HR has duty to employer and employees
As with a number of previous survey topics, the question in the latest Pulse Survey was inspired by a comment to a previous survey — the essential duty of HR professionals is to their employer above all. But one of the pillars of professionalism is “independence.”
The idea is professionals, to a fair degree, define the standards that apply to their work both individually and as a profession. Whether employers respect that independence is another matter, however, and previous surveys have indicated this is a difficult issue for HR professionals (“Have you ever felt coerced?,” Canadian HR Reporter, June 16, 2008, and, “Should we get tougher with discipline?” Canadian HR Reporter, Oct. 5, 2009).
Almost all (95.6 per cent) of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed HR professionals have duties that go beyond simply serving the interests of those who employ us; 95.4 per cent strongly agreed or agreed HR professionals have a duty to protect the interests of employees as well as those of their employers; and 89.3 per cent strongly agreed or agreed HR professionals are bound to maintain certain service standards independent of employer or client standards. Clearly, HR professionals believe they should have a fair degree of “professional independence.”
In the responses to these questions, there were no statistically significant differences among respondents with different amounts of experience in HR and there were no statistically significant differences among respondents with different designation status.
On the other hand, 41.7 per cent thought HR professionals don’t quite have the balance right, with 36.9 per cent indicating HR professionals lean too much in the direction of serving the interests of employers and 4.8 per cent indicating HR professionals lean too much in the direction of protecting employee interests.
Here, there are statistically significant differences among respondents with different levels of seniority: 44.6 per cent in entry level positions and 44.5 per cent in more senior individual contributor roles thought HR leans too much in the direction of serving the interests of employers. This proportion dropped to 40 per cent for respondents at a supervisory level, 36.4 per cent at a middle-management level and 23.4 per cent at an executive level. In short, the more senior the respondent, the less likely she was to think HR professionals lean too much in the direction of serving employers’ interests.
Why? It could be HR professionals with more seniority identify with or better understand the perspective of employers, so what appears to lean too much in the direction of serving the interests of employers to a more junior HR professional appears more balanced to a more senior HR professional.
Incidentally, one-third of respondents who are self-employed consultants thought HR professionals lean too much in the direction of serving the interests of employers, which is comparable to the response of respondents in middle-management roles.
Almost all (96 per cent) felt it was either quite important or very important for HR professionals to get this balance right. Indeed, many respondents noted getting this balance right is part and parcel of being an HR professional.
Many people said getting the balance right is something that is more difficult in practice than in theory, and the balance is often awkward. Others noted when one’s job is on the line, it’s not always easy to do the right thing. It is clear, despite the apparent agreement at some level, there are still quite different opinions when it comes to the specifics of day-to-day situations.
Claude Balthazard is director of HR excellence and registrar at the Human Resources Professionals Association in Toronto. He can be reached at [email protected].
