Hugo van der Walt

This is foreign territory for a function with a traditional specialisation in soft skills. But merely putting down metrics within a fundamentally dysfunctional system will not solve the current challenges of the HR function.

Increasing pressure from executive management has forced the profession to justify its existence through the identification of HR metrics.

Finance, supply chain management and IT have managed to remain relevant to operational requirements. Their functions have evolved into value added propositions to the executive and operational staff. HR, on the other hand, is – for a variety of reasons – no longer seen to add relevant value and so finds itself unable to influence or impact an organisation’s strategy. This is a huge paradox.