By Sally Pritchett
CEO
HR has never been more essential. But how can you elevate the profile of HR to drive transformative change, foster a thriving organisational culture and begin to change the professional stereotype?
With global uncertainty – conflicts, climate change, and economic struggles – employees are navigating tough times. They’re also increasingly seeking a stronger sense of belonging and purpose in their work. On top of this, challenges such as multi-generational workforces, a healthcare system under extreme pressure, and a growing burnout and mental health crisis are compounding the difficulties for HR. And ever present are the rapid technological changes and heightened concerns about AI and automation. These all combine to make HR’s role more vital – and complex – than ever.
Never more has HR needed to be positioned as a strategic partner, contributing valuable insights to decision-making.
Examining the reputation of HR
On the 19th April, we were delighted to host a virtual discussion for HR leaders focusing on raising the HR profile both externally and internally. Our CEO and Co-Founder, Sally Pritchett was joined by expert in HR PR, Kay Phelps, and together they discussed the impact of the negative media narrative on HR.
Kay shared a range of recent headlines from ‘What’s the point of HR?’ (FT Podcast) and ‘How the HR monster destroyed the workplace’ (Telegraph) to the rather depressing ‘Why everyone (still) hates HR’ (TLNT) and ‘HR viewed as least productive department by employees’. (HR Magazine).
Kay and Sally reflected on the adage ‘sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me’ suggesting that in this case, it appears that words are hurting the professional reputation of the HR function with 83% of HR professionals believing that HR is suffering from a tarnished reputation (Cezanne/HR Ninja research) and 54% of HR professionals feeling they rarely or never receive recognition for their efforts.
But there’s evidence that the damage is far worse than purely this tarnished reputation within organisations with poor and ever-diminishing investment in HR clearly out of balance with other functions.
Average HR function spend (as a percentage of revenue) stands at just 0.76% in comparison to other better-funded functions like Finance achieving 1.30%, IT at 3.25% and even marketing (a previously also function challenged by its reputation as a colouring in the department) now achieving a whopping 7.5%. (Gartner research)
Worst still, this underfunding is potentially set to worsen as 25% of 2023 HR budgets decreased year on year, (adding to a decrease of 12% in the previous year). (Fortune)
Strategies for shaping perception and impact
HR’s role in the business is expanding rapidly, encompassing critical areas such as workplace culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), employee well-being, and talent acquisition. This includes fostering a sense of inclusion, belonging, and psychological safety, as well as aligning the workforce with the organization’s purpose and creating fulfilling roles. HR is also tasked with navigating the complexities of hybrid working arrangements, engaging a diverse workforce, and ensuring a seamless employee experience from start to finish. Furthermore, HR plays a pivotal role in talent retention amidst a competitive landscape, bridging generational gaps, supporting executive development, and preparing for the AI-enabled future of work. Amidst organizational transformations, HR juggles these responsibilities alongside redundancy programs, restructures, and job redesigns. The scope of HR’s remit is ever-expanding.
With HR being the least funded function and investment headed in the wrong direction whilst the remit and complexity of strategic HR’s role growing, Sally and Kay were keen to create a circuit breaker, seeking practical and tangible ways to help HR leaders move forward.
Sally reflected on a similar challenge a decade ago in her career, supporting a shift in the reputation of a marketing function including successfully increasing team size, budget and strategic profile within the business after three years of educating the wider business, shifting narrative from output (delivery) to impact (the difference made).
Kay and Sally shared their advice on building personal profiles, leveraging external media, engaging in the HR award landscape, educating their internal stakeholders and demonstrating their strategic contribution.
To find out more about their advice, watch the video below, or book a call to talk about your challenges with Sally here.