HR’s success is not measured by the number of letters issued, but by the answer to one question: does the organisation have the right people in the right roles at the right level of capability and cost?
1 From personnel administration to strategic partner
| Personnel administration (the traditional role) | Human resources (the modern role) | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | The procedure and the document | Performance, capability and retention |
| Timing | Reacts after the event | Plans before it |
| Measure | Number of transactions completed | Productivity, turnover and succession readiness |
| Position | A support function | A partner to department heads in delivering objectives |
2 The six HR activities
Planning
How many do we need? With what skills? And when?
Sourcing and selection
Attracting candidates and choosing the best fit
Training and development
Closing skill gaps and building the career path
Performance management
Objectives, measurement and feedback
Compensation and benefits
Fair pay and incentives linked to performance
Employee relations
Discipline, grievances and the work environment
Six connected activities — a weakness in one shows up in the rest
3 The employee lifecycle
| Stage | What happens | Its success indicator |
|---|---|---|
| Sourcing | Advertising, screening applications and interviewing | Time to fill and the quality of candidates |
| Hiring and onboarding | The contract, the set-up and the introduction to the organisation | Productivity in the first 90 days |
| Development | Training and a career path | Skill gaps closed |
| Performance and reward | Objectives, appraisal and incentives | Pay genuinely linked to performance |
| Retention | The work environment, a path and fairness | Turnover among high performers |
| Separation | Resignation, retirement or termination | A sound process and an exit interview |
The exit interview
The frankest information is spoken on the way out. A short conversation with someone leaving reveals what surveys never show: a weak manager, unfairness in progression, or a problem with pay.
4 HR and the line manager
A widespread mistake is to dump all responsibility for people onto HR. The right split is:
- HR: sets the policies, tools and standards, and ensures fairness, consistency and legal compliance.
- The line manager: hires alongside HR, sets objectives, follows up daily, appraises, and develops their team.
- Senior management: approves the structure and the budget and holds everyone to the same policy.
An organisation hired an accountant with no practical test and no verification of experience, because “time was tight”. Five months later the quality of their work proved to be weak.
The real cost:
- Five months of salary and benefits without the expected productivity.
- The manager’s time spent following up and correcting.
- Errors in the work that had to be redone.
- Re-advertising and sourcing all over again.
- The morale effect on the rest of the team who carried the load.
Two extra weeks spent on a sound selection would have been far cheaper than all of that.
Lesson summary
- The modern HR role is a partner in delivering objectives, not an administrative office.
- Six activities: planning, sourcing, training, performance, compensation and employee relations.
- The employee lifecycle has six stages, each with a success indicator.
- The line manager is a core partner; HR does not manage people on their behalf.
- A bad hire costs far more than a two-week delay for a sound selection.
5 Test your understanding
Three quick questions
Pick the answer you believe is correct and you will see the result immediately.
1. Who is primarily responsible for appraising an employee’s performance?
Whoever follows the work daily is best placed to appraise it; HR’s role is to ensure fairness and consistency.
2. Which indicator measures the success of onboarding?
Good onboarding shortens the time to full productivity and reduces early attrition.
3. What is the value of an exit interview?
Someone leaving is more candid, and aggregating these interviews reveals recurring patterns.