The Humanization Of HR

We’ve come a long way in the last couple of decades

It’s widely known that the term Human Resources is antiquated. I mean let’s face it, it’s neither human nor resourceful. For me, the shift began over two decades ago when I left social work and started recruiting. Having no education or formal training in HR, it was easy to be non-traditional. I joined a tiny startup with big dreams and partnered with the founder to build a great company. He was supportive of my casual, high-touch approach because it made sense to him. And as the dot coms with big checks from venture funds started to crop up, our approach was validated because we couldn’t compete on salary, yet in the hottest market of my lifetime, our turnover was non-existent. We built an enviable, people-first “culture” before that term was even a thing. It wasn’t money that kept our people committed. It was purpose. It was being heard. It was doing meaningful work. It was the sense of belonging they experienced in our community. We humanized HR. We treated people like people, not resources. We were authentic, empathetic. You know, human. 
 

I always hated the term “Human Resources or HR”. It left me with an uneasy feeling from the very first time I heard it. So, when Google coined the phrase “People Operations” over a decade ago, I adopted it immediately. My team was instantly the People Operations team. I can’t tell you how many times I had to correct well-meaning people, inside and out of the organization, from referring to us as HR. It took a long time for others to change their vernacular, but I was happy to be a constant reminder. Yay, finally a “profession” that resonated with me, one that I was proud of. And even better, the acronym we used at Kabbage to refer to our team was “POP’s” which is pretty warm and fun, don’t ya think? This re-brand also allowed me to change the perception of the function. From punitive, administrative, and reactive to strategic, proactive, and value-add. It’s been an incredible transformation of sorts. The truth is, I’ve never been an “old-school” HR practitioner, but I’ve heard plenty of stories about how incredibly ineffective it is/was and am grateful to have been a small part of the change. 

The focus on building culture and career enablement is a perfect fit for a social worker at heart. Building a thriving, high-performance culture, is not happenstance, it requires focus and intentionality. It requires an incredible amount of awareness. What traits and characteristics are necessary for hiring to drive the desired business results? What behaviors do you want to encourage at work, and therefore reward? Which behaviors won’t be acceptable, or even, tolerated? Intentionality and transparency. That’s how you build programming that aligns with the company’s values which ultimately attracts, grows, and retains the rock (and super) stars your business needs to thrive.

We’ve come a long way in the last couple of decades and now with the move to a more flexible, distributed workforce in many cases, there’s yet another shift in how to effectively operate. That’s one of the best parts about tech, it’s constantly changing so you can’t get too comfortable or you won’t keep up! And I wouldn’t want it any other way...

Amy Zimmerman is the Chief People Officer at Relay Payments. She joined the organization full-time last year to support their explosive growth plans. She was hired to establish their people function and build it from the ground up.  Connect Amy Zimmerman