UK 
United States
HR has a wealth of responsibilities when overseeing the business. From recruitment, interviewing, employee relations, payroll, training, dealing with grievances and underperforming staff, no two days are the same for the dedicated people function.
Despite the role that HR plays in keeping business on the straight and narrow, new research has found that 22% of HR professionals don’t feel that the function is valued at work.
Natural HR’s survey of HR professionals in the UK felt that not having a seat on the Board and not being considered as a ‘senior member’ has contributed to a lack of respect for the people profession.
Additionally, the survey pointed towards a misconception about the role that HR plays in an organisation, with HR still feeling that they are viewed as a ‘purely administrative function’.
Sarah Dowzell, HR Specialist and Co-Founder of Natural HR said that the core tasks of HR professionals is extremely broad. “With recruitment and retention of people increasingly a top priority for businesses, it is shocking that so many HR professionals still don’t feel included in top-level strategic decision-making.
“An HR strategy must be aligned with the overarching business strategy. The more the administrative elements of HR roles can be undertaken by tech solutions, the more time can be spent on the important strategic role of HR – and hopefully the old-fashioned perception of the profession can become a thing of the past.”
While some employees may question the value of the HR function, the people professional plays a core part in championing business success.
For one, HR are responsible for hiring and retaining the best talent. Without having the right people in the business with the right skills and the right values an organisation will struggle to be successful.
To add to that, HR oversee the learning and development of employees and provide them with the right tools and resources to complete the job to a high standard.
People practitioners play a fundamental role in strategic planning and come up with reactive solutions to continuously changing employment conditions.
Particularly with the changing nature of work, HR need to keep the business afloat in the current socio-economic landscape but also cast an eye to the future and ensure that they have the right staff and business model to sustain the future of work.
