Is it surprising that HR's getting a headache?
Whether you’re thinking about starting a business, changing roles, making a new house your home or creating a garden from scratch, it takes time, effort and a lot of planning. Have you noticed how some people rush the planning stage and dive straight in only to be disappointed when things don’t work out? From time to time, I hear myself saying (yet again) that looking for another role is a full-time job or great idea, how will you monetize it?
A business start-up idea which seems “about right” on paper needs further research:
Is it economically practical?
Is there growth potential?
What’s the USP?
How committed are you?
Likewise, the garden. Our new garden space is tiny and came with oh so many straight lines and little creativity – garage walls, fences, dreary patio, Earlier I was sitting outside (all Friday chores including VAT completed) observing my surroundings. Where did the sun shine brightest? What birds visited and where did that cat live? And I tried to understand why so many Brits plonk down a patio right up against the house. Yes, my ideas for my mediterranean courtyard garden were beginning to come together.
You may wonder why I’m indoors on this brilliantly sunny Friday afternoon, and so am I to be honest, but I simply can’t change my clothes again. Dressed for summer this morning, got cold and wrapped up a bit, only to melt while working in the garden. Changed back and it rained. Not dissimilar to some “tried and tested” HR colleagues I know well, they’re simply not up for yet another change. Promises of flexibility, give way to demands to come back to the office, “ … go directly to jail, do not pass go and do not collect £200”. All is not well in the HR camp with bonkers behaviour, unrealistic demands and even longer hours expected.
I need to pay my subscription to CIPD for two more years if I see value in one of the 40 years’ service certificates. Like many in the profession right now, I’m thinking about the impact of a new government and the pressure that will bring to many senior practitioners. Whatever the political outcome, change, uncertainty and turmoil are inevitable. Am I up for that?
I’m always hopeful that some brave organisations will walk before they try to run and recognise that some managers are simply exhausted by the continuous pressure. The lasting impact of Covid, rising costs and escalating poverty, declining social services and an ageing population. When HR is often the battering ram, is it surprising that from time to time, HR gets a headache?
In case you’re wondering what or who upset me this morning, the answer is no one thing and nobody. In truth I’m simply overwhelmed by recent stories I’ve heard from respected HR colleagues who’ve been treated so shabbily. And that brings me to another recent experience when asking the very same cohort, “what would you do instead?” – the answers though diverse (and eye-wateringly different) shared a common thread to put HR back in its box and try something completely different. What a loss to our profession.
Will I continue to support the CIPD for another two years? Your guess is as good as mine although after 24 years as Mrs. Heather Watt, the CIPD team wrote to me recently as Heather Haydon to remind me of my member benefits and to communicate yet another rise in subscription fees.
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