HR departments, similarly to other departments, have their own set of unwritten rules and patterns of behavior. HR professionals usually do not even notice them until somebody new enters their team and points them out. Alan Collins, former HR director of PepsiCo and author of HR-related books, writes about this topic in an interesting article on the Success in HR website.
He highlights some of the typical daily patterns of behavior in HR that are very dangerous and can undermine the credibility of the whole department.
From his own experience, and insights from Dave Ulrich's book HR From The Outside In, Collins compiled a list of 25 undesirable behaviors in HR. Let's look at ten of them:
1. Pretending interest in making change
A typical example of this behavior may be surveying employees opinions but not changing anything in the company based on the various surveys.
2. False agreement
This may be, for example, nodding acceptance at a top management meeting dealing with laying off 10% of employees. The same HR people who were nodding then start to spread rumors across the company that they had nothing to do with it.
3. Petty wars
HR often infight with other departments such as finance, IT, marketing, etc., without keeping the companies good in mind. On the contrary, damaging the entire company.
4. All for all
Too many priorities and inability to say "no" in HR lead to only one result, the inability to focus on the really crucial initiatives promising the best possible results of the company. You can't satisfy everybody's wishes.
5. Fanatical adherence to procedures
Strict adherence to business processes is important, but there are times when it may be detrimental. For example, if you lose a great employee just because he has not yet reached the required number of years needed to be promoted or paid more money.
6. No added value
Many HR departments still only hire new people, reward and promote employees on the basis of corporate rules. They actually act like machines. They do not bring any extra value to their clients.
7. Obsession with measurement
The importance of measurement, which really can not be disputed, is being widely discussed in HR. You must, however, measure simply and clearly. Overly complicated measurement do not help anyone. You need only a few basic KPIs.
8. No further development
Try to imagine a doctor who does not continue to develop his professional knowledge and skills after graduating from the Faculty of Medicine. He keeps on using only some old tools, does not attend conferences, does not read medical books or magazines ... How long do you think he can maintain his patients' confidence?
9. Too much political correctness
In any HR department, there should be people who are not afraid to speak up and challenge the current course of things in the company. If you are "politically correct" under every circumstance, others will soon begin to perceive you as dishonest and incapable of thinking independently.
10. Unsystematic decisions
You follow best practices of other companies, attend conferences and immediately want to promote changes without weighing the appropriateness of these changes to your business. The result is a different program every month. You lack both integration of HR activities and a common goal.
"Nobody's perfect," says Alan Collins, "from time to time, we will all fall victim to one or more of these behaviors. ... And that’s okay. We’re human." However, according to him, regular and consistent adherence to these patterns of behavior undermines the authority of HR in a company to the extent that it is almost impossible to recover.
Do you agree? What would you add?
-kk-