The siloed functions within HR, especially at large employers, can be problematic. Example:
· Talent Acquisition doesn’t know the impacts of the job architecture being designed by Compensation.
· Talent Development creates the new performance management program without including Compensation until the new program is almost ready for implementation.
· HRIS is working with an outside implementation partner to get Workday in place. They haven’t worked with any of the HR functions to review/change current processes to be in alignment with Workday functionality.
Of course, these problems can be minimized with the right level of stakeholder engagement and sharing of projects and expected outcomes cross functionally within HR.
Then there are the combinations of HR functions that report to one person that may or may not make sense.
Often the Compensation and Benefits functions report to one employee with the title of VP or Director of Total Rewards. The thinking is that they fit together because they are both rewards.
But if you think about Benefits, there are a lot of data feeds, vendor management, as well as process and compliance issues to focus on. Benefits are a more natural function partner with HRIS than Compensation. Why? Because HRIS is critical to the success of the data feeds, the focus on data integrity, and is process oriented.
Compensation is a natural partner with Talent Development (TD). Not only does the knowledge of jobs and org design gained through job evaluation help with the TD work, but the development of employees and performance management are complimentary to the job architecture and career paths developed by Compensation.
There are Boards of Directors now that don’t have a committee only focused on compensation. Instead, it is the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee. Examples: Newmont, Amazon, The Home Depot, Walmart, Dupont, and JPMorgan Chase.
It is time we started thinking differently about what functions in HR should be partnered under one leader. The needs of customers, employees, and other stakeholders vary. The pace of change is continuing to increase. Adaptability and flexibility are crucial to success. Aligning the HR functions so there is more synergy, fewer silos, and cross functional understanding and sharing can bring about improvements that are unexpected.
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