It will come as no surprise to people in the Software Industry (more than other industries) that HR as a function is Dead in the current era.
You may have a post in your organization titled HR, a person or team designated as such or even a Robot doing such a job, it really doesn’t make any difference.
When was the last time an HR professional went and did any real job?
Is sending Offer letters, handing the pink slips, or discussing the appraisals the real job of the HR? Are current HRs in companies improving the ‘Human’ aspect of the organization in any manner?
If you are an HR professional, ask yourself the question, ‘Is your organization becoming more ‘Human’ with every passing year or acting more in an automated aka ‘Inhuman’ manner?’ Because whatever your answer is, rest assured its because of your contribution.
Vineet Nayar’s shares some similar thoughts about HR in this video from 2017, and he says that HR will be dead. I think it’s already Dead.
There needs to be value added from every job in the organization. And from HR, that value addition is information and acquiring knowledge of how well the people in your organization are performing, how satisfied are they, what is their happiness index and making actionable plans according to that.
If you look around in your organization or others, hardly any HR professional really ‘Understands People.’ Technology is not making HR obsolete, but the resistance to change and not to understand the people’s mind in this changing world is the real problem that HR is facing today.
Indulging throughout the year in hiring and firing cycles is like chasing your tail. There are seldom any bold experiments that come out from HR stable. A big chunk of recruitment work is now automated, and many other rudimentary HR works will too.
Is sending emails, orientation, and appraisals the sort of work that will see you through for the next 20-30 years? Can a person from another department not do these superfluous tasks? Don’t you think these can be (or already are) automated as well?
A survey in any Software organization will quickly reveal that they consider HR as Dead. And even if the organization abolishes this department altogether, it would not affect them in any manner.
HR needs to be the guiding force behind an organization’s success and its foray against new global challenges. Be it product development, client acquisition, laying the organizational roadmap, HR should be indispensable. And if you are not that then better dead.
HR is not there to make people follow policies they are there to devise the policies as they know humans better. Instead of Organizing parties and outings find out the motivating factors. Break the circle of hiring and firing and find out what makes people tick and fix what needs fixing in your organization.
If you are an HR, lead from the front because that’s where you belong. But if you can’t or think otherwise then better find another job for yourself because for the traditional HR personnel “Winter is Coming.”
Very well said ✌