Canadian HR Reporter

CanaDian hr reporter november 17, 2014 14 feaTuRes Valarie Dillon executive director of HR and volunteer services, Scouts Canada The Ottawa-based organization has upwards of 600 employees and 25,000 volunteers w hen it comes to the notion of splitting human resources, valarie Dillon is not entirely opposed to the concept. " at's certainly one way of doing it and I would say that if the organization is resourced well enough to be able to do that, it's certainly not a bad idea. Typically, though, most HR leaders will organize or structure their own department such that that split natu- rally happens anyway or to the best you can with the resources that you have." It's something to consider, said the executive director of HR and volun- teer services at Scouts Canada in Ottawa. "Not that any other department is organized like that — I don't know why we would hold HR out separately but, yes, why not?" Scouts Canada has done something similar, carv- ing off its administrative side, said Dillon. " e focus then becomes less transactional and more about partnering to meet business needs," she said. "It exposes the value of what HR can deliver as others begin to appreciate it's far more than being about paperwork." While there are defi nitely some leaders of both operations and fi nance departments who are very capable individuals, they tend to have a bottom-line focus, said Dillon, who's worked for the 600-employ- ee Scouts Canada for about four years. "You can't necessarily be driven by the bot- tom line. Obviously, you're going to be looking at whether it contributes to the bottom line, etcetera, but sometimes there has to be a trade-off ." Splitting HR might give it greater recognition on the strategic side, if you're resourced to do this, said Dillon. "At the end of the day, whether you split or not, it's the results that are going to get you the recognition and you should be able to do that, re- gardless of the split. But perhaps it would help," she said. "It's quite often the people you have in there, so it's kind of up to all of us to bring HR up a notch and to make other business leaders aware of the value that we can contribute." In an ideal world, those who work on strategy would love to only work on strategy. "(Strategy) is a large part of my role but there's never enough time. But, yes, it is a large part of my role and we have structured ourselves to support that distinction." Megan Paterson director of human resources at Kinaxis in Ottawa The 290-employee software company has of ces in 9 countries a 30-year-old company, cloud-based soft- ware company kinaxis just went public in June on the Toronto stock exchange, so times are busy. and Megan Paterson, director of HR, has a lean team of nine to manage human resources for employees in nine countries. "So what am I spending right now on strategy? I would say maybe 10 per cent on strategy. What should I be doing? Sixty, at least, 60, 70…. I never want to be off in a corner just working on strategy — that, for me, doesn't work, and I think that's why I've always been attracted to smaller companies." However, Paterson doesn't think it makes sense to split HR into two areas, one dealing with strategy, the other with administration. "I like it being together because then everybody in your team can see that they at least get exposure to the strategy side and they can learn from it and it teaches them to be better business people, whereas if you separate it, my concern would be you've got some people who truly are paper pushers, doing the admin, the tactical part of HR, and it's almost like you're creating two silos within HR." Inherently, as people move up through the ranks in HR, that happens anyway, she said. "So if you're at the VP level, you're doing way more strategy than your recruiter is, and that's how it should be, but you're on the same team, and hopefully you're having communications and you're talking so the people at the lower levels still get that insight and the glimpse, or how else would they learn and eventually get there if that's something they wanted to?" As for the suggestion many CHROs are process- oriented generalists who don't relate HR very well to real-world business needs, Paterson said she hopes that's changing. " ere are a lot of crummy HR people, there are — very old school… their goal is just to make people happy, they couldn't even describe what their busi- ness does, and it's a shame. I feel like we're moving away from that and as we get more people com- ing into the fi eld and we're talking about it, hope- fully they're learning from more innovative, busi- ness-minded HR executives," she said. "But I can't disagree that a lot of CHROs are process-oriented… I can't tell you how many people I talk to who don't even know who they compete with. at's astonish- ing to me." CEOs these days are definitely expecting more from HR, said Paterson, who's been at the 290-employee company for four-and-a-half years. "What we're expected to do now compared to 15 years ago when I started is very diff erent and I think it's twofold. I think it's partly because we as HR pro- fessionals are pushing for it and saying, 'We can do more, we