As HR professionals, we’ve all heard the usual complaints about human resources. We’re also aware that most employees would rather undergo a root canal than deal with us. Why the animosity? Is it possible that some of the accusations, though harsh, may have merit? In the spirit of honest self-reflection, HRGuru examines the most commonly voiced complaints about HR and our effectiveness (or occasional lack thereof). After all, if we know what our clients are thinking and saying, we’ve got a good chance of overcoming their objections, and maybe changing our own behavior for the better in the process.



Complaint No. 1. HR people do not understand the business

This may be the most widespread, and most accurate, complaint against HR.



1. Emphasize business learning in your regular curriculum: If it’s not the right time to get an MBA, take a business course at your local college. Make sure you are familiar with the basics of business strategies, marketing, and finance. (Test: Do you know what COGS is? Case in point).



2. Pay attention to the business strategy and objectives in staff meetings: Too many HR people think of their jobs as distinct from those of their clients, instead of thinking of a collective set of tasks targeting the same goal. A good first step to behavioral change: pay attention in staff meetings, ask questions about business decisions being made, and try to customize your deliverables to meet the new objectives. For example, if you are rolling out a bonus stock program to the organization, tailor your guidelines for managers, enabling them to reward the key players based on recent changes in the product strategy.



3. Build business into HR training. If you have responsibility (or even input) for training within the HR department, push to include business training. Schedule seminars with both internal and external leaders, where they’ll explain the business works.





Complaint No. 2. HR people care more about the process than the outcome

This criticism is fair and unfair at the same time, because HR people are well aware of the dangers of bad processes. For example, imagine a RIF process without a process that passed it through the hands of the managers, generalists, employee relations specialists, and lawyers. However, there are many instances in which HR people adhere to obsolete or tedious processes for the sake of the process itself, without paying heed to the desired objective.



What you can do:



1. Streamline, streamline, streamline: HR people create many of the processes that keep the business alive. Fun as it is to lock ourselves up in a room and emerge with a flow chart of varied sizes and colors, it is critical to ensure that this academic exercise can be put to some practical use. Try this easy test to identify unnecessary roadblocks in your process: Run process flow by removing one step at a time. Any step that permits the process to flow through in its absence can be considered overhead; remove it.



2. Rely on data: HR people need to get better at using data to drive decisions – period. When rolling out a new process, determine a test period in which you can identify tweaks that need to be made. Collect data by speaking with the constituents involved and by measuring process output against some pre-determined goals. This doesn’t have to involve heavy algorithms: It could be as simple as a checklist of things that need to occur for the process to be considered effective.





Complaint No. 3. HR people expect others to understand “HR Speak”

“I would like to initiate a change management process in which we will conduct a stakeholder analysis to assess the efficiency of the goal cascading process which will kick-start the talent management program in Software”. Whaaa? How many times have you heard or said something like this? It’s easy to become so steeped in our own jargon, with its carefully defined concepts, that our clients in the real world have not idea what we’re talking about.



What you can do:



Test Yourself: Do you know what you are trying to say? In an effort to throw in as many buzz words as possible, we might be guilty of losing sight of the actual purpose and meaning of our words. Before you have a conversation with a line employee, for instance, give yourself the “thirteen-year-old test”: try to explain this concept as if you were talking to a third-year-old. This is effective not because line employees are of lesser intelligence, but because a thirteen year old’s familiarity and interaction with typical HR terms is roughly equal of those of a regular employee – that is to say, never, except when they are in contact with you. Therefore you need to cushion your pitch with context and specific steps that will help them understand why we are doing, not alienate them with fluff. If you want to double-check your language, you can run a text version of your pitch through tools like the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and the Flesch Reading Level checker, which is built into Microsoft Word and Outlook.





Complaint No. 4. HR people prefer talk to action and are non-committal and vague.

Yes, it’s true. We often don’t offer definitive answers to questions our clients ask us. Sometimes this is unavoidable. Often, we are privy to organizational or individual information that prevents us from committing to a certain outcome. The worst course of action would be to divulge confidential information to quell the ambiguity. Plus, we’re often dealing with legal issues, where the law itself may be ambiguous or open to widely varied interpretation. But where we do fall short is committing to getting an answer and following through in a reasonable period of time.



What you can do:



1. Share what you can share: Most line employees are not committed to hating HR just for the heck of it. You can help them understand the reason for your reticence by explaining all the factors at play and how they impact the information he/she needs.



2. Find out and close out: You have to be an HR person in a cave to not understand that speed is the name of the game in today’s economy. The pressure to do more, faster has pervaded all aspects of the business world, and HR must respond accordingly. Think about the plight of the line manager who has to launch a critical product to meet the year’s goals. Let’s say she is waiting on you to tell her whether or not she can hire a key employee as you go through the referral process. Understand the urgency and prioritize getting the solution to the manager’s problems. You’re a business partner – so partner.





Complaint No. 5. HR is a tool of management.

With the rise of outsourcing and HR transformation, rank-and-file employee management is becoming increasing automated, while HR is aligning itself at the managerial and executive levels. However, our responsibility to the well-being and productivity of the employees still stands. Despite this, there’s a perception that HR will stand with management against an employee in most instances, regardless of right or wrong.



What you can do:



1. Develop the business case for integrity: HR has the honor of being the conscience of the company. We fail to uphold that honor not because of our failure to see what is right and fair, but because of our inability to deliver it in business terms. HR should be objective and far-thinking, thereby guiding their managers towards long-terms stability and against illegal or immoral practices that will harm the business.



2. Listen to the voice of your customer: Sure, your job description says that you are to work with Senior Managers and Directors, but you cannot support them well without understanding the what’s happening on the ground. If you are paying attention in business meetings (see Complaint No. 1), you will be able to identify the rock stars in any division. Take them to lunch every once in a while and serve your management clients by truly being the eyes and ears of the organization.