HR is what??

Last Tuesday, I was asked if I would be willing to write an article for the London Evening Standard. I didn’t say yes straight away. I mean who really would without understanding the content, how much you would have to write, who was going to read it….so many questions were buzzing round my head. Never mind who, did I really have the time to do it…in less than 2 days!

Ok, so there was a clue to the in the newspapers name but why me?….they “had a space” didn’t really answer that question, and telling me they “had to fill it with someone” didn’t feel me with too much love and support! London, our capital city is not exactly around the corner from where I live in Herefordshire on the edge of the Forest of Dean, so location was not the best either. But this is the paper that goes out to commuters who use the train system in and around the area, and it’s a free publication that only has 2 million readers.

When I was chatting on the phone about it, I was told “well everyone fears HR don’t they? They only see HR when they are in trouble.” And that was the point that it hit me, yes, I would do it, because actually that view of HR is completely wrong. HR can offer so much more value than the perception that is has IF we are there from the beginning, a proactive support, to help you put the right processes from the start, not just a reactive one when you are already in trouble!

It also dawned on me that location is not really an issue either. In this day and age that’s a perception too! I mean today we have Skype, Zoom, Mobile Phones; we are more accessible than ever before and usually have issues switching off devices. News is constant, online, it just never stops.

So there you go….I had in a single conversation talked myself in to writing an article for a London paper. Writing just 150 words was the biggest issue ever. There is so much more to say but that’s for another time. The article, “HR is hire and develop and not hire and fire” is found on the page via this link https://bit.ly/2Zd8rev . Thanks for taking the time to read it.