HR Business Partners: Welcome

HR Business Partners Logo with text

What are HR Business Partners? And indeed what is HR, or Human Resources?

Human Resources professionals handle transactional people matters, such as recruitment, employment policies, and benefits. But more importantly, HR professionals work with leaders and managers to help develop long-term strategies for business growth and development.

It is in this latter area that you will find HR business partners working closely with business leaders and managers to build the capabilities of the business and its people. I won’t detail the history of HR business partnering. The important concept is that business leaders can draw on the expertise of people professionals to shape and implement effective people strategies that fit their business.

Larger businesses will have Human Resources departments, often structured to include a HR Business Partner function. However, smaller businesses may not have access to HR specialists. A CIPD (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development) research report in April 2015 found that 71% of micro (<10 employees) and 53% of small (<50 employees) businesses had no person in a HR role.  This blog is for you, those leaders and managers who do not have access to HR expertise but still have questions about how to get the best from your people.

This blog will focus on topics that you would discuss with that HR business partner, if you had one. It will aim to explain HR topics in plain language and generate ideas for programmes to manage and develop your people.

Of course the most effective HR business partnering needs the context – an understanding of your business, its people and culture. If this blog generates ideas for your people that you would like to pursue in more detail, please contact me.

Delivering people solutions starts here…

HR Business Partners My Plan