Human resources - what do they actually do?

A report in an on-line HR journal in March this year said that HR professionals can expect wage increases of 5 per cent this year, as “companies increasingly recognise the importance of HR in attracting and retaining talent”.

“Companies recognise the importance of HR when it comes to attracting and retaining talent and, in stark contrast to the downsizing that occurred in the sector a few years ago, they are re-investing in their human resources functions,” according to Graham Hollebon, national director of Michael Page Human Resources.

A recent Hays Human Resources salary survey said specialists were getting one of the biggest salary increases across all industries, at 13.2 per cent. Leading the salary increases were in-house recruitment consultants and managers, with average increases of 26 per cent and 20.2 per cent respectively.

What a fantastic irony that unemployed people would stand a better chance of joining a HR organisation to help other people find jobs than pursuing a career in, say, accounting.

Maybe I have been too harsh on the HR industry. They do establish important procedural administrative steps and their legal training in workplace law is important. That's if you can get a job using a HR recruitment agency.

Let’s turn our attention briefly to the 500,000 unemployed Australians and all those who are seeking to change careers using a HR recruitment agency. The application filtering process via large on-line recruiters involves considerable time and research to write cover letters and ensure the application satisfies the key and desirable job criterion.

Expectations are raised as one hits the “send” button as your confidential application flies through cyberspace to be scanned by an entry level HR officer who has been told to look for key words in the application such as commercial, communication, flexible, project management, team player (a must), and so on.

I'll tell you a secret. Unless you have investigated how these big on-line HR recruiters work, you'd be better off cold calling employers and making appointments. If you're over 50, make no comment on your age. Ageism is alive and well in HR.

You could be a fantastic “fit” for the position but because you haven't adapted to the administrative protocols of the HR selection process, you're out. There goes individualism, initiative, style and panache too.

To use one of Orwell's famous terms in 1984, this is “double ungood”. Not only will the majority of applicants not hear back from the employment agency, those who are employed are the homogenised and pasturised “yes men and women” of Australian because they “fit”. Fit what? The suit of conformity.

"HR doesn't tend to hire a lot of independent thinkers or people who stand up as moral compasses," says Garold Markle, a former HR executive at Exxon and Shell Offshore.

"Some enter HR with noble motives. Most human resources managers aren't particularly interested or equipped for doing business. And in a business, that's a problem. HR managers invest more time in activities than outcomes."

HR people pursue standardisation and uniformity in the face of a workforce that is heterogeneous and complex. The urge of one-size-fits-all is partly about compliance but mostly because it's just easier.

The simple fact is the majority of the burgeoning HR industry in Australia is extraneous to the common good and welfare of both organisations and individuals. We need to seriously question whether, at a time of an increasing casualisation of the workforce, these people are acting in the best interests of corporate Australia.