. Who Needs HR? Susan Phillips, CEO – SelectLeaders A recent Wall Street Journal article, “Companies Say No to Having an HR Department”, followed companies, like LRN Corp., a 250-employee business, that did away with their HR Department. A “Flat Management” decentralized structure was to foster autonomy and accountability among leaders across the company. Workers say they felt the absence of an in-house HR staff acutely, especially when it comes to mediating employee disputes and resolving pay problems. “Companies have to think of the financial risk and the strategic risk – They can open their company up to lawsuits, and if they don’t know where to find qualified engineers or other specialized personnel, they can end up behind in the battle for talent,” added Steve Miranda, Managing Director, Cornell University Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies. HR departments are sometimes perceived as slowing a company down, however without them, the company’s executives become the ultimate decision makers for everything, creating a bottleneck. LRN Corp. successfully resolved this issue by bringing on an employee “to focus on all things related to people.” If it looks like an HR Manager, and sounds like an HR Manager, it’s …
April 26, 2014