One such stereotype is the idea that HR is allegedly just a department full of interfering women who run glorified admin tasks while calling everyone else out for cracking any kind of joke.

But that stereotype could not be more wrong. Enough is enough –  we’re calling it out once and for all. Over the last twenty years we’ve worked hand in hand with countless HR departments and they weren’t just pushing papers and slapping wrists. On the contrary, we’ve seen them transform the very shape of organizations. In fact, HR has taken a front seat at our clients’ organizations and they’re driving business outcomes like never before. The shortage of highly skilled labor paired with the ever-widening gap in the modern multigenerational workforce has placed HR Leaders at the “head of table” as senior executives begin to manage the balance between performance management, engagement and retention.

With “human” being the operative word in their titles, they drive culture, and in a business world obsessed with culture, you can’t afford to not have a strong one. Last year, Deloitte reported that culture and employee engagement were the most important issue overall in their “Human Capital Trends” report.

The HR department has the necessary levers to create, sustain and change the DNA of your organization. They’re the keepers of culture. They nurture it, care for it and ensure it grows in the right direction.

[clickToTweet tweet=”HR has the necessary levers to create, sustain and change the DNA of your organization.” quote=”The HR department has the necessary levers to create, sustain and change the DNA of your organization.”]

Employees as customers

Your employees are your ultimate customers. They will be the biggest proponents of your brand, and they also control the market. This isn’t the recession world when candidates clamored for jobs and accepted anything they could get. It is very much a “candidate-driven” market once again.

Main motivators

HR are also the keepers of information, and they sit on valuable data about their employees. Utilize that data to make the right decisions for your business. Opportunities for career growth, coaching and training often mean far more to prospective employees than salaries and sign on bonuses do.

Engaging everyone

Disengaged employees are expensive, as is hiring. Moreover, they drag your business back and hinder every goal you’ve got, while stopping you from telling your story in a meaningful way. A disengaged employee is poison to your teams, and it spreads faster than you can imagine. Developing an environment that is meaningful and measurable will create a positive culture that improves engagement.

[clickToTweet tweet=”An environment that is meaningful and measurable creates a positive, engaging culture.” quote=”Developing an environment that is meaningful and measurable will create a positive culture that improves engagement.”]

Educate

Training and developing your employees is the key responsibility of the HR department. The opportunities you give them to develop themselves will determine whether they stay or go. This in turn determines your entire organization, culture and employee engagement.

So let’s all take a second to stop the hating and give the eye-rolling a rest. HR might pull you up, keep you on the straight and narrow, and not always give you everything you want, but ultimately, they fight for you and create environments that make you want to stay. It’s time to give HR a break.