Investing in People: How Your HR Department Can Be Your Most Lucrative Asset

The Human Resources department should be the hub of the workplace, the place where employees go to get answers to all their employment questions — the place that helps employees establish and reach goals to advance their careers within the organization. HR is tasked with hiring, firing, cultivating a cohesive culture, and keeping peace by ensuring employees feel safe, seen, and heard. They maintain compliance in the office, and they prevent stressful situations from escalating. HR professionals have a unique perspective of the business — they see how the business functions via its employees. Ensuring employees are happy, comfortable, and feeling valued, increases the likelihood of them being productive and performing at their best. If employees aren’t contributing to overall productivity, HR can bolster their productivity with a performance plan- or find a position that's more aligned with their unique skillset. They understand the particulars of each role and know which resume skills are transferrable and which will need to be learned.

Sometimes I go on job sourcing platforms to look at job posts for HR professionals in my area, and not much has changed in years. There are too many places that require applicants to have; at least two years' experience, a Bachelor's degree, and a SHRM/PHR certification. Those are all fine things to request for an HR role, but none of them are cheap. It's unrealistic, and selfish, to offer *scant salaries for this nuanced role- people with experience and expertise will breeze on past the insulting offers. The folks that respond to the post won't likely have a degree, be experienced, and good at Human Resources. We can hire employees that will accept a low salary, or, we can hire employees with experience, a degree, and certifications, etc., but we can't have all things at once. We can only get what we're willing to pay for, and for an educated Human Resources professional $60K is entry level — at best. That's less than $30/hour. If employees are expected to commute to an office, they'd have to work three to four hours just to cover travel expenses. That's just silly, and an unnecessary expense to employees on a budget. Where I live, if an employee has living expenses, student loans, and they're making $60K/yr., then they're on a budget — likely a pretty tight one. We get what we pay for, and shouldn't expect maximum results from minimal reward- that's greed. Stagnating wages, paired with increased expectations, have decreased productivity in America. In every corner of the country, you'll find people unmotivated to work, unhappy at their jobs, or on a continuous hunt for the 'perfect job'. Not because they're lazy, but because they're not. Employees have changed over the years, and employment hasn't. Until employment aligns more with expectations of modern workers, employees will just keep being less and less motivated to work. The round peg simply won't fit in the square hole. Not anymore. Until businesses are willing to pay for a full-service HR, they'll keep being shorted by the professionals that are in a role that's beyond their capacity. Investing in a good HR team is worth it- these are the people that hire, fire, and support your team. If they aren't being paid enough to put thought and effort into team dynamics, employee productivity, or the business's overall prosperity- why would they? There's nothing in it for them.

Frequently when I mention Human Resources, people recoil in horror - gaping at me, like they just noticed I was holding a basket of snakes. Sadly, a lot of workers have nightmare tales about situations they've been in where HR just made things worse. People are bold, and unapologetic when letting me know their explicit feelings about HR, and I don't blame them - I've been burned by HR too- a few times. Once, I had a panic attack at work, my thoughts were racing, I couldn't breathe, couldn't calm down, I was trembling and nauseated- I truly believed I was dying, and I was terrified. When I finally calmed down enough to talk, I told my boss, the head of HR, what I'd just experienced. It was an emotionless, frigid, exchange, and I'll never forget it. She thanked me for sharing my story, emailed me information about a new work project,...and that was it. I'm not sure what I expected in that moment, but her lack of empathy made me feel pitiful, and ashamed, like I'd just over-shared personal information. I felt inhuman, weak — To her, I was nothing but a worker. Had I stayed at that job-I wouldn't have shared anything personal with her again. That's unfortunate because the more open the line of communication is, between employees and HR, the more likely employees will be to share anything affecting their employment. I can recall a number of instances that I knew, well in advance, that I would be taking a vacation, a leave of absence, or quitting. I didn't trust HR not to replace me sooner, if given an opportunity - so I waited, and gave them the obligatory 2-week notice, and nothing more. HR should be a resource for employees - a mediator between departments, a means of communicating between employees and management. Employees should be able to go to HR about anything that impacts them at work, or impacts how they do their job, and they should trust that everything they say will be confidential, and won't be shared, or weaponized against them. Without these things, employee loyalty won't grow.

When employees don't have an adequate, or trustworthy place to air their grievances, that negativity just simmers beneath the surface. Customers and clients can almost always tell when they're interacting with someone who doesn't like their job. There are stores I won’t shop in because the employees are always disengaged, unhelpful, and unfriendly. Seeing their dissatisfaction tells me all I need to know about what it’s like to work there, and it makes me sad, so I avoid those places. I was a sad employee for a long time. Now, I want to help others get more from their professional endeavors. If we let employees know that their efforts are noticed, valued, and appreciated, they will keep wanting to please. We grow what we feed. If we feed that innate desire we all possess — the desire to feel important, appreciated, and seen — attrition rates will improve, productivity will increase, and we'll have employees that actually value their employment.

* Per ZipRecruiter The median Entry-Level Salary for HR Generalist in Oregon is $69,611 annually. Per Indeed, the average base salary for an HR Generalist in Oregon is $66,941 annually. Per Salary.com, the median salary for HR Generalists in Oregon is $66,095 annually.