What’s HR for?

Many young bosses have a negative perception of HR. But management experts say tapping into this department’s skills is essential for managers to truly excel. Exploiting HR to its full potential can mean working more effectively with other departments.

很多年轻的老板对人力资源（HR）都有一种负面的看法。但是管理专家表示，经理们若想真正做好分内工作，必须充分挖掘人力资源部门的潜质。充分发掘HR的潜力意味着与其他部门更加有效的工作。

But HR has an image problem. It seems that the phrase “human resources” has become synonymous with the idea of needless corporate policies that get in the way of growth.

但是HR有个形象问题。“人力资源”一词似乎已经成为阻碍公司发展的无用政策的同义词。

Elizabeth George demonstrates that opinion in the HR class she teaches at the School of Business and Management of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology At the start of every course, George asks her grad students to raise their hands if they have a favourable view of HR.

伊丽莎白·乔治在香港科技大学工商管理学院人事课上证明了这个观点。每堂课开始之前，乔治都会询问有哪些同学对HR有正面看法？

“I’m lucky if one hand goes up,” George said. “I have students from all over the world, and they all have the same negative feelings about HR.”

“如果幸运的话，可能会有一个学生举手，”乔治说道，“我的学生遍布全天下，但是他们对HR都是负面的评价。”

For young managers, that often translates into excluding HR wherever possible. That’s a mistake, because HR people can often offer insights bosses would otherwise lack. For instance, managers working on a project that crosses different departments can benefit from working with HR, because the department deals with all facets of the company.

因此，一些年轻的管理人员通常会将尽可能的排斥HR。这种做法是错误的。因为HR通常能够给老板们提供他们所缺少的深刻见解。比如，某一项目的进行需要涉及不同部门，若经理能够与人力资源部门协调则会受益匪浅，因为人力资源部门就是为协调公司不同部门而设立的。

As chief HR officer for iQor, Mason has seen that first-hand. He has seen managers who involve HR and ask for ideas and others who simply ignore the department and suffer.

梅森是iQ公司人力资源专员，他亲眼目睹了一些事情。有的经理经常与人力资源部门打交道，寻求意见。有的经理则直接忽略掉人力资源部门，因此也常常遭遇不顺。

“There is the perception that HR is this group off in the corner that doesn’t understand the company strategy and is rather just an evil cost of doing business,” Mason said.

梅森说道：“有人认为人力资源部门并不了解公司的策略，不过是对企业成本的一种浪费。”

That happened in the early days at iQor’s offices in Asia, where the company now has about a third of its 30,000 employees. As the company grew, it brought in some managers from other regions to oversee the call centres. Some were unaware of stringent local labour laws requiring strict procedures when, for example, sacking an employee. That meant Mason’ team had to make sure managers were involving HR early in any process involving staffing issues to promote better planning and open lines of communication.

早期iQor公司在亚洲的办事处确实存在这种情况，iQor公司亚洲办事处已有10,000名雇员，占全公司雇员总数的三分之一。随着公司的发展，公司从其他地区青睐多个经理，监管客户服务中心。有人并不了解当地的劳工法。当地劳工法对诸如解雇员工等程序有严格要求。这就意味着梅森的团队需要确保，在处理任何与员工相关的问题之前都要与人力资源部门进行协调，便于制定更好的规划，保持畅通的沟通渠道。

If you’ve always seen HR as a hindrance, that might seem like a pretty wild idea. But with a more inclusive approach, maybe your HR department will become your new favourite collaborator.

如果你一直认为人力资源部门是妨碍公司进步的障碍，这似乎是近乎疯狂的想法。但是，若采用包容性的观点，或许人力资源部门能够成为你最喜欢的伙伴。

完成阅读

来源:BBC英语新闻爱语吧作者:邱灿