As expected, answers ranged from “Protect from lawsuits” to “Get in the way/be a pain in the rear” to a list of individual HR tasks, but no one summarized the whole function. Funny thing is, the “Get in the way” answers came from both employee level and business owners. In a way, this points to the actual answer:

Every company is ultimately made up of three core teams:

1. Primary product/Service execution (techs, sales, installers, etc.)
2. Support (CSR/dispatchers, warehouse, bookkeeping, etc.)
3. Leadership (managers, business owners)

And many people forget that all three teams are critical, and one none of them are superior to the others. Yes, really!

All three teams are equally required to grow/balance the Brand, and to provide service to customers. Each team has different job duties, responsibilities, expectations, authority, challenges, and liabilities. And each member of a team has their own individual responsibilities, challenges, etc. (and as a bonus, personal agendas that may or may not disrupt the Brand if allowed to influence the balance of the three teams). As soon as you have two or three people whose overlapping expectations are not 100% in synch, there is the potential for conflict. 

THIS is where HR comes in!

When properly run, Human Resources facilitates the communication between these three teams, plus the sneaky fourth business team that people often forget about: the Government, whose hands are in hiring, firing, payroll, and everything in between. HR aims to minimize friction and distraction that may harm the Brand from any of these teams. When HR acts as a puppet for either leadership or employees - or even if it's just perceived this way - HR simply cannot effective.

TRUST is critical for the success of a Brand. Communication is critical to establish and reinforce trust 24/7. Without this, PERCEIVED conflict eventually erupts into very real conflict, even over the smallest things. If HR is not effectively helping you translate perception into reality as these situations pop up… get better HR integrated with your Brand! Let us know how we can help!