As an individual in HR, Joan Morehead, VP of Human Resources for HRPro, can understand and take the blame for some of that complexity. “We have this gatekeeper mentality. There are literally hundreds of things that happen in the HR arena from filling out an application to transitioning out of the company”, said Joan. If you look into the layers of HR, you will find that there is more to the role than just “covering your butt” for a company.

In the past, HR had always been looked at as a separate entity from companies.

Joan believes the role of HR is evolving, they need to be more engaged with what the business is about. “If it weren’t for the business, we wouldn’t need people, if it weren’t for the people, we wouldn’t need the business. We have to figure out a way to connect the two.” When an employee is told to fill out a document, most of the time it’s being looked at as a single process. There needs to be an understanding of what happened before the document was received and what’s going to happen after it’s turned in.

“Work is really just an excuse for people to exercise their talents, right?

And to deliver it so it benefits someone else. We’re not at work for ourselves. When an employer pays attention to what that experience is, engagement is a result and an outcome of the experience – it’s not the driver. The whole process of what we do with people from the time we first start interviewing them until we put them in their jobs, it’s really a critical factor. It needs to be tied back to the business goals” said Joan.

Steve wanted to know what happens when HR isn’t so confusing and it’s actually working, what does it do for the business? Joan said there was a study done that proved you can get up to four times the revenue off of somebody who has a positive employee experience versus somebody who doesn’t. Steve thought it was pretty cut and dry, if you do “this” with your HR team, you will potentially get four times the revenue. It’s pretty obvious where businesses need to be putting their focus. The same study also showed that employees who have a positive experience develop at 1.5 times better because they’re engaged. Positive experience drives engagement, which could potentially reduce training dollars as well.

As Steve summed it up, “HR isn’t really confusing, it’s about driving the performance of the business.”

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