Human resources departments have emerged as a powerful force in big organisations, but a new book suggests they fail in their most crucial function - helping humans.
A Decade of L.E.A.D. (the Leadership, Employment and Direction survey), which charted workplace attitudes in Australia in the past decade, revealed that while the ranks of HR managers had swollen, the number of staff who believed their needs were being met by them had fallen.
Researchers, analysing data from four big workplace surveys dating to 2003, found the proportion of employees who believed the HR department was addressing their concerns had fallen from 60 per cent to less than 50 per cent.
In the most recent results, about 40 per cent of employees said HR had a poor or very poor awareness of what their issues actually were.
"HR departments are plagued by contradiction - they are trying to meet employee needs and expectations on one hand, and the needs and expectations of managers and shareholders," Sydney University workplace expert Professor John Shields said.
A Decade of L.E.A.D. suggested human resources departments were leaning more towards their paymasters than general employees, and a much larger proportion of managers professed to be happy with their activities.
The chairman of the Human Resources Institute of Australia, Peter Wilson, said human resources departments were not meant to be trade unions.
"HR is about reconciling the interests of staff and management and in our view they do that very successfully," Mr Wilson said.
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