The Stable’s format ruined Rob’s word play. This is the heading: When did “Human Resources” become human RESOURCES?

Rob’s final op ed for the year is topical (perhaps also with a capital T). It’s the time when human connection is meant to come to the fore. The season of joy and goodwill. If these are lacking in your professional or personal life, the next season is of new year’s resolutions.

Here’s Rob’s story:
I noticed a LinkedIn post last month which started with “[international agency] has an incompetent and apathetic HR department.” The writer then went on to list a series of grievances – everything from transparency in the hiring process to pay rise negotiations. The sad thing is, far from disagreeing, I found myself nodding along.

So, how did we get here?

First a disclaimer. I have worked with some wonderful HR people. People who genuinely cared for all the staff in their care – from the CEO to the tea lady (when we still had them).

However, more recently, I’ve seen HR people beyond adland. Seen them in big corporates and small start-ups. Seen them in consultancies and clients. Seen them as an industry more than individuals. In short, I’ve had a peek behind the curtain.

And I’ve decided that, as a job role, we’ve got them all wrong.

See, there’s an impressive bit of false advertising hiding in plain sight here. It’s in the name. “Human.” “Resources.” Everyone focusses on the first word. Assuming they’re all genuinely interested in their staff as human beings. That they’re “People-people.” It was true once.

What happened?

Like lots of other parts of business, seems the lawyers invaded. “Cover-Our-Ass” is now more important than “Care-For-Our-Staff”. So, HR send out NDAs which demand signatures. They plug in names and salary figures into pre-populated contracts. They negotiate starting wages down (never up). They present multiple Powerpoint slides titled “Culture” rather than changing culture.

So, our perception is wrong.

They’re not focused on the “Human” in Human Resources. They’re focused on the “Resources”. The skills have evolved to be identical to managing a fleet of trucks. When does this asset need a tune up? Or does the maintenance cost now outweigh replacement? Do we need to ‘sunset’ that one? Can we squeeze one more year out of that older model? Which is OK. Kinda. It’s true every occupation evolves over time.

So, what can we do?

As with any challenge in adland, it starts with understanding our audience. Think about what motivates them. Know what their dreaded KPIs actually are then help solve that. Get the admin forms done quickly – they like that. Ensure timesheets are done daily – that proves your productivity. Do the online training (no matter how hokey) so HR can prove the agency is compliant and up to date.

But, equally, negotiate hard to be paid what you’re worth – full-time or freelance. Understand how important you are to the company. What would it cost them to replace you? How integral are you to an individual client?

Or, as a minimum, we need to change the name to lower-case ‘human’, all-caps ‘RESOURCES’.

Rob Morrison is a rarity in advertising – a grey-haired creative. Rob’s experience includes time as a Creative Director at Ogilvy, BWM (now Dentsu Creative), George Patts (now VML), Campaign Palace and Wunderman. He now runs his own consultancy – morrison.collective.

Here are two more opinion pieces from Rob Morrison: