HR’s Changing Identity

Image via Pixabay

Not that long ago, HR was known by a different name. Long before there was any mention of human in the name of those that looked over other human beings, HR was simply Personnel or Personnel Management.

The dark days of Personnel Management

In these times, which some may think of as the dark ages, HR had very little to do with helping employees and was almost singularly focused on helping employers and keeping the minions in line. Personnel Management was very busy making sure that anyone that every employee was accounted for and doing their daily work. Anyone who arrived after the starting bell was made note of and disciplined. Infractions for not following a plethora of seemingly ridiculous rules were swift and written clearly in huge employee handbooks. Once a year, Personnel Management would put together a lovely event, such as a company picnic, that was a showy way of telling employees they were appreciated and part of the company family. Often, after these events, layoffs would ensue. Personnel Management would handle those too, in order to make sure that the company remained unscathed- and avoid litigation.

Fast forward a few decades and personnel management transformed to Human Resources.

Human Resources were suddenly a softer part of the organization that started to have employee’s needs at its heart. When you needed someone to talk to (within reason) about the things going on in the office, HR was there. When you had questions about your benefits, HR was there.

Human Resources continues to grow.

Now that HR has been an organizational mainstay for a long while, there are more aspects of a once somewhat black-and-white department. Everything from legal issues and benefits to talent acquisition and employee retention is handled by Human Resources.

You’re a Chief What Officer?

With these spread out responsibilities, a sundry of roles have emerged. There are the top four accepted roles of HR overall, talent management, learning and development, and talent acquisition. Now that employee engagement and retention are such a big deal, we are seeing a flood of titles that have never before existed. There are Chief Happiness Officers, Chief Wisdom Officers, Engagement Officers, and the list goes on and on.
With all of these new titles and levels of responsibility, it is likely that we will see human resources undergo another significant transformation. In recent weeks, I wrote on the growing interdepartmental relationship forming between HR and Marketing. As more processes become intertwined, HR will undoubtedly form additional close working relationships with other departments. Like other once-siloed industries, there is no denying that HR’s increasing reliance on digital will bridge the gap between IT and security.

ServiceMaster’s Susan Hunsberger agrees that a transformation is certainly taking place. When asked about HR’s digital transformation she said, “A new era of digital HR is driving more targeted and customized engagement with employees and candidates. HR is on the forefront of this digital evolution and is partnering with marketing, IT, Data Science and public relations to drive innovation and transform the employee experience. This will require all leaders to think of employees and candidates as consumers and brand ambassadors. We’ll need our HR processes to deliver an experience that reflects the experience we want our consumers to have when they do business with us.”

While the specifics of what HR will look like in the near and distant futures remains to be seen, it would not be surprising if Human Resources becomes an entirely new group of functions with new names.