The 7 things HR don’t do that might just surprise you

Many people (specifically those in smaller organisations) believe that if you have HR in your job title then you should action any people related task, no matter what that might be. I have lost count of the number of times a task has fallen to us simply because it ‘feels’ like it should be done by HR, when in reality it is far from my (or any HR professional’s) job description.

It’s because of these misconceptions that we tend to see stand-alone (often junior) HR managers being brought in to work with SME’s to advise at board level with no supervision or guidance. In these cases, it’s entirely possible that the CEO has little idea of what an HR professional should or should not be doing, and indeed by when. The only thing they have on their mind is spending as little as possible and ensuring they don’t fall foul of any HR regulations. 

Yet if ‘people’ are a company’s biggest asset, this begs the question; why do CEOs not want to ensure the best possible HR or people resource is on board? 

Well, the answer, quite frankly, comes back to a lack of understanding what HR does and doesn’t do. The reality is, that just like every profession, there are general areas of knowledge and specialist areas. The key is to understand what HR can do and indeed, perhaps more importantly what they aren’t best placed to do.  

With that in mind — and given the many years of me replying to CEOs explaining that “no we just don’t do that in HR” — I have drafted a checklist of all the things that HR don’t actually do. And some may just surprise you. 

So here goes, we do not…. 

1. FIRE PEOPLE
   This is perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions out there. No, we don’t fire people and never will. In fact, the only reason for us to let someone go would be if they were in our own HR team. Rather what we actually do is advise the managers and c-suite on the process of letting someone go and support the line manager in question. We may well be at the meeting, but we would never actually dismiss the employee or decide that dismissal was the right decision.

2. DECIDE WHO TO HIRE
   Rarely do HR professionals get involved in recruitment. Indeed, all those that do will have a clear role that they specialise in recruitment specifically. HR may well conduct an expert interview or profile an individual, but we do not decide who to hire and who not to hire.

3. SET SALARIES
   Next time you are frustrated by your pay packet, don’t blame HR. Salaries are determined by the market, the value of the individual, the budget of the organisation and the urgency of that role. HR don’t decide how much someone gets paid, but we can provide helpful information to the teams making that decision, including providing benchmarking data against the rest of the market.

4. APPROVE PROMOTIONS
   There’s no point in sucking up to your HR team if you want to move up; they’re not going to approve your next promotion. Line managers know who their good people are and whether they are worthy of promotion. HR will merely advise and facilitate if this process needs to happen and then do the paperwork after the promotion is granted.

5. OWN THE CULTURE
   HR are part of the culture, but they will certainly not dictate what that company culture should look like. Culture infiltrates through a company from the top and is felt both internally and externally. It’s always the CEO and leadership team that decides on how things are done, and this then trickles down.

6. DO THE WORK OF MANAGERS
   This is a key one, HR only manage their own employees in their team. They can’t step in for managers and should not do so. A manager is a manager for a reason and know their subject matter the best. HR should not be stepping into this role under any circumstances.

7. SET THE MORAL COMPASS
   HR should never be acting as an organisational policeman. That is always the job of the leadership team to set and then share across the wider team.

Certainly, some people will have a negative idea of HR, often associating HR professionals with disciplinary action, dismissals or layoffs. Yet the reality is that HR is a dedicated function responsible for agreeing and leading a competitive people strategy and managing the entire employee lifecycle. 

This includes workforce planning to attract and retain talented staff, the onboarding of new team members, training, development and coaching, advising on employee benefits packages, keeping employees safe at work by implementing/updating health and safety regulations, managing employees’ key life milestones, such as parental leave, supporting employees with sickness absence/sick pay and helping staff exit the company well. 

For me the very best thing HR can do at the moment is offer the company they work for a competitive advantage, not become a scape goat for the tasks that no one else wants to do. So next time you’re wondering whether it’s a job for HR, take a look at the list above and consider what it is that HR really does.