As an HR professional, do you believe your work affects the value of your organization’s workforce?  That’s a bit of a complex question, so please considerate it carefully.  As you muddle through the minutia, or ponder how to develop a more strategic HR department, or approve and reject new employee programs or HR services, do you believe your daily activities and decisions directly affect how valuable your worforce is to your company?

Many people believe that the most effective and cost-effective way to increase profitability is through increasing the performance and engagement of the current workforce.  While I somewhat agree, I don’t believe that we should be bound by working to enhance the current workforce, but rather be focused on ongoing workforce development in the name of increased profits.   Personally, I believe that the single most important factor in the long term success of an organization is the strength of its workforce.  Now, defining “strength” in this context can be challenging, but I see it as a combination of qualifications, skill, and engagement.  If your company is full of highly qualified, highly skilled and highly engaged people, I’d define that as a strong workforce.

The difference between qualifications and skills, in my mind, is that qualifications encompass workplace related attributes that are necessary to being a strong contributor to a specific organization within a specific role, while skills encompass specific knowledge and abilities that may or may not be related directly to the job description or employer- though I’m open to argument on this definition.

I recently jumped in on an ongoing debate about HR’s role in employee engagement, which drew tremendous insight and input from a wide range of HR practioners.  The overwhelming feeling, however, was that HR cannot and should not be responsible for employee engagement, as that responsibility falls on the shoulders of the direct managers and supervisors.  That is a very defensible and logical stance, and one I wouldn’t argue against.  However, I do believe that HR professionals who focus on talent acquisition and pre-employment screening should feel some sense of ownership in this area as well.

In my view of an ideal world, the HR department is the gatekeeper and scorekeeper of the value of a company’s workforce.  Through well thought out and fully developed job descriptions, focused and efficient recruitment marketing and sourcing practices, relevant and valid interviewing and assessment processes, and thorough and appropriate background screening, the HR department can exercise a tremendous amount of control over the hiring process, ultimately funneling only the strongest candidates through to the hiring decision maker.

Once employees are onboarded, HR can also affect the process for performance management and review, compensation and benefits, ongoing training  and mentorship, and other employee/workforce initiatives.  We all know that supervisors and managers are all too human, and can sometimes put personal preferences ahead of company needs when assessing the value and competency of their direct reports, and when doling out performance improvement plans.  As a result, HR can also lead the way toward defining key results or performance indicators for every job description- hard and fast metrics by which the strength of your workforce can be analayzed.

So.. that’s my belief in the potential power and impact of the daily activities and decisions of the HR department.  Am I off base?

By the way, if you want to see the ongoing depate about employee engagement, please feel free to follow this link- preferably after you’ve left a comment of feedback

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Biography

Jason Blais currently works with a global talent acquisition company specializing in pre-employment screening and recruitment technology. Previously, Blais held a director level position with a recruitment media company for several years, where he cut his teeth in Employment Branding. Blais began blogging in 2004, as he researched the value of social networks and new media for employers and job seekers.ࠈe has written and presented numerous HRCI-certified seminars in the areas of recruiting, employment branding, social media in HR, and employee engagement; and has been a featured speaker at several state HR conferences and trade associations.ࠂlais is a contributing writer for JobsInTheUS, and has been featured in various news outlets including Fox News American News HQ, the Wall Street Journal, and local ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates across New England. To compliment his experience in recruiting, Blais has also worked closely with thousands of job seekers through his work with state agencies, college and university career centers, and local economic development entities.ࠂlais is currently developing a new conference for job seekers focused on using social networks and new media to find work, which will launch in the Spring of 2011. ¬ais resides in Northampton, MA, with his wife and their one child.

You can find more from Jason on his blog http://jasonblais.com.

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