Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Don't Trust HR to Add Value! Hmmm

CHICAGO - AUGUST 07:  Democratic Presidential ...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Who Defines "Value-Added"?

Florida is a hotbed of news in the HR community lately. Last week, we got to be visited by the AFL-CIO and VP Joe Biden and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis all hanging out at the Fontainbleu Hotel in Miami, soaking up the sun and having an EFCA passage party.

This week, we've got a crowd of bean counters in Orlando talking about HR.

Honestly, there are fewer things I can think of that are more scary. Well, there is one thing.

What could be more scary? A college professor talking to the bean counters about HR.

If you want HR to add value, you really shouldn't listen to either bean counters or HR professors!

Well, maybe a little, but it isn't just finances or statistics that measure the impact and value of Human Resources.

From CFO.com, an exciting pronouncement on HR from a "those who can't do - teach" kind of guy.

Memo to CFOs: Don't Trust HR

A professor says most human resources professionals are ill-equipped to carry out value-added workforce planning and transformation


Addressing a crowd of about 300 financial executives this morning, a
professor of human resources soundly denounced the corporate HR profession
for being mostly unable to provide analytics that are useful in making workforce
decisions that build economic value.

Most companies today spend too little effort on attracting and
retaining top strategic talent and too much on satisfying the rest of the
employee base, asserted Rutgers University's Richard Beatty, who spoke at a
general session during the CFO Rising conference in Orlando.

In fact, he claimed that typical human resources activities have no
relevance to an organization's success. "HR people try to perpetuate the idea
that job satisfaction is critical," Beatty said. "But there is no evidence that
engaging employees impacts financial returns."

"The labor market is in a position to provide you with better talent than
you have ever had," said Beatty, co-author of the new book, The Differentiated
Workforce. "If you don't emerge from this market with better talent in the roles
that really make a difference, I don't think you're trying."

See the whole theory here.

What do you have to say?????


2 comments:

  1. Muddled and contradictory. He wants to build winning organizations but advocates procedures as best practice. Hasn't read his contingency theory or the reporter who wrote the piece didnt know what to look for.

    ReplyDelete

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