Last week, I riffed on When People Say HR Stinks, It's Simple...Don't Stink as a follow up to the Vurv report that HR is weak. The answer is really simple to me as noted by the title - be good.
Man - am I sick of all the hand wringing that goes on after these types of reports. Of course, the hand wringing virtually guarantees that there will be 5 more reports like this in 2008...
Other HR voices checked in last week on the same topic:
-Frank Roche wonders aloud where all the diversity is in HR. Not diversity related to EEOC issues. Business skill diversity...
-Deb at 8 Hours talks about the fact that maybe devoting yourself to party planning might not be the best use of your time.
If I had a million dollars? I'd subsidize the effort to get every HR manager, Director and VP subscribed to blogs like these, as well as others that are relevant.
It's still shocking how many in our profession don't know what a blog is. Low uptake on technology is part of the perception problem....
Help me....Help you....


There's an interesting debate taking place about the evolution of the HR director. The Filth Columnist (TFC) over on my site, Changeboard, argues that "the HR team will continue to look after people and do all those adminy things," but should "report into the more strategic leadership of the new breed of HR Director, who would take control of the responsibility agenda across the business (and as such would probably end up with a number of other business functions reporting in on a dotted line too). Power and empire (building......)"
TFC argues that the new breed of HR Directors should create a new business function titled: "Dynamic Business"
Posted by: Changeboard | May 16, 2008 at 08:13 AM
I was talking to a friend who worked at Wachovia Bank. He told me that the HR department was very good a being reactive. Need a new healthcare plan, great, they were on it. But if you wanted them to think ahead of the curve they stunk. Everyone in HR should be proactive in helping the employees have a good work experience.
Posted by: Karl Staib - Your Work Happiness Matters | May 17, 2008 at 12:01 PM
I recently presented at SHRM's Staffing Conference on Staffing Analytics: Measures to Drive your Talent Acquisition and Retention Practices. I was shocked to find that many attendees did not understand several acronyms used in the presentation. The audience was 300+ HR staffing professionals and generalists. The acronyms they referred to included: KPI, EBITDA, EPS, NOP, CRM. It is very disappointing to find HR professionals who do not understand basic business language. Additionally, common HR abbreviations (LOS, ERP, HCM) and terms (strategic positions) apparently baffled more than a few. None of these acronyms should require a glossary. How can we hope to really help drive positive business outcomes if we don't understand the outcome measures that business uses!
Posted by: Joanne Bintliff-Ritchie | May 27, 2008 at 11:21 AM