Has HR missed a step?BALA SHANKAR | 22 OCTOBER, 2020

All functions went from operations to strategies to being insight-led. Human resource function was an operational support function for a long time. We went to them for administrative fulfilment or to solve a staff contract issue. And then, training and coaching became buzzwords. Now we find ourselves in the midst of the tech wave – HRTech – analytics of everything that happens around people. Did we skip something in between? The word ‘strategy’ comes to mind. Why don’t we begin with a HR strategy like we do in all other functions? Why don’t we have thinkers staffing the function as opposed to implementers? There may be exceptions, but it’s not the norm. How do we hire, train and retain so that we get the performance and people culture that we want? We often seem to put the cart first.