can give you more.' And, as we get traction there, CEOs are saying, 'Perfect, give it to us. is is what we want.'" However, HR education could be im- proved to focus more on strategy and look at the whole business, versus being very heads-down, she said. But, regardless of size or sector, HR can be a strategic partner. "The HR people need to want to do it and show an interest and have initiative and really grab onto it and push for it because we're not all fortunate to work for CEOs who think HR is important. So that can be a struggle — you've got to keep trying to prove your worth and, if you're persistent, keep trying to do it, you'll eventually get through." TJ Schmaltz vice-president of human resources at Impark in Vancouver The company has about 5,200 employees in Canada and the United States T here's no question HR has evolved sig- nifi cantly from being very transaction and process-oriented — your typical person- nel department handling hiring, fi r- ing and payroll — to dealing with complex people management, greater legislation and require- ments, managing benefits, change management and or- ganizational design, according to TJ schmaltz, vice-president of HR at impark. But that doesn't mean the de- partment should be split in two, with one side focused on strategy and the other on administration. "If you start going down that path, carving out the strategy and separating out the ad- min, you're losing one of the most impor- tant evolutions of the HR profes- sion. And that is, in my mind anyways, that HR activities are closely tied to the business and the business strategies. So I think if you were to go down that path, you'd actually end up creating something similar to what HR was originally viewed as — that personnel department that is very transactional and not particularly tied to the business function." HR's role in organizational strategy is critical be- cause we're talking about the people side of the busi- ness, he said. "I actually don't see how you could eff ectively separate the two functions because the transactional and administrative should still be tied back to sup- porting the business and (business) strategy." ere are some process-oriented CHROs and vice-presidents who are doing a disservice because they're not necessarily demonstrating what HR re- ally can and should be doing, said Schmaltz, who has been at Vancouver-based Impark for six months. "But there's a lot of folks that are switched on out there now," he said. " e credibility of an HR pro- fessional really rests with their ability to speak the same language of the business they support and to link the activity back to the business objectives and the strategy, and provide solutions to the business." However, Schmaltz does not spend as much time on strategy as he'd like. "You get drawn into the operational more than probably you'd like, but I'd still say the majority of my job or my work is looking at the bigger picture," he said. "If you don't spend the time thinking stra- tegically... you're going to fall into the trap of being reactionary and very operational. You constantly have to keep pushing. My mantra is that you have to understand the bigger picture in terms of what good looks like and where you're headed." One key thing that is still absent from a lot of HR departments is the ability to measure or quantify the connection between an HR activity or outcome and the business or strategy, said Schmaltz, adding there's been discussion around this when it comes to the Certifi ed Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation and the National Knowledge Exam in pushing for more rigour to understand fi - nance principles and metrics. "To achieve results in the HR, HR professionals must now exercise a greater degree of business sav- vy, people savvy, persuasion, diplomacy and tact… I sometimes refer to the HR department as the diplo- matic core of the organization." "What we're expected to do now compared to 15 years ago when I started is very diff erent and I think it's twofold. I think it's partly because we as HR pro- fessionals are pushing for it and saying, 'We can do more, we can give you more.' And, as we get traction there, CEOs are saying, 'Perfect, give it to us. is However, HR education could be im- proved to focus more on strategy and look at the whole business, versus being very heads-down, she said. But, regardless of size or sector, HR can be a strategic "The HR people need to want to do it and show an interest and have initiative and really grab onto it and push for it because we're not all fortunate to work for CEOs who think HR is important. nel department handling hiring, fi r- ing and payroll — to dealing with complex people management, greater legislation and require- ments, managing benefits, change management and or- ganizational design, according to TJ schmaltz, vice-president of HR at impark. But that doesn't mean the de- partment should be split in two, with one side focused on strategy and the other on administration. "If you start going down that path, carving out the strategy and separating out the ad- min, you're losing one of the most impor-

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