(This is based on a feature in the Spring GCI communications newsletter)
A recent article in Personnel Today asked if Human Resources people are losing out to PR professionals when it comes to managing relationships with staff. But the article drew a false distinction. Unloved, overworked and under stress, HR managers can gain a lot by working more closely with their colleagues in communication argues personnel specialist Roy Lecky-Thompson.
HR is often poorly understood when it comes to appreciating the value it can really add.
Through no fault of its own, the function often becomes sidelined by excessive day-to-day activity. Managing recruitment, remuneration and the sheer pressure of ensuring the basic administration is effective means that HR professionals are often perceived as a narrowly focused body of men and women. Keeping on top of the volume of new employment law and regulations coming from Brussels is not helping either.
HR is also often seen by senior managers as a cost to be cut back at every available opportunity. Where measurement does take place it is of process rather than outputs. Line managers want to know how well the recruitment process is going rather than hear how selecting the right or wrong person can damage the bottom line.
And if the struggle to convince other managers was hard enough, staff are even more sceptical of the value of the personnel team. Employees often see the HR manager as the hatchet man or woman; encouraging hard work and loyalty on the one hand, while dispensing P45's to the redundant with the other. Small slips in administration, which might pass unnoticed in other departments, are never forgiven when the personnel team are responsible.
Yet this poor reputation, where it exists, is rarely a reflection of the quality or diligence of personnel professionals. They run to stand still - the very workload that prevents them being understood as strategists is also a massive cause of stress. Changes in employment law mean that getting even the basics wrong can be very expensive as more people turn to tribunals to solve disputes at work.
But not involving HR specialists outside the narrow confines of personnel administration can be a big mistake.
For example, an MD once commissioned me to set up a new bonus scheme to incentivise his sales staff to sell more products in a mature, competitive market where sales were down. He had a budget of £100,000 set aside for these bonuses. His Personnel Manager was not involved. When the consultancy team carried out structured confidential interviews with all the personnel, marketing, product management and sales staff round the country, we found a significant communications breakdown. The sales people all made it clear that they did not need a different bonus scheme. The PM felt the same and expressed her frustrations at the overload that prevented her arguing the case. What we concluded were needed as priorities were regular team meetings for downwards briefing; mobile phones so that the sales staff could keep in touch with customers and their Regional Sales Managers while on territory; and laptops so that they could transmit electronically sales data to Head Office - so saving three hours off the road time each week. The total cost of all this change was half the proposed bonus budget.
Here is another example of poor practice. In a 1999 reorganisation in a multi-site quoted company (being advised by an accountancy firm), communications to staff were solely through notice boards. There was no chance to ask questions. The vast majority of middle managers and staff became anxious and demotivated, knowing that a percentage of the company had to be made redundant. Instead of taking the competent Personnel Managers into their confidence, and if necessary incentivising them to help and stay on until the units closed, the directors all bypassed them. They were in the same boat as the rest of the staff. No reassurances could be given; the better staff were headhunted away by competitors; and the share price dropped. Communication professionals are in a strong position to help make sure that HR is better able to play a wider role and can be better understood. Based on my experience, here are 10 questions to ask which make all the difference.
1. Does the annual report fully reflect HR's contribution? - What indicators will show that your people strategy is adding to profitability? Have there been developments in the last year which will add value to the bottom line?
2. Can we help with major recruitment activity? - Can you help match the messages in recruitment advertising and in other external publicity? Are there PR activities which will help attract the right sort of candidate?
3. Are line managers trained to communicate? - The most important channel of internal communication is line managers and their communication skills (or the lack of) are central to the number of problems raised with Personnel. Is there scope for a joint initiative to raise skills levels?
4. What role has HR in crisis management? - How well defined is the role that you expect HR to play in crisis situations? How prepared are HR managers to play that role?
5. Is HR as aware as you are of forthcoming corporate initiatives? - Not only can HR get left out of the early discussion of major initiatives such as mergers or acquisitions; they can get forgotten when it comes to smaller changes. When the sponsors of quality, procurement, reengineering or customer service initiatives came to the communication department for help, ask what input HR has had. Changes can fail to take off simply because the people implications have not been thought through.
6. What ideas do HR have about internal awards schemes? - HR often know more about who has been performing well and why.
7. What input do HR have on the Intranet? - Is there information and ideas which the HR need to add? There may be a natural aversion to posting passive data but perhaps there are creative or new approaches communication can suggest which highlight the added value which the HR function can offer.
8. Do line managers understand their developing legal obligations? - Employment law problems begin in the line, but do line managers know when they should seek help? Many line managers will be out of date when it come to employment legislation so communicators may have a role highlighting the situation when HR should be called in - usually before a crisis emerges.
9. What can HR tell me about culture? - In all businesses these days, being culturally sensitive is important. It is not just organisations that operate across the globe that have to think twice before they communicate. HR people, with behavioural and organisational psychology knowledge and skill, will have useful insights.
10. Where and how should we jointly evaluate our activities?