Have HR responsibilities outgrown the title?

A provocative LinkedIn post Why We No Longer Need HR Departments has sparked more than 3000 comments.   I have certainly learned from many viewpoints so I will add my own.  If, as many commenters have vehemently emphasized, the first responsibility of HR is legally protecting the company then I do agree with the equally vociferous group commenting that the position is required to wear too many hats.

Hiring the best and defending against the worst seems to require competing skill sets. 

If avoiding litigation is to be the primary focus of a department then I think that should be a department in and of itself with a title that clearly describes its purpose.    Each employee should be required to sign a disclaimer similar to that required by realtors disclosing their allegiance to the seller.   

This would allow the “Resources” portion of this division to devote its energy to identifying, supporting, growing and guiding the potential in each employee.  Vineet Nayar, author of Employees First, Customers Second and at that time CEO of HCLT accomplished this second part by inverting the responsibilities of all administrative leadership positions.  Instead of employees being accountable to leadership (including HR), HR became accountable to serving the needs of “Value Adding” employees.   Vineet’s focus on abundance, opportunity and employees achieved astounding results.  In the first five years of their transformation (2005-2009)

• The number of HCLT customers grew fivefold.

• Employee attrition dropped nearly 50%

• Employee satisfaction increased 70%

• Both revenues and operating income tripled

We attract that which we express to the world.  If we focus on liability and scarcity we will attract that into our lives.  There are people who derive their sense of fulfillment from establishing the best defensive positions.  There are others equally inspired by promoting progress, but these are not the same people. Read or listen to the HBR Blog:  Why We Need to Redefine Intelligence

If HR isn’t for employees where do employees go for help?

One of the definitions on line defines Resources as; “Something that can be used for support or help.”    It seems if the primary responsibility is protecting the company then the title Human Resources is misleading.  If HR is no longer the place where an employee can go if she has an irreconcilable problem with her boss or indefinitely ignored issue with a co-worker then where so they go?