THERE IS NOT a human resources (HR) professional who has not felt the pressure to make the impossible possible. Some persons believe that the recruitment, development, empowerment and the retention of people and the maintenance of industrial peace is anything but a science, after all anybody can perform the role of HR.
This sentiment is especially espoused by those myopic persons who populate key positions in the organisation. Operations often blames the HR team for not providing adequate amounts of labour needed to perform the outstanding work that they need to execute.
At no time is there any critical examination of the reasons recruitment has become a slow and painstaking exercise. The term “being the makers of your own demise”, or essentially their role in wreaking havoc with the organisation’s retention rate, reputation as a good corporate citizen and an employer of choice, and by extension HR’s ability to obtain the people required, is totally lost on them.
Further, key teams gloss over their own failure and place the blame squarely on HR. As a matter of fact, under the guise of austerity, the organisation at times rationalises treating people unfairly, accumulating a casualty listing so inordinately long that the only candidates that would not have a negative perception of the organisation are babies.
There is the repeated and consistent refusal to address the colossal elephant in every room, threatening organisational continuity; failing to pay market rates rather than industry rates, results in the achievement of the recruitment mandate to be in deep retreat.
This renders the company in general, and the HR team in particular, incapable of attracting the large numbers required to work even when there is a mass of unemployed and underemployed people, far less those working for other industry players, even though there is actually lots of work to be done.
It is imperative that the team’s role in not having the adequate numbers of people (high turnover) is brought in a crystal clear manner to their attention, with a view to resolving the matter in the quickest time possible.
Across companies, the highest rate of turnover resides in operations, at the entry level.
This turnover rate hovers around 60 per cent for starter positions while more advanced positions are either occupied by a cartel of delinquents who frustrate, bully, mob and harass the best employees out of the organisation while maintaining those that usually need a deep investment in coaching, training and overall professional and personal development that would bankrupt the United Arab Emirates.
Worse, the worst performers are promoted because of their inability to challenge the status quo, meanwhile the high quality performers who can add tremendous value to the organisation via positive change; are placed under career confinement until they leave the organisation’s departure lounge.
This failure to harness the talent placed in their care, renders the organisation, the worst organisation with which to work. Thus, much like how word of mouth recommendations transform the company’s good fortunes; so too does the word of mouth warnings of past employees that have nothing good to say about the organisation; destroys the company’s fortunes.
When people are left alone to their own devices, without a clear set of standards, priorities and outcomes under which they must operate and which they must comply and achieve, depending on the level of engagement or disengagement, the entire organisation descends into anarchy resulting in nothing being achieved, but the creation of consistent chaos that over time become the modus operandi of that organisation.
The HR team must radically revise its role in the organisation or face extinction.
The HR team must reach out to employees directly and accumulate wide and accurate intelligence concerning employee experiences with the organisation.
If you are new to your organisation, it can be either easier or harder depending on your priorities and how bold or conservative you are concerning your accomplishments.
Quickly utilise the results of the long buried employee engagement survey as your basis to create an informal instrument to test exactly what needs to be implemented on the ground.
Execute your own visits and find out first hand how your employees are coping with their roles and most important, find out the key things that are needed in order for them to be comfortable, safe, secure and ultimately engaged.
Work on these things studiously and without ceasing in complete confidence.
Remember this is a lifestyle change for the organisation and is not an event. Endless event planning accompanied by much pomp and ceremony is useless if when it is not translated to daily living.
Additionally, assess your teams and co-opt those that go completely against the grain to quietly assist with your somewhat overwhelming mission.
Recruit persons with enough social capital to transform the current perceptions of the company internally as being the worst employer in the world and externally, as being one employer, that one would rather be unemployed, than risk becoming a member of staff.
This is an extremely difficult especially if you have employees, their families, friends and whomever else will listen, who have seen all other attempts to go against the tide, all come to zero because the cartel of incompetents have managed to place the best in the company’s departure lounge while retaining the dominance of mediocrity.
As an intelligent, experienced and well-read HR professional, you will know that the fish does not rot from the bottom and that is where the implementation of the science of delivery commences.
If this article seems unfinished, it is because I really want HR professionals to start to think critically and analyse the situations in which they find themselves and the people and organisations which they purport to develop to the next level.
Always remember, even in the face of rampant adversity, HR must deliver.
Geri-Ann Austin is an experienced human resources and employee relations professional. Email: [email protected]
