow them to monitor how each sub-function contributes to success - or where it falls short.
HR struggles because they fail to clearly demonstrate what they’re doing, what else they could do, and the value they bring. If you can’t show your value, people won’t see the need for you or take you seriously. But how could they, when there’s no clear framework for HR’s role or the value it’s supposed to deliver? How could they, when there’s nothing meaningful to evaluate HR on (and no, redundant HR KPIs don’t count)? Instead of addressing this gap, HR often responds to criticism with, “Most of our work is invisible.” That’s a ridiculous excuse. If you can’t show your value, you won’t be valued. It’s as simple as that.
The issue with HR is that they’re constantly tasked with fixing employee problems and delivering business results, yet no one tells them how to do it. So, they end up doing things they think they should do - often with little to no impact. But where does real impact come from? Not from interventions dreamed up during brainstorming sessions with management and HR, that’s for sure. Impact comes from understanding what employees and the business truly need from HR - and proving that HR is delivering just that.
To achieve this, HR must have standards. I will never understand how we run this department without standards! Without standards, there’s no consistency, quality, culture, or measurable results. But most importantly, no standards, no value in HR! Beyond having standards, HR must also track the impact of their initiatives. For HR to be truly valuable, they must to:
Attract the right people
Hire the right people
Onboard employees effectively and efficiently
Run a performance management system that manages performance
Develop competencies the business needs
Have exit processes that are beneficial for the company
Implement initiatives they can measure
HR can do everything right, but if they can’t measure their efforts, all they’ll end up saying is, “Most of our work is invisible.” The truth is, it wouldn’t be invisible if they measured the right areas. But to make that happen, HR needs both a clear structure and the necessary resources.
At this point, HR being anyone's friend is the least of my concerns.
PS: My best HR ever was not even friendly:-)) But she bloody knew her job and we ALL valued her. We couldn’t live without her! She was useful for everyone and employees loved her for that!
Comments