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Can HR stop banging on about working from home?
Every Season on Oven-Ready I like to devote an episode that critiques HR. Think of it as kicking the tyres, looking under the bonnet and occasionally applying the hand break when we look to be driving in the wrong direction.
Neil Morrison is the Director of HR for FTSE100 water company, Severn Trent plc, where he is responsible for the HR function as well as the internal and external communications and marketing teams.
Considered one of the UK’s most influential HR leaders, Neil often delivers withering and scathing assessments of the professions obsession with self-serving and inward-looking debates such as working from home whilst seemingly ignoring the big issues such as maintaining employment, treating employees well and contributing to building successful organisations.
Is HR fiddling whilst Rome burns? [08:20]
I ask Neil if HR continues to focus on unimportant tasks whilst ignoring the big ticket items and he gives an unequivocal yes! He said HR is obsessed with how many days people are working from home and gives a withering assessment of many HR practitioners current focus.
Is HR right to bemoan a lack of c-suite influence? [11:16]
Neil has no sympathy for HR practitioners who moan about not being at the top table. It is HR's continued focus on process and not strategy that is often the root cause of this.
Lancing the working from home boil [14:28]
Working from home is largely irrelevant for vast swathes of the workforce as they are unable to perform their roles remotely. Neil believes the debate is largely centred on London and the South East of the UK and should not in his opinion be taken as the definitive answer on the future of work.
Is HR too process driven? [19:26]
Neil argues the starting point is to decide why the policy is needed in the first place. If it's there to help the employee understand how the business runs and how they the employee can be successful then its useful, otherwise you just end up creating constraints on people's common sense.
How can HR be more loved by the organisation [21:44]
Neil argues it's all about the mindset of HR and despite what the process might say, does this feel fair to the employee? HR professionals have to have empathy otherwise we fall in to the 'computer says no' mentality.
Resources
https://change-effect.com/about/
https://ovenreadyhr.com/podcast-episodes/
View all episodes
By Chris TaylorEvery Season on Oven-Ready I like to devote an episode that critiques HR. Think of it as kicking the tyres, looking under the bonnet and occasionally applying the hand break when we look to be driving in the wrong direction.
Neil Morrison is the Director of HR for FTSE100 water company, Severn Trent plc, where he is responsible for the HR function as well as the internal and external communications and marketing teams.
Considered one of the UK’s most influential HR leaders, Neil often delivers withering and scathing assessments of the professions obsession with self-serving and inward-looking debates such as working from home whilst seemingly ignoring the big issues such as maintaining employment, treating employees well and contributing to building successful organisations.
Is HR fiddling whilst Rome burns? [08:20]
I ask Neil if HR continues to focus on unimportant tasks whilst ignoring the big ticket items and he gives an unequivocal yes! He said HR is obsessed with how many days people are working from home and gives a withering assessment of many HR practitioners current focus.
Is HR right to bemoan a lack of c-suite influence? [11:16]
Neil has no sympathy for HR practitioners who moan about not being at the top table. It is HR's continued focus on process and not strategy that is often the root cause of this.
Lancing the working from home boil [14:28]
Working from home is largely irrelevant for vast swathes of the workforce as they are unable to perform their roles remotely. Neil believes the debate is largely centred on London and the South East of the UK and should not in his opinion be taken as the definitive answer on the future of work.
Is HR too process driven? [19:26]
Neil argues the starting point is to decide why the policy is needed in the first place. If it's there to help the employee understand how the business runs and how they the employee can be successful then its useful, otherwise you just end up creating constraints on people's common sense.
How can HR be more loved by the organisation [21:44]
Neil argues it's all about the mindset of HR and despite what the process might say, does this feel fair to the employee? HR professionals have to have empathy otherwise we fall in to the 'computer says no' mentality.
Resources
https://change-effect.com/about/
https://ovenreadyhr.com/podcast-episodes/