What If There Was No HR?

This blog entry made me laugh today. This humorous blog questions what would happen if all HR teams went on strike. A sampling:

“On the ground, employers were really beginning to feel the pinch as senior management attempted to cover the void left by their missing HR departments for yet another week. ‘We just have no idea which of the first-aid kits are fully stocked,’ confided a director of one major corporation. ‘And we are already more than a month late on our annual office chair audit. If things continue like this, who knows, I could lose half of my staff to repetitive strain injury. Or whatever it is they monitor.’”

“However a spokesman for the union was in defiant mood. ‘This is only the beginning’ he threatened. ‘Just wait until people realise that their holiday forms are not being signed off, or that performance appraisals haven’t been sent out. Employers will be crawling back to us on their knees soon enough.’”

While we all know HR plays a much more valuable role than this funny post indicates, research shows HR often does not have as much strategic involvement as it should. Globoforce just released last month a market research study on the importance of bridging the gap between the Finance and Human Resource functions. Our primary key finding was that Human Resources must take a more strategic role in the business. However, the study revealed that although 87 percent of respondents believe that HR should play a more strategic role than in the past, only 63 percent believe HR has the right amount of input in the company’s strategic direction.

Though we are far beyond the days when HR would not be missed as the McArthur blog posting suggests, we are certainly not where we should be with HR helping to strategically guide the direction of a company. With the vast research showing the tremendous shareholder return possible when employees are happy and engaged, the bottom line is suffering in companies that do not bring HR to the strategy table.

Does HR get invited to the strategy table in your company? Do you believe HR has more or less influence on strategy? Take a quick poll below.

Is HR involved in strategy development in your company?

• HR has no involvement in strategy development in my company.


• HR has some involvement in strategy development in my company.


• HR has the right amount of involvement in strategy development in my company.


• HR has too much involvement in strategy development in my company.

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