Your Starter For Ten (Questions) – As a key function of any business, HR is adapting to an economic and politicial landscape that has been savaged by the recession. So what role will it play now? A Vice President of HR Patricia Robinson is well placed to comment.

The Patricia Robinson Interview with Andrew Marsh  - Patricia Robinson is an HR Specialist who, in her last role, was Vice President of HR for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Opening comment by Patricia: “Under the current landscape I believe it vitally important that an effective HR function is continually looking at the bigger picture in terms of achieving the organisations’ business objectives and being proactive in anticipating the critical deliverables required from HR. HR should be spending a lot of their time being effective business coaches in all aspects related to the “people” side of the business – too many managers/executives spend too much time fighting “people fires”, either because they haven’t anticipated them or because they are reluctant, or ill equipped, to deal with them effectively. HR should not be doing the manager’s jobs for them, as a last resort when they have failed, but rather proactively coach and develop all people managers so that they are comfortable dealing with the people management issues themselves and take pride in doing do. In summary HR, if effective, needs to:

1. Be proactive
2. Willingly and skillfully undertake the role of a trusted and respected coach
3. Understand the big picture in terms of business goals and managing the bottom line”

The interview:

1.In career terms, how do you find yourself where you are today?

After finishing my studies I did not, at the time, have any idea I would be working in an HR role. I initially went into banking which gave me an insight into the importance of customer service/satisfaction. I then went into a sales role in the computer industry which helped me understand the challenges faced by the often misunderstood sales professional. My career then moved into a technical support role, again in computing, and this taught me how a vendor is often measured by how well it has understood the real needs of the customer when often they are unclear about this themselves, and, the importance of being valued as a trusted business partner. My previous experience allowed me to evolve into a trainer and management coach, which focused on getting the best out of people and the great importance this has on making any business successful. I am very proud of being in HR and feel very lucky that I have had working experience in many different business disciplines which I hope, has enabled me to understand the challenges faced by most employees and what actions need to be taken to get the best out of people even when the going gets tough!

2.You’re a VP of HR – what do you enjoy most about HR?

1. The variety of the role and, when undertaken effectively, the tremendous positive impact it can have on business performance.
2. Seeing how people can grow as business professionals and as human beings if provided with the right environment & development opportunities.

3. HR has evolved quite significantly in the past 10 years and the employee seems to have been the main beneficiary. Do you think employment law is weighted too much in the favour of the employee or is the balance about right?

I believe it is too easy to see employment law as a barrier or restriction rather than a structure within which to work. A good HR advisor should be able to interpret the law in order to set out the business risks associated with its deployment and advise management accordingly. There will be less need to resort to the law if all people aspects of the business are undertaken effectively e.g. performance management. Having had HR responsibility for EMEA I continue to be amazed at how weighted the law is in favour of the employee in certain countries and how its straight application hinders business growth. I am also very aware of how well informed employees are becoming in terms of their own employment protection and rights and how important it is that managers have a general understanding of employment law and how to operate effectively within its framework.

4. Is it difficult to stay abreast of changes in employment law?

In my EMEA role, given the number of countries within the region, it was paramount that local HR teams kept abreast of changes relating to their own specific countries of responsibility. There are numerous reputable web sites that can be consulted and I believe a good relationship with a local employment lawyer who knows your business is also a must – they can proactively advise any changes to existing terms relating to the business that require changing. This is one area where effective networking pays dividends; good relationships with local lawyers and payroll providers is a much needed extension to the HR team.

5. Describe the most testing moment for you as a VP of HR for Europe Middle East and Africa?

This can be summarized in two main categories, ongoing and specific, as follows:

1. An ongoing testing time is the sheer volume of activities required when working over many countries across EMEA – regardless of whether just one employee or 1000 employees in a country, the same number of tasks/items need setting up – e.g. Terms and conditions, contracts of employment, payroll, Employee Handbooks, local policies and procedures etc. No sooner did we feel comfortable that one country was set up effectively when another new country started in operation – and the differences are both numerous and wide (e.g. the contract and employment terms for Saudi Arabia bear no resemblance to those needed in Russia and that doesn’t even take into consideration the time differences and the cultural aspects and working days of the week.)
2. A major testing time relating to a one off project was the setting up of the shared service centre in Cork, Ireland. This SSC was where all back office functions would be located going forward. This required numerous local staff across EMEA either being relocated or let go (e.g. Finance personnel, post sales support personnel, technical training staff etc.) This was a major change management project for HR working with local management which affected the whole of EMEA over a period of nine months. It utilized all aspects of HR skills to the full to ensure business continuity and high staff motivation until completion of the project and go-live of the SSC.

