The recent Sunday Times article: How HR took over British business and got in the way of actual work described a bloated HR sector overreaching itself. While I contributed to that article, I did not endorse its message and the article certainly caused something of a stir in the HR community who feel unfairly traduced. It is legitimate to ask “why” the number of HR professionals has grown but the reasons for this are complex and have played out over many years.
The growth of the number of HR professionals is undeniable: an increase of 68% since 2010 according to recent ONS data) but I believe this is not, as the article suggested, because HR is a “self-perpetuating” industry, or even because of the introduction of any significant new employment laws over the past 10 years. The Equality Act 2010, often cited as heralding the introduction of too much red tape into employment law, was in fact far less of a new law and more of a codification and consolidation of existing anti-discrimination law in the UK. The idea that the act engendered a grievance culture and spawned a generation of vexatious litigants is, I believe, a specious claim.
What is clear however, is that there has been a cultural shift in UK business in the last twenty years and the HR community has been tasked with the responsibility for managing that change. Over the last decade, three major developments have reshaped the business landscape:
(a) an increasingly “rights aware” UK workforce, better educated and more likely to challenge perceived injustices through sophisticated grievances and the courts;
(b) the growth and democratisation of grievances and beliefs, facilitated (or encouraged) by social media platforms; and
(c) the rapid evolution of enabling technology whether X, WhatsApp or TikTok all of which encourage a greater freedom of expression and (in turn) the litigation of grievances. AI will enable a tsunami of new grievances and claims (within two seconds).
In the UK we have created (or permitted) all of the above and it is HR’s job to mediate this culture on behalf of the businesses they work for. HR isn’t creating this complexity, it’s helping organisations navigate it. In short, the growth in HR is the market’s natural response to a “rights based” working culture.
HR’s growth tells a bigger story about how work itself has changed - more regulation, more complexity, and more expectation that companies actively shape culture rather than just “manage people.”
Where once personnel departments dealt with contracts and payroll, today’s HR leaders manage hybrid workforces, implement DEI policies, manage and shape office moves, respond to grievances and claims, handle mental health crises, and ensure legal compliance across increasingly complex operations. In short, HR is doing more because the modern workplace demands more.
Retention is now a key priority for employers – recruitment is expensive and time consuming: it’s far better to keep your existing workforce happy. But the growth of a hyper-flexible workforce seeking a new model of work-life balance has eroded traditional employment bonds. Where workers feel more vulnerable in their employment, an employer which cares holistically for its employees can produce a more resilient workforce. HR departments are increasingly under pressure to create a company culture which aligns with the values of those it is trying to recruit and retain.
An employer which cannot or will not engage with its workforce risks them “quiet quitting” or worse, “quiet cracking” where employees who appear fine on the surface but are privately overwhelmed and burn out. HR is the bridge between what employees increasingly expect and what organisations can sustainably provide.
Meanwhile the growing trend for the UK government to offload the responsibility for public health on to the shoulders of employers is likely to further expand the role of the HR professional. With 2.8 million working-age adults in Britain out of work because of a long-term condition, the UK labour market is facing a crisis. Earlier this month, the Fabian Society called for a new levy on UK employers to fund the creation of a universal in-work health service and Sir Charlie Mayfield’s long anticipated “Keep Britain Working” report, due for delivery later this year, is expected to put more pressure on employers to support employee health, through early interventions and initiatives like occupational health schemes and mental health support. Responsibility for implementing these initiatives is likely to fall on the shoulders of HR. Large, well-resourced employers like Centrica are already bringing occupational health in-house and have found a huge reduction in staff sickness and absence. According to a recent survey, almost half of employers interviewed, reported that productivity increased when employee wellbeing was supported. This is not just a “nice to have” initiative, it may become a commercial imperative.
HR is carrying the weight of our time. The rise in rights awareness, democratisation of ever more sophisticated grievances, the need for employers to manage the wellbeing of its workforce are not abstract trends; they are daily realities that businesses must face, and HR is tasked with addressing them. We need to accept that HR has grown in response to the 21st century world of work and see it not as the problem, but as part of the solution, and consider how best to equip it for the road ahead.
This article was written by John Hayes, Managing Partner of Constantine Law and first appeared in Personnel Today.