HR Getting Some Respect? What!?

I just read an article from the Birmingham Business Journal.  For those of you who don’t know I do live in the HR capital of the world, Birmingham, Alabama.  If you don’t believe Bham is the HR capital of the world, just ask Kris Dunn or any of the folks at Fistful Of Talent.

The BBJ stated that HR Managers are one of  Birmingham’s 25 Best Careers For High Pay & Job Growth.  That bears repeating… The BBJ stated that HR Managers are one of Birmingham’s 25 BEST Careers for HIGH PAY & Job Growth.

This is on a list that includes execs and doctors.  Also included are Marketing Managers and PR Managers.  This has huge, positive implications for the HR profession.  HR + Marketing = corporate awesomeness.

When I started in HR, very optimistic and excited about the new career path, HR pros told me repeatedly, “girl, I hope you didn’t take this gig for the money”.  And really in many ways I did not. But that was the vibe from the HR unbelievers.

Although I have no empirical proof — here are some things I’d like to believe from this article:

• HR is becoming more important to execs than they once believed
• The 4 disciplines of HR (recruiting, training, benefits/comp, employee relations) are too specialized for other departments to inherit anymore
• Global growth and speed of business is creating a greater need for HR support than every before.  Gone are the days individual department managers have the time to handle the HR stuff
• Engagement is still the new black and is being looked upon as an organizational differential.  Even though bloggers are tired of writing or reading about engagement, CEOs are just now getting the drift

Last but not least – I really do hope it is true that HR pros are envisioning a new future for their roles.  For if they don’t believe they are worthy of being credible in the corporate arena, no one else will.