The HR profession does not expect enough of itself and at the same time is not taken seriously enough by senior line management because it “does not speak the language of business.” So says the Ochre House Network think-tank which includes over 650 major employers such as GE, IBM, NCR, PwC and Telefonica O2.
At its latest meeting the think-tank concluded that one of the reasons that HR functions were still not playing a full part in the running of their host organisations was an underlying lack of faith in their own capabilities. This in turn often leads to them making their message too complicated, alienating business managers.
“HR needs to embrace host organisations more effectively and one of the most effective ways of doing this is by letting go of certain process driven areas and allowing line managers to become quasi-HR professionals themselves,” says Ochre House’s Helena Parry, who leads the think-tank. “If it wants to become truly integrated within the business it must push this through even if it leaves line managers feeling that HR is abdicating from its responsibilities in the short term.”
