Over a fifth of UK HR professionals feel that HR is not valued in their business.
This is according to a survey conducted by Natural HR, an HR management and payroll software company, which found that 22 per cent of those working in HR feel their company does not receive the recognition it deserves.
This belief is held as people think the business views HR as a “purely administrative function”. A Reed HR survey in June 2019, discovered that 25 per cent of HR professionals are being left out of strategic boardroom decisions which is a growing concern as the majority of professionals feel the sector is going through significant changes.
The Reed survey also found that four out of five believe that changing demands for employee benefits has had an effect on the responsibilities of HR.
As HR does not have a seat in board meetings and are not always considered as part of the “senior team” in organisations, it is leaving a significant proportion of HR professionals feeling a lack of respect for their profession according to Natural HR.
Sarah Dowzell, the co-founder of Natural HR, said:
The core tasks of HR professionals cover an array of activities from hiring the right talent, ensuring meaningful professional development, considering staff well-being, to acting as an internal coach. With recruitment and retention of people increasingly a top priority for businesses, it is shocking that so many HR professionals still don’t feel included in top level strategic decision making.
An HR strategy must be aligned with the overarching business strategy. The more the administrative elements of HR roles can be undertaken by tech solutions, the more time can be spent on the important strategic role of HR – and hopefully the old-fashioned perception of the profession can become a thing of the past.
In order to gather these results, Natural HR surveyed 219 UK HR professionals.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
