In a world where work-life integration is evolving and employees want to bring their full selves to work, the once neat and tidy borders of HR are blurred. Many have begun to refer to HR as “boundaryless.” This term comes with a fair bit of irony.
HR’s boundaries were once within Finance’s boundaries, and every now and then, instances may still exist or not be in the too distant past. The HR function has evolved into its own entity to the point that we’ve gone beyond generalists and specialists into the scary world of silos. Within HR, we need to bust our own boundaries and become one team again. HR professionals at large organizations need to be subject matter experts who are aligned and know enough about each other to be dangerous (e.g. alert to interdependencies, able to field basic questions and aligned to a single strategy). At smaller organizations, HR professionals need to be mindful of what is centralized and what is outsourced to the business or vendors.
HR must also consistently erase the boundary between themselves and the organization. We strategically guide them through a spirit of service. We’ve earned a seat at the table; that boundary is gone, but now, it matters what we do with it. If we misuse or underuse it, the chair could be pulled out from under us or we could become a lowly footstool.
The boundary between HR and employees is tricky. We handle sensitive information, have difficult conversations, are the face of benefit take-aways and layoffs, yet we also cheerlead and champion. Employees must find us approachable yet authoritative.
For just-in-time delivery and to fortify the employee and manager relationship, the HR boundaries have also been blurred through empowerment and delegation to people leaders. Managers are taking on more HR-like responsibilities. Some organizations have gone so far as to try to outsource or automate HR with bots. The department named after humans…without humans?
Perhaps the most meaningful example of boundaryless HR is the way professionals in this field generously share and network. If you need a template, someone has it. If you need advice, multiple voices chime in. If you need to vent, we all know when happy hour is!
Our company pride falls second to helping all workers and their organizations thrive. Yes, we handle a lot of confidential information and a company’s people strategy is part of its secret sauce; however, the overarching philosophies and techniques are often readily applicable and suited to share so that they can be nuanced and applied in specific use cases.
To the Point
Let’s keep busting boundaries for the good of people!
Image source: Strathmore University Business School
Comments