HR makes the Corporate world go round!

I truly believe that...just that you wouldn't hear that said by many people outside of HR. Even some of my own fraternity members would call for my head when they read this. But let me explain why I say that. When I started practising any amount of HR (technically Training)...in 1996, it was hard to find more than 4-5 B Schools which had Fulltime HR Programs (even circa 2000, batch sizes were 4-5 students at best). A recent, still to be published, study by TNS for SHRM India (www.shrmindia.org) shows that out of the 150 schools sampled, an incredible 93% offer Fulltime HR Programs. I believe it reflects the preposterous growth of demand in HR.

Lets take another dimension - A study by Mercer in 2005 showed that there are over 2.5 Lac HR practitioners in the country. The same study mentioned by me earlier, by TNS, shows more than a four time increase in 2010, i.e in just 5 years time. Wait a minute...lets play devil's advocate. After all, the number of companies are growing and therefore the total number of employees (or Talent, if you will) and their problems - hence we need more HR to handle them for the Business Managers. Now you would probably be shocked - I once heard an MD for South Asia of a well known MNC in Hospitality say that " my expectation of HR is that they should motivate my employees "(I think he meant other than HR). So be it...exactly why I say HR makes the Corporate World go round...

The third indicator is the sheer increase in the number of HR heads (or Directors or CHROs) that are either part of either the Board or the Committee that takes decisions on Strategic Issues facing organizations. The PSUs actually take the lead in this (atleast 5 of them have CHROs on the Board) and especially because their HR Chiefs are often from other functions. That, to me, still indicates the growing prominence of HR. A very unusual indicator is the number of HR professionals on the Speaker List of any Corporate function - hard to see any without an HR Leader. That, hopefully, is not simply because, they generally make good speakers!

A well known MD of an Electronics/ Semiconductor Major globally said a few years back - "A Company is known by the men it keeps!". Believe me when I say to you, a company will soon be known by the Quality of the HR of its organization! If Chanakya said that after the Swami, the Amatya plays the most critical role in the Kingdom (today's organizations), he could have easily meant HR (the minister, the King's advisor).

Jai HR! Jai Chanakya! Jai Ho!
Rajesh