Future of HR Dept.

Only two things I have ever seen with any company HR I ever had to deal with was either they were 'people persons' who wanted to make things work for everyone to the best of their departments capacity or,

They were one of the company owners kids or immediate family members who was basically useless (and terrible with people) that needed a job with a title, but not one where they could really do much harm no matter how bad they screwed up, so that they could collect a paycheck for doing nothing of value.

As for the future of HR I think that as long as company owners have family at least half of the people in HR will always have jobs. As for those who are not family with the company ownership, well... that might be different.

..."There are half a million HR practitioners in the United States and millions more worldwide.^[21] The Chief HR Officer or HR Director is the highest ranking HR executive in most companies and typically reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and works with the Board of Directors on CEO succession.^[22][23]

Within companies, HR positions generally fall into one of two categories: generalist and specialist. Generalists support employees directly with their questions, grievances, and work on a range of projects within the organization. They "may handle all aspects of human resources work, and thus require an extensive range of knowledge. The responsibilities of human resources generalists can vary widely, depending on their employer's needs."^[24] Specialists, conversely, work in a specific HR function. Some practitioners will spend an entire career as either a generalist or a specialist while others will obtain experiences from each and choose a path later. Being an HR manager consistently ranks as one of the best jobs, with a #4 ranking by CNN Money in 2006 and a #20 ranking by the same organization in 2009, due to its pay, personal satisfaction, job security, future growth, and benefit to society.^[25][26]

Human resource consulting is a related career path where individuals may work as advisers to companies and complete tasks outsourced from companies. In 2007, there were 950 HR consultancies globally, constituting a USD $18.4 billion market. The top five revenue generating firms were Mercer, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Watson Wyatt (now part of Towers Watson), Aon (now merged with Hewitt), and PwC consulting.^[27] For 2010, HR consulting was ranked the #43 best job in America by CNN Money.^[28]

Some individuals with PhDs in HR and related fields, such as industrial and organizational psychology and management, are professors who teach HR principles at colleges and universities. They are most often found in Colleges of Business in departments of HR or Management. Many professors conduct research on topics that fall within the HR domain, such as financial compensation, recruitment, and training."...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource_management

Who can tell what the future holds....

Sounds nice, but the real world is infested with too many Catberts.

It is possible for HR to be enlightened and to be a real asset for matching people to jobs, ensuring good rewards, etc. It is equally possible, and more common, for HR to be jerks.

I feel there will always be a need for good Human Resource managers. People are usually the largest cost associated with a business, especially knowledge based companies. A good HR person can organize training, provide networking opportunities and be supportive of employee needs. Some larger companies are moving towards a regional HR model, but I feel it is important to have an HR representative in each physical office.

"I feel there will always be a need for good Human Resource managers."

I agree, we seem to have a severe shortage of 'good' HR managers, but a surplus of 'bad' HR managers.

HR seems to be consolidated and many functions have been outsourced. The HR department at my work site is a ghost town now. We have one or two here on an occasional basis. I work for a major defense contractor at a site with about 400 employees. It's still relevant, but I'm guessing the job market is probably shrinking overall. But, on the other hand, if it is a profession that is of great interest, go for it. Good people can almost always get a job as long as they remain flexible.

Thanks Brave Sir Robin and all the others. I have passed on the comments to my young associate and his father.

A thorough reading of the comic strip Dilbert, from its inception, will tell you more than you probably want to know, about HR departments!

In the queue to hell and damnation HR personnel will be up the front just behind bankers politicians and accountants.

They are generally there as a buffer between workers and management to do the dirty work of management whilst pretending to be your best buddy.
Del

When I was in university studying for a BEng in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, we had to attend 32 hours of classroom study per week. And we were told in no uncertain terms, by our lecturers. That if we didn't equal this amount of time, in extra curricula study, we would struggle to pass the course.

I was in lodgings with a gentleman, who was studying for a Humanities degree. He could just about drag himself out of bed before 10:00am and, on a really busy week would attend about 12~13 hours of classroom study. Also extra curricula study was highly frowned upon.

Now there was something he said to us, during a Friday night down the pub, after a particularly strenuous week. That summed up the massive differences between the degree qualification, the jobs you'd achieve on completion of your course and, what's required to become a HR Manager.

As I say, we'd had a very taxing week and, having my tongue loosened by a couple of pints. I turned to this Humanities student and, asked him how he could even classify his course as a degree. With regard to amount of time and effort, he'd have to put in to achieve it, compared to our Engineering degrees. And what sort of job does he think he'd secured with it. He just turned to us and replied, I don't classify the courses and, he'd probably go on to secure a HR Managers position. Where he'd be more senior than us and, have a much better financial package.

After what he had said, had sunk in through the alcohol, we were shell shocked. Well that had put us right in our place and, put our qualification in perspective.

Well after passing his degree, his career path did pretty much take, the course he had described to us.

This experience has tainted my view of anyone who works in HR.

I have observed very similar both in HR and the supervisory level on the shop floor. One thing I think I learned is that HR and Bean counters have their place but must be curbed from too much influence. Again thanks to all for comments.

I always joked that HR is where job security is.

Busy hiring when things are good

and busy firing when things go south.

You are right.

It proves that HR stands for Human Resources not Human Relations.

And the resource is treated as being very fungible; one not-yet-dead body is as good as another, in their eyes.

Too long the HR department has been looked at as a profit center for the business.

The closest it has with it'd involvement with the employees, is knowing employee rights and employment laws and how much it can get away with when dealing with employees in the companies favor.

And with the HR department knowing employee rights and employment laws and is somewhat open about it to the employees. The employee the mistake that the HR department of working for them, when in effect, the HR department is looking after the companies best interests. And what it gives away, any good employment rights attorney can easily get.