6. How critical a role do you think HR plays in developing, supporting and bringing to life a company’s culture?

This really depends on how seriously an organization takes its company culture! Where the culture means more than just a few motherhood statements posted up on company notice boards then HR is absolutely critical in bringing the culture to life and maintaining it so that it means something and underpins the organisation’s success. HR can do this, as an example, in the following ways:

1. Understanding very well what the required culture is, and why, and demonstrating this in their own everyday actions.
2. Checking that role profiles and people specs facilitate the culture and are used for recruitment purposes and training needs assessments etc.
3. Developing compensation plans which reward the effective demonstration of the culture.
4. Developing appraisal systems and performance management systems that facilitate and evaluate the deployment of the culture to all employees.
5. Understanding where local national cultures either support or cause conflict with the company’s culture and advising the leadership team on ways of utilizing the best of both.

7. What are the complexities of managing a cross region HR function like EMEA?

For example:

1. So many different T&Cs and employment laws (e.g. notice periods, probation periods, redundancy provisions etc.) to be understood and deployed.
2. Time Zones and working days – what is actually considered “outside normal working hours”.
3. All forms of communications (language) – to make sure that any company messages or tools are well understood when the mother tongue is not the same.
4. High and low context working groups. Simple business meetings across EMEA can be frustrating even in terms of punctuality; what is considered punctual to a low context country, such as Germany, is considered “being early” by a high context country, such as Italy, even though their country borders are adjoining.
5. So many different functions or programs to set up (e.g. payroll, benefits programs etc.)
6. Championing the Corporation Culture in the differing national cultures.
7. Restrictions in differing employment legislations. What is permitted in one country is unacceptable and illegal in another; when and what to harmomise for business efficiency.
8. Different regulations for, and use of, Works Councils or Employee Representatives; when to use them and for what benefit/purpose.
9. Simply spending enough time in each location and quickly being able to put yourself into their position in terms of local expectation and challenges.
10. Different recruitment practices. Where agencies can be used and where it’s best to direct advertise, even down to what can be published in local advertisements.
11. Understanding where an employee reference actually means something or where they are recognized as being useless.

8. Why do you think that HR sometimes gets less respect & credibility than other key business functions?

1. Because it covers so many aspects of the business if undertaken effectively so that it practically goes unnoticed! If HR have been effective coaches/advisors then managers have less perceived need for HR – but that’s good in terms of making the business players more effective.
2. Some HR practitioners haven’t had the opportunity to work in other disciplines and therefore may not be in the position to understand the demands and challenges that need to be recognized when deploying HR programs effectively across the whole organization.
3. HR is not promoted as a reputable discipline to move into when receiving careers counseling in schools and universities and therefore we don’t always get the cream of the crop moving into the function. Bit like a computer: garbage in = garbage out!
4. In some organizations HR are still associated with union conflict or as the “hire and fire” function or even worse the “agony aunt” department located as far from the action as can be possible – BUT, for example, some HR practitioners do nothing to remove that image and that relates back to the question about use of the law – it’s easier to say “the law won’t let you do that” than it is to advise management on the risks associated with the varying interpretations of the law.
5. HR is often difficult to quantify and therefore difficult to pin actual value to. A sales person is given a target (quite binary, they achieve it or they don’t), not the same when measuring HR output other than basic metrics and these are normally “lagging” rather than “leading” indicators.

9. What changes do you anticipate in HR legislation over the next 10 years and to what degree are these changes linked to cultural changes?

1. Changes to working hours and greater flexibility for working parents
2. Greater flexibility in obtaining working visas and harmonisation of terms across the globe to facilitate greater employee mobility for international companies and the expansion of EEC.
3. Tougher anti-discrimination provisions e.g. ageism

10. What do you think of the recent situation at BA?

Slightly out of date now, but honestly no differently to any other Union v Corp disagreement: two extreme positions with no “real” genuine desire to compromise for a win:win situation.