Who is your Gatekeeper????
CEO’s and Senior Management are not having the fun they thought they would upon attainment of these decisive and influential positions.
The trouble may not be the competition, the market, the economy or even ever-growing regulatory requirements. It may be coming from within.
There is a growing threat to the health of American companies. It appears in the most gracious, ostensibly nurturing and peaceful of disguises – the Human Resources department complete with “certified professionals.” Even though HR professionals may hold titles or positions of leadership, their motivations and interests may be obstacles to your goals and your vision for your company and may de-motivate some of your most valued employees.
The fact that membership in SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management) and the number of law suits litigated by employees against their companies have both increased well over 100% since the 90’s is not a coincidence. Nor is it just a coincidence that the number of HR positions has increased by a similar volume in the same time period while most other corporate positions have been downsized. You ought to check out the speakers and program offerings of human resource conferences and seminars prior to signing a check for your employees’ attendance.
So, you may ask, since we have had this growth in “human resources”, why do we have so many more employee lawsuits? Why has this growth in HR departments been accompanied by a decrease rather than an increase in employee satisfaction? The Department of Labor has been reporting for decades that 7 out of 10 people are dissatisfied with their jobs, supervisors and companies to some degree; with the HR Era, that percentage grew to 8 out of 10 and hovers around 75% year in and out. One out of 4 employees feels threatened at work, and says that the possibility of violence is a real concern. Morale, turnover and performance are not improving, and the only place where real progress and growth appear may be in the revenues of labor attorneys. Other beneficiaries of this depressing scenario are the “gurus” who prey on the HR professional. These special interest consultants are more divisive than helpful and more concerned with turning your company into a social worker’s paradise of political correctness and non-confrontational avoidance than with building a viable company in which employees really flourish.
Now, to be fair, many HR professionals are caring, nice and supportive people. They, too, are frustrated because they sense their companies are looking for something from them and they themselves aren’t exactly sure why it isn’t working. Many of those who desire a career in human resources just are not oriented toward goals, performance, merit or competition. That is a very serious disconnect when selection of your most important resource is at stake.