We live in a world that is fast-changing and complex. We have an increasingly diverse workforce and we need organisations that are agile and adaptable, which make the best use of the resources they have. And, of course, the key resource any organisation has is its people.
As human resources (HR) professionals, our principle role is to ensure we are properly supporting people, helping to build the right kind of workforce for an organisation and giving the people who work in that organisation the best opportunities. Creating good working environments and helping to build teams are also things that good managers do. Sometimes they will do this naturally, but sometimes they need help.
The role of HR includes looking after the basics of employment contracts, such as payroll and terms and conditions. Such processes need to run efficiently and should effectively be invisible within the organisation. Payroll is a classic example of a function that people just want performed correctly every month – and over which everyone gets extremely upset if it goes wrong.
But the real value of HR is in helping to build the right sort of workplace: creating the correct working environment, and hiring people with the right skills and attitude to succeed for themselves and the organisation.
That's what HR should ultimately be doing, from looking after the basics of the people side of business to ensuring employees have a productive working life.
• Peter Cheese is the chief executive of The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the world's largest chartered HR and development professional body with more than 135,000 members.
