So you wanted to be in HR ever since college and now you’ve finally landed your dream job in some well reputed organization. But now that you’re into it, you find that your daily tasks are performed in the same manner as they‘ve been done for ages. Your personal role is limited and, sometimes, you feel that HR doesn’t have a considerable role in the company’s main agendas. If they prioritize, HR Issues always come second when it boils down to deciding the future strategy for the company.

In these situations most HR professionals look to other – mostly senior people or those who have authority to look into HR stuff and show direction. They don’t think of taking the initiative, because doing so would be equivalent to challenging the status quo. It’s common not to think of doing things or saying things that would put the other person in a slightly uncomfortable situation, especially when the other person is more powerful or senior. We avoid this because we want to avoid the hassle of explaining and defending our point of view. So we end up doing the same things without changing a bit and we also keep on feeling sorry for ourselves that we chose this field. We put all the blame for things not being worked out the way they should on higher management, but we don’t realize that it’s us, the HR professionals, who have specialized in the field and who should bring about change.

Unlike what most people think, being an HR Professional is a challenge. This is especially true for a workplace in Pakistan where HR is still evolving and where most of the HR practices don’t meet the standards of what others consider best practices. I’m not talking about MNCs that surely follow popular international practices. I’m talking about companies that are big enough in size while still being at a developmental stage where they are unsure about accepted HR philosophies and practices.

So for all those people who think that they have HR inclinations in them but also think that HR is dull , boring or that there is no thrill and competitiveness in the field … you are mistaken. This is actually an opportune time to make your mark, as you have a big playground in front of you to play in. For example, how many “certified” OD professionals do we have out there …and what effort is going into developing psychometrics in the South Asian context. I can’t see any. What we typically cite are western studies carried out according to their norms and culture. For that matter, I can’t even find HR professors in universities who have concrete industry experience and who can present unique case studies developed in a Pakistani perspective. Recently, a well known telecom’s HR head in Pakistan got notice for criticizing and proving that certain agile work models are not possible. When are we going to come out of the stereotypical thinking that HR is supposed to keep a check on people and their work at all times? Why don’t we consider trusting them? Read the rest of this entry »

HR is progressing very fast. More and more companies are now looking for HR Managers to manage their human assets and their issues. More people are coming in the field. Institutes have also emerged from no where teaching different HR courses. All is good, for me at least. I chose the field five years back and here I am with a Masters degree, specialization in HR and four years experience. During this period I worked in two places and gained experience. At both of the places HR was a new born department. I faced resistance from old employees and from top management too. Resistance from top management as they do not understand the true nature of HR. Everyone has his own concept of Human Resource Management. At one place the top management used to forward every problem to HR whether it had a link with HR or not. Production is not up to the mark, problem comes to HR. Security cameras not working, and problem comes to HR. It was difficult to convince the people at the top that these problems were out of the scope of HR. At one place employees used to disregard HR and at first looked liked it would be impossible to create the HR department over there. In the absence of HR department, its responsibilities are shared by other departments. When HR is created people feel that HR is trying to reduce their authorities and as a result conflicts start rising. What they don’t know is that HR will actually benefit them. They would get an organized organizational structure with proper grading, proper pay structures, promotion plans and employee compensation and benefits plans etc. There is a need to increase awareness among employees in other departments, top people, owners and directors regarding HR.

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What if a Manager comes to your office (HR), looks really crossed, complains about a particular subordinate regarding his unprofessional attitude, tardiness and frequent absences telling you to take the strictest action against the one. When asked that if he has counseled his subordinate regarding the matter, the answer is NO and then in the lunch time you will see both of them together hand in hand going out for lunch and taking more time than it is allowed, what would you do?

I think in this case you need to counsel both the Manager and his subordinate. In my opinion Managers are responsible for each and every action of their subordinates before anything comes in the boundaries of HR. The managers should come to HR for help when they see that they are unable to correct someone’s actions and when something is really wrong.

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