In the Jungle

Here is another tidbit from SHRM’s Research Brief:

SHRM’s survey asked respondents how helpful their HR department has been in various capacities in response to the downturn. For the most part, employees indicate that HR has been at least somewhat helpful in this regard. Particularly interesting was the report that fully 69% of respondents indicated that HR was at least somewhat helpful is preserving overall employee benefits packages.

I found this interesting for reasons I should probably clarify. Despite the fact that I lurk in a few HR blogs, I am not an HR person by any stretch of the imagination. I am an organizational scientist and that comes with some HR-related knowledge and interests, particularly in personnel selection, leadership and performance management. As a result of not being an expert in this field, I must rely on the HR bloggers I read regularly. So, here is the root of my questions: Is this reported perception warranted your experience? Employees seem to credit HR for at least slowing the pace at which their benefits packages are being cut back. Can/does HR do this?

So far as I can tell, HR is seldom allowed the opportunity to participate in budgetary decisions like this. This does not mean they are incapable, or that they should not be involved in these types of organizational decisions. On the contrary, I think HR has a lot to contribute to the strategic direction of almost any organization. I simply get the impression that HR is normally underused in this capacity. Am I off base here? If I am, please tell me. I hate being wrong, but I loathe staying wrong for longer than is necessary.

More interesting than my being wrong, let us pretend I am correct: Why might employees think HR can intercede on their behalf on this matter?

Curiously enough, this same survey reports that only 46% of respondents believe HR has been useful in boosting employee morale during these trying times. Isn’t this a more typical HR function? How do we reconcile this finding with the previous figure?

Update: I just finished reading a recent report by Hewitt and Associates discussing the impact of cost-cutting measures on employees. Hewitt reports that so far these cost-cutting measures can be characterized as “low hanging fruit.” Presumably, the cuts organizaitons anticipate will be necessary to survive until the economic turnaround will go deeper and hurt much more than previous measures. I wonder if HR’s role will change for this next round. I also wonder how employees will see HR’s role in this situation.