An Open Letter to HR Practitioners
Firstly, you're awesome. We know the load you carry. And it's a lot.
What a year! Actually, what a time.
The last few years have been full-on in our beloved profession.
A pandemic, rising mental health challenges, the looming possibility (then not) of a recession, AI, and don't even get us started on our global environmental and social challenges. We've learnt more than we ever expected about all sorts of things, from vaccination policies to temporary reduced working weeks, and now return to the office incentives and an ever growing focus on employee experiences.
To be the person responsible for people in a time of such upheaval is a heavy weight to carry. We are the ones in the arena, often having to have the gut-wrenching conversations that may affect people's jobs. We are often the ones people turn to when there is bullying or misconduct or worse. We are often the ones that carry an employee's emotional health in times of uncertainty. And we do all of this plus more amongst our “BAU”!
Thankfully HR has moved on significantly from the days of “personnel management” or simply “managing payroll” or doing “the hiring and firing”. Now we are fully fledged “employee experience architects”, responsible for driving the performance of an organisation through its ability to attract, retain, develop and engage its people. Phew!
As we said, you're awesome. We see you. And, as the year closes, we would like to offer a few words of support and advice from our experience working in the trenches and from navigating the land above.
What we’ve learnt along the way.
Your impact as an HR professional is directly related to the strength of your personal foundation – that's your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual foundation. So, to use the plane analogy, put on your own oxygen mask before helping others. Prioritise time with your whānau and friends; exercise; eat and sleep well; meditate; seek support if you need it. Look after yourself! You are the most important thing you bring to an organisation and its people. The stronger you are, the more you can bring (and, let's face it, we need to bring a lot at the moment!).
Try to stop carrying the weight of everyone’s problems or issues. While you may be the go-to support person, you cannot and should not take responsibility for all of the solutions. Know your boundaries. Facilitate conversations, connections and solutions, and coach, guide and support others to find the answers themselves. Be brave and flag leadership gaps so that these can be improved without always needing you to plug them!
We've been around long enough and heard the grumblings ('HR always takes the side of the company'). We can turn that around! And empathy is the how. Off the back of any challenging situation, empathy is a powerful antidote that enables people to feel seen and heard. It is the act of taking the time to understand an employee's struggles. With employee apprehension on the rise, empathy is no longer a 'soft skill' but rather a professional imperative. This doesn’t mean ‘taking sides’, it means taking a people-centric approach that seeks the best outcomes for both the organisation and the people within it.
This leads us to our next point: how people feel at work matters. Business leaders can get caught up in how people perform and behave, and build people strategies that focus on this, but feelings underpin most behaviours and actions. HR's primary function in these changing times should be to foster an organisation's emotional culture. It lays the foundation for EVERYTHING. Taking the time to really understand the emotional culture allows you to see the gap between where you are and where you want to be, and build your people strategy from here.
Lean on others. HR can be isolating at times, especially when you’re the sole HR practitioner within a business. Having connections with other HR professionals that you can trust can be a lifeline. As we all know, when you’re in the business of people there’s always a problem to be solved. Someone else will have solved it before you so the more we can share collective wisdom the better!
Push for purpose and values alignment in EVERYTHING. A 2021 Colmar Brunton survey found that 59% of NZ respondents wanted their future employer to be socially and environmentally responsible. As we look to the future, HR is uniquely positioned to influence an organisation's greater purpose and ensure our actions are aligned to company values. The world needs purpose and values-led behaviour now more than ever.
We know it’s a lot!
We realise that uniting a team of diverse individuals behind a common and greater purpose, all while creating a safe space for employees to feel seen, heard and valued, is no mean feat! But we also believe that you have what it takes.
Remember we're in this profession because we care about people. And when we strip everything back to this simple but fundamental point, we return to our hearts. And we can act from our hearts, only good can follow.
On that note, we'll leave you with one of our favourite quotes by renowned cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead. She said, 'Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.'
And that's you, the humble, hardworking, dedicated HR Professional!
We just love this profession.
So, now, enjoy this MUCH deserved festive and summer break. We, too, will be putting our feet up from Friday 22 December to Monday 8 January.
We look forward to working with you in 2024 with renewed vigour.
With much respect and thanks,
The PeopleEX team
(Current EOY mood below!)
