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Why can’t HR position itself as a Main Business Function?

Human resource is the people science and the most complex as it’s is dealing with the most uncertain creatures i.e. we the humans.
Still, this function of HR that is responsible for reward and recognition for other departments is still not getting the due recognition for itself!

“Why the Indian HR Ecosystem lags behind the HR ecosystems of developed countries?"
Let's try understanding the reason …..
The impacts of globalization in the industry is continuously evolving and consequently pushing all work functions to become in-line. Whereas the primary functions like sales and tech are the first one to get aligned, it poses a lot of challenges for secondary functions like HR to match up the same.

Sadly, in accordance to a study, 51% of companies are linking business impact to HR programs. In addition, 60% believe in holding HR accountable for not just talent, but also business outcomes. This indicates that almost half of the HR industry is still in the support/administration mindset.

Also, The Hindu (sep’14) stated that 18% of senior leaders say senior HR professionals have no involvement in business strategy at all. And these include the people at the level of CHROs and Director HRs.
This concludes two things that either HR doesn’t project them as a business function or not mentally ready to align with business function.

The possible solution could be the top leaders aligning KPI and KRAs of HRs to the business objectives of the organization. Further, it requires reviews to ensure the proper execution which is mostly lacking in the organization.

Another reason that some of top hr consulting firms found was, that the HR doesn’t relate itself to the business scenarios the way they should do to suffice their role. And therefore, they do not feel the need of updating themselves with the current case studies which are, of course, costing a lot and creating a gap in becoming a complete business function.

Until or unless they relate themselves with the PAT, ROI, and TAT they wouldn’t be able to complete this gap ever, more than culture and employee engagement plans, their employer branding should lay focus on company’s market share, upcoming projects and company’s growth plans.

In ET Feb’2018, one of the reports claimed that more than 30 HR leaders have quit joining another company in the past six months which is highly shocking as the salaries at these levels are highly competitive. Though the issues they stated was more of cultural and expectation mismatch it strongly points towards the lack of stakeholder management due to shorter stints than 6 months.

HR can align themselves with the expectations of the business head of the respective organizations so that they can reach their goals in a more structured manner. Most of the HR failures are believed to be directly or indirectly linked to the disalignment with the business heads.

As per Mainstay Head, it is something to ponder about and make the HR department more effective.

Still, there is a long way to go for HRs for increasing their score!

Pankaj Minglani 
Principal Consultant & Director
Impeccable HR Consulting Pvt. Ltd

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