Why Doesn’t HR Talk to the Press More Often?
Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 by Frank RocheWhy don’t HR executives talk to the press more often? With “people being our most important asset,” you would think that HR executives would have a big story to tell. Why don’t they?
Is their reluctance because PR now runs the media show and scares everyone with creepy tales of a career derailed by a comment misquoted? Is it because senior management doesn’t want HR to be the voice of the company? Is it because HR doesn’t have anything to say?
It bugs me to see those negative executive pay stories that run every year without a single HR executive standing up to correct the information and explain what it takes to get executive talent.
Why doesn’t HR talk to the press more often? It doesn’t make sense to me. I say, if you have something to say, then say it. You don’t report to PR. Tell them that.
Erik
Apr 18th, 2008
I’m not PR, but as a marketing person I would be protective about anyone talking to the press who isn’t in PR. That being said, I think the issue is more that HR should request to be utilized by PR, and vice versa. I think you’re suggestion of HR talking to the press is good, but circumventing PR (i.e. not doing it with guidance from PR) is not a good move.
The Happy Employee
Apr 19th, 2008
I think many HR people don’t like being in the spotlight. They will say that they are not good at sales or that they prefer to support rather than lead. And at the end of the day, they probably just lack confidence in their abilities and the impact they could have. And that’s a pity!
Of course, all this doesn’t apply to me. Me, I’m just shy
JT
Apr 20th, 2008
What a coincidence! I was just on KnowPR.com/blog. They were writing about lousey employees and HR’s refusal to terminate them with out “documentation”. The blog made it clear – who is the manager – YOU ARE – just fire’m! If HR is too weak to know that someone – just isn’t getting it, just fire’m – what are you afraid of?
And while your at it if all that is standing between you and a great backfill is a question of covering their boyfriend and his kid under the health plan – make it happen! Say yes. We’ll get those people in HR to figure it out later.
(People who live in glass psuedo professions should throw stones.)
Frank Roche
Apr 20th, 2008
Erik, good point. HR should be utilized by PR more often. That would be a start rather than scaring people.
Happy EE, maybe it’s being shy. LOL. Then again, it’s being forced into the corner that’s scary. I’d like to hear more from HR people.
JT, um, I guess my question provoked its own self destruction. Yikes. Point well taken.
JT
Apr 20th, 2008
Q.E.D.
Frank Roche
Apr 20th, 2008
Some Q.E.D.s are more expensive than others.
Anonymous
Apr 20th, 2008
Why did you and Sarah bash Comcast in the Inquirer?
Frank Roche
Apr 21st, 2008
Our take was that Comcast was doing a great thing and using Twitter as a social media outlet to get problems resolved. We like Comcast very much and admire them as a business. They’re taking care of our outage situation on Tuesday. We didn’t have any intention of “bashing” the company by any means. Sorry if you interpreted it that way, it’s not how it was intended whatsoever.
Scott McArthur
Apr 21st, 2008
Interesting observation Frank. I think it is down to a combination of factors not least of which that HR people often just have very little to say. I get frustrated all the time when HR takes a neutral stance on business issues – for goodness sake have an opinion! We see this over in the UK in our professional magazines where most of the letters are written by consultants with very few contributions come from the corporates. Now perhaps they don’t want to divulge thier secret HR leavers but I suspect it is simpler than that – they just have no opinion. Now, this could be seen as being a bit negative about our profession and in some sense this would be correct. However, I actually belive it is more about confidence and fear than capability. Meaning personal confidence and fear of saying something out of turn. The recent Terminal 5 mess at London airport points to a good example. The now ex HR director has written recently about how great everything was with this huge project. This was followed a few short weeks later by the whole thing going pear shaped largely due to poor implementation planning and techonolgy. As a good HR professional (which I believe this person is) time would have been much better spent telling us (an the organisation) about the challeges being faced than in blowing the trumpet of success built on very thin ice.
Frank Roche
Apr 21st, 2008
Dear Anon from 9:59PM on April 20: IP addresses are very easy to track. In fact, they can be tracked down to the city of origin. And even addresses. Interesting choice of a verb is what piqued my interest. What I mean to say is that it’s okay to say who you are.
Elandra
May 5th, 2008
I work in HR as an employee communications specialist but I have a background in PR. There are any number of “positive” or “neutral” media stories that can be developed from HR – for internal newsletters and websites to major magazines, newspapers and TV shows. In my opinion, there’s too few communicators who see HR as an extension of their overall brand. Historically, it may be true that HR gets a bad rap for press w/stories about enormous CEO severances or labour disputes, but who says there isn’t room for positive stories? There just needs to be more skilled individuals pitching these stories (and coaching HR executives who may be wary about being put in a spokesperson).