the eras of HR
HELLO,
Spirits are high this AM!!! I spent the weekend at the beach and let’s just say I got tannnnn. And don’t worry I was wearing SPF and reapplying regularly, thank you for caring about my skin health!
I’m stilllll technically OOO, so if you need me please don’t.
Until my return (on Tuesday) here are some things to keep an eye out for:
📺 This month’s HR Therapy is inspired by how sick we are of hearing about AI. So we’re pulling back the curtain on some research of how HR leaders REALLY feel, how they’re leveraging AI and other data you neeeeed to know about the impacts and use cases of AI.
🎧 S12 of the pod is back!!! I’m digging into firsts this season and boy oh boy there is a lottttt to learn. The first guest is Haris Ikram! We’re digging into his founder story and how he set out to solve the big problem of compensation. You’ll love this ep and this season I promise.
Okay nowwww onto today - last week I set the theme for the quarter “this is fine” and how HR’s job has gotten big, complicated, and intense. And today I’m going deeper with a brief history lesson and more.
Professor Hebba, reporting for duty.
HR'S ROLE
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🎤 Let’s go on the Eras tour of HR.
Probably less exciting than the Taylor Swift Eras tour but just as informative and possibly enlightening as her tour was!!!
You never knowwww.
Era 1: The birth of HR
In the early 1900s, the first "personnel departments" were born.
The job was simple: hire people, keep records, make sure the workplaces didn't burn down. Nobody was asking personnel to weigh in on culture strategy or lead the AI transformation. The personnel department was mostly just trying to make sure workers showed up and got paid.
Scope level: manageable. Vibes: fine.
Era 2: Time for some laws
Fast forward a few decades and things started shifting. The 1960s and 70s arrived and suddenly the bar was higher than just "did the workers show up."
✍🏽 Civil rights legislation, equal pay laws, workplace safety regulations were changing the focus. Corporations had a lot of leeway before this era in the decisions they were making but legislation started catching up.
The first pivot! HR started to shift from recordkeeping to compliance function. The people function had to know the law, enforce the law, and still continue to do recordkeeping and being the “face” of the company.
Scope level: getting heavier. Vibes: manageable but starting to push it.
Era 3: Let’s be strategic too
Then came the 80s and 90s.
🧠 HR started to get positioned as a value-adding strategic partner and advisor to leadership. Which sounds great! And it was, in theory. Fun fact: you can thank Dave Ulrich for pioneering the HR push into more strategic work.
Here’s what that looked like in practice: HR was now expected to do the administrative stuff AND the strategic stuff. Not instead of thought, in addition to. So um, more work. Impactful work but still more.
Scope level: a lot. Vibes: starting to get overwhelmed
Era 4: Everything, everywhere all at once
By 2019, HR was already carrying a lot.
Administrative. Legal. Strategic. Cultural. Engagement. Change management. All of it, all at once.
✨And then March 2020 happened.✨
OVERNIGHT, and I mean that literally, HR became the function responsible for figuring out how an entire global workforce was going to keep working during a pandemic. All while also experiencing a pandemic.
Remote work policies. Safety protocols. Mental health resources. Furloughs. Layoffs. Return-to-office plans. Vaccine mandates. Then no mandates. Grief. Burnout. The Great Resignation. The Talent Wars. Quiet quitting.
Every single one of those landed on HR's desk!!!!! ACK.
While HR was also, by the way, experiencing all of it personally. And if I have to hear that phrase put on your oxygen mask before helping any one else, I will SCREAM. That advice makes sense but it’s so patronizing to say that to someone juggling an impossible load.
⚖️ IMO, 2020 was the tipping point. Not because the pandemic created the scope problem, it didn't.
The scope had been creeping for a hundred years.
2020 ripped off the bandaid and showed everyone, finally, just how much HR was actually carrying!!!!
But instead of using that moment to resource the function properly most orgs just... kept adding to the pile.
