What is the “real” role of HR?

I have often pondered the real role of Human Resources in modern-day organisations.

The world has managed to break through the devastating impact of COVID and few people can argue about the substantial role that the Human Resources profession has played in navigating uncertain times and unchartered territory.

During this time a new agenda emerged for the function of Human Resources. Employee Experience, or ‘EX’ for short, has become the central focus area for forward-thinking organisations, and progressive HR functions. It is my opinion that the COVID pandemic has enabled the Human Resources function to show its worth and take its rightful seat as a strategic partner: leading with compassion, insight and enabling the business to make business decisions using people data.

Over the last few years, I have also noted a change in the name of the organisational function from ‘Human Resources’ to ‘Human Capital’, and most recently the emergence of a function called ‘People and Culture’. This new terminology places a spotlight on the role and contribution that the traditional HR function is required to make.

The critical question is… has all the change impacted the role we, as practitioners, are required to play?

Allow me to go back in time. Several years ago, I was leading a team of HR Consultants (HRBPs) and we had a conversation about the role of HR. We had a few differing views… Are we there to support staff (akin to a traditional welfare function), or are we there to support leaders (and run the risk of being viewed as partisan to the views and agenda of line managers)? Or is there perhaps some broader purpose that unites our efforts? We agreed to disagree on this topic!

I have given substantial thought to the purpose and role of HR over the years, based on what emerged from that Tuesday morning team meeting.

I propose that the critical role of HR is to support line managers to be the best they can be to lead their employees in achieving organisational goals and targets.

Does this remove our accountability to support employees when needed? Of course not!

As I reflect on my career, my single biggest personal achievement in the function of Human Resources was when I assisted an employee to retain their house during their exit process from the organisation, due to my personal involvement with the attorneys that were trying to repossess the property.

Back to the question then. Where do we draw the line? The answer? A true business partner has the insight to know how to do both.

I further propose our role lies in the following focus areas:

Cultural awareness champion

Organisational culture is created by the leaders that work within the organisation, more specifically so, the senior leadership team. Leadership must be deliberate in the culture that they want to create. If culture change goes on unchecked, it often can cause substantial damage further down the organisation.

It is incumbent upon the Human Resources function to create awareness & reinforcement with leadership around the prevailing culture in the organisation. This can be done by regularly providing feedback around how the organisation is perceived through the eyes of employees. It is also key for the Human Resources function to provide direction on changes that might be required in terms of organisational culture. It is critical to understand that Human Resources do not own the culture but has an accountability to reflect and provide feedback to leadership on the culture.

The conscience of the business

To be the conscience of the business means that as Human Resources representatives we should speak up when we observe either behaviour or processes that do not favour constructive employee / employer relationships.

Furthermore, it requires us to engage individually with line managers to coach them to enable staff to perform at their best. This requires us to build close and personal relationships to build trust. With this approach we are seen to be objective.

EX ambassador

Whilst the first two items represent a reactive view of our role, our ability to influence the EX is more proactive in nature. Being an EX-ambassador means that as Human Resources professionals we proactively consider each people process, the multitude of employee / employer touchpoints, and design these processes with human beings in mind.

This requires us to work across organisational disciplines and boundaries and ensure that both the organisational and employee perspectives are considered in the design process. In other words, this means that we ought to take a more human-centered approach to designing processes. This is our opportunity to be architects of an employee centric organisational infrastructure that ultimately leads to better performance and higher productivity.

If we can balance the focus areas as proposed above, our efforts will align leaders to the needs of employees whilst focusing on achieving organisational objectives. This requires us to be objective, honest and forthright in the way that we deliver our work.

Author: Deon de Swardt, Managing Partner