Big Data: A Big Opportunity for HR

In many organizations, Human Resources (HR) remains the redheaded stepchild. Typically seen as the organization’s police department, HR rarely commands the internal respect that most SVPs and Chief People Officers believe it does. I’ve seen companies place poor performers in HR because they couldn’t cut it in other departments. How­ever, I’ve never seen the reverse occur (e.g., “Steve was horrible in HR, so we put him in Finance.”). For all of their claims about being “strategic partners,” many HR departments spend the majority of their time on administrative matters like processing new hire paperwork and open enrollment. While rarely called Personnel anymore (except on Mad Men), many HR departments are anachronistic: they operate now in much the same way as they did four decades ago.

A Theory