HR’s transformation through the ‘noughties’, by Helen Gilbert, Personnel Today, 12 January, and report on IRS survey, Personnel Today, 26 January

I have combined these two articles as they are closely related and both quite short. The first article is a collection of quoted views from a number of academics and senior HR people about the future outlook for the HR profession, which makes it more valuable from the typical article containing the - probably prejudiced - views of one person. The second article merely reports the results of a survey which looked at how HR departments are rising to the challenges of the recession.


It is best to look at the survey first. It covered employees in 253 companies and the most interesting outcomes were:

• In only 26% of companies was the HR Director on the main board.
• Despite this, 66% of respondents felt that the influence of HR has increased over the past two years.
• Half of the companies surveyed had a documented HR strategy (perhaps the more important insight is that half do not!).

These results provide a context for some of the comments in the other article. As one would expect, the academics were the most critical of HR people (though anyone who has worked in an academic institution will know how awful their own HR practices normally are) and this comment from Andrew Kakabadse of Cranfield was typical - ‘there are a few smart business-thinking HR Directors but not enough’. Paul Kearns - a consultant and author - was even more damning - ‘we’ve allowed Charlatans to come into HR - anybody can enter our profession’. He criticises the CIPD for being slow to make sure that qualifications are a condition of entry to senior roles. Nick Holley of Henley is depressed by HR’s lack of influence and the fact that many HR people hide behind employment law.

As one would expect, the practising HR Directors are less critical; Angus McGregor, HR Director of Eversheds, counters the views above by suggesting that HR has become the ‘career choice for talented graduates’ because of its variety and business focus.

It would have been good if the article could have finished off with some kind of conclusion, other than that the perceptions of academics/consultants and practitioners are very different. There was however one interesting extra revelation at the end of the article - the ‘ten most influential HR professionals and thought leaders of the noughties’. There is not space to repeat the full list but an interesting feature is that only three out of the ten were in HR Director roles; the rest were academics or consultants. And none of those whose thoughts were quoted in the article were in the top ten list!!

To read these articles go to:

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/01/05/53345/hrs-transformation-through-the-noughties.html



http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/01/19/53725/irs-survey-effective-hr.html