Why Are HR People Like Spiders?

I had lunch with a dear and close friend yesterday and as usual we talked about human resources and how things are continuously changing. When I mean changing I mean the responsibilities and more involvement within the business. But as we continued to discuss the function there were several things that had not changed and to be completely honest they probably never will. So here are my HR spider issues:

• HR always plays it safe when it comes to executive recruiting, that's when they are involved by the way. They will choose an executive search firm that is a big name over a small boutique firm. Why is that? You know the small boutique firms have a far better completion rate than the big 4 and they usually have lower overhead thus more pass on savings to the customer. In addition they will play a very hands on role in the search. When was the last time the person at the big 4 was involved in the search or you dealt with them. It was there lower level people who serviced you unless there was a billing issue. Yes this is a very big issue with me. 
• HR will always play it safe when it comes to internal systems. I will not go into detail because it will take a year to mention all the issues. 
• HR rarely goes out on a limb - yes that you and that was me in the early years. HR are not risk takers and when you are in business there is risk in everything you do so why not HR.

So, HR are like spiders in a lot of respects, they never change the way they do things. I would like to hear your thoughts on this topic, email me at wgstevens2@gmail.com.