And that, folks, is how we got here. Where some HR folks do “hate it” here and constantly feel stressed by the workload.
Scope level: TOO MUCH. Vibes: this is fine. 🔥
So what now????Copy anchor linkCopied
TBH: the history lesson isn't just interesting trivia. Although you know I’m a dork for trivia!
The history lesson is useful in understanding how the scope of HR expanded to help you figure out what you actually own vs. what just landed on your desk because nobody else wanted it.
🤓 So since I'm in Professor mode, I’m assigning HOMEWORK. 🤓
And I know this sounds simple but I promise it's not:
Map your actual job. Not your job description. Your actual job.
✍🏽 Write down everything you touched in the last 30 days. I mean every:
- Meeting
- Request
- Project
- Fire you put out
All of it!!!!
➡️ Then sort it into three buckets:
- Core HR: things that are unambiguously yours (comp, compliance, hiring, employee relations, etc.)
- Scope creep: things that migrated to HR over time and you're not sure why you own them
- Other people's problems (OPP): things that ended up with you because someone else didn't want to deal with it
Listen, most people probably haven’t done this exercise because honestly WHO HAS THE TIME??
But hear me out: you have to make time. Because nothing can change unless you have clear visibility.
And the work doesn’t stop at making the list… it’s what you DO with the list.
The scope creep bucket is worth a real conversation with your manager and/or leadership team.
Come in with the list, the time it takes, and a point of view on whether it's actually serving the business. Sometimes it is! Look, sometimes HR genuinely should own that thing. But sometimes it's just vibes and naming it out loud is the first step to changing it.
I won’t lie… the other people's problems (OPP) bucket is somewhat harder.
Because a lot of that work got there because HR is good at something, cares about it, or said yes when nobody else did. It’s what happens when you're capable and conscientious in an organization that has problems to solve. Most HR people I know have a HIGH level of ownership and that means dealing with a lotttt of OPP.
But capable isn't the same as responsible!! And at some point, doing everything means doing nothing well. And right now HR needs to be laser focused because we got some BIG BIG BIG changes happening in our orgs and we can’t be distracted!!
That list I made you make? It’s data.
It's the beginning of a conversation with your leadership about what this job actually is!!! The convo so many of us are DIRE to have.
And that convo is the first step toward building a role that's sustainable.
What’s next:Copy anchor linkCopied
Now, how do you have that convo about what’s worth your time and what’s someone else’s job??
Next week is going to be all about how to set up the convo, have it and make sure it lands successfully. So you can go talk to your manager, CEO or whoever about what your HR job should be.
Stay tuned.
(HUMAN) RESOURCES
- AI has replaced work for 20% of FTE workers
- 3-day workweek? Let’s see about that
Recognize's Points Budget Calculator takes the guesswork out of recognition budgeting*
- Are bosses getting worse at their jobs?
- DHS calling back furloughed workers
*This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
- 📚 What I’m reading: Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole. My friend recommended this series and I am hooooked. Apparently a new book is coming out soon so I love that I can dive into a series and catch a new release and not have to wait yearssss before the next one.
- 📺 What I’m watching: Oceans 11 franchise. Listen I loooooove this franchise. There’s just something about a good heist movie. But this past weekend whilst on vacay this happened to be on TV and I was SAT. Commercials and all.
- 📱 What I’m hitting up the group text with: City pop up plans! So far I have plans to be in Minneapolis, NYC and Chicago. How do you feel about a Safe Space meet up in your city??? Any city I MUST come to this summer? I’m down…
SONG OF THE WEEK
🎧 Tamally Maak, Amr DiabCopy anchor linkCopied
In honor of Arab Appreciation Month I give you one of my faveeee songs from Amr Diab!!
This was PEAK 2000s music for me, what a time to be aliveee.
Apparently this song was named by Rolling Stone as the best Arabic song of the 21st century.
I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know what you think and what other topics you'd love for me to cover. I'm allll ears.
Reminder: Take care of yourself and know that I support you.
