Human Resources Versus Human Accounting
Traditional HR may well be regarded as human accounting rather than human resources. Much focus is applied to the numbers; how many people, salaries, insurance, tax obligations and so on.
Yet while the numbers may tell a financial story, this is only part of the larger story that plays out every day in every organization that employees any number of people.
Character Development
Novelists and screen writers have long used various approaches to develop their characters. This helps establish need and motivation.
Just like the characters in a story, your staff need development. The most common means of advancement is up the chain of command, but this is not the only (or the best) means of progression. A career path that defines progress along technical or vocational vectors is a means of developing employees that are continually challenged and happy, while simultaneously insuring that the needs of the organization are met.
An organization that does not understand the needs and motivations of its employees will invariably suffer from low productivity and turn-over.
What's Your Story?
What's important to the organization should be important to its employees, yet there is often a disconnect between an organization's strategy and the people expected to carry that strategy forward on a daily basis.
Defining your story helps prepare the way for the proper recruitment strategies and informs the ways in which staff should be assessed.
In this regard, your story is about the needs and motivations of the organization itself. Accounting is only one aspect of this story, and in fact success or failure of organizational objectives are likely discovered only after accounting has done its job.
So why then should numbers be the driving force behind human resources? The answer is that while numbers have their place in human resources, there are far more important factors -- factors that drive the numbers.
- Do you struggle with employee productivity? Look at your placement, assessment, and development processes.
- Do you have a high employee turn over rate? Look at your reward and exit processes.
- Do you have a difficult time attracting quality talent? Look at your strategy and recruitment processes.
Like a good writer, you should understand your story, and especially the end. Take control, write your story, and focus on a happy ending.
Conclusion
An HR department that strictly focuses on the numbers -- whether intentionally or because of an overall lack of organizational strategy -- is, in the end, failing to make the most of the very numbers they consider most important.