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Have you ever thought about why it is only HR who is going on about the name of their department? We have seen this happening for over a decade now and they are still out looking for THE ONE:-)
We have seen it all, Talent & Culture, Culture & People, People & Culture, People & Change, Employee Happiness...... I mean we have it all, yet their job is still the same.
You have never seen Sales & Marketing, Finance, Culinary, Engineering, Housekeeping, IT, construction, developers, gardeners, plumbers, doctors, bus drivers etc. trying to rename themselves. Why?
Because departments and jobs are titled based on the job they do, the function they fulfil, and the role they play within the organisation or society. That's why.
So it seems to me that HR is actually confused about all of those otherwise they would not be trying to find a name that matches what they do. You guys already have the perfect name. Human Resources, so, the job is to provide organisations with human resources that are capable of doing a fantastic job through the sub-functions you have such as recruitment, TD, L&D, OD etc..... Do just that!
It is really that simple. But no, they had to jump on all sorts of social agendas like well-being, equality, happiness, business partner and god knows what else only to confuse themselves to a degree where the name of their department doesn't even make sense to them anymore.
As I previously wrote about it, HR cannot do it all because the moment they try we end up with an identity crisis. They are venturing toward employee experience which they will never fulfil and they should not. It contradicts everything they do.
If organisations want to include culture, people, well-being, employee experience etc. they have to have that outside of HR and let HR do the job they are designed for. I am sometimes afraid if we give them another social agenda to handle they will forget to recruit people or process the payroll. That is how much they have on their plate.
So HR, you have the perfect name, but if you insist on having a new one please pick one whatever that may be and do that very well.
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