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Andrew Harvey: HR & Comms, Where’s the Line?

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Andrew Harvey: HR & Comms, Where’s the Line?

The article was first published in HR Review, 29 April 2015. Read the original article here.

The relationship between traditional HR and communications has, for some time, been a fluid one. However the advent of ‘Engagement’ as a dedicated objective – rather than simply a by-product of an Internal Communications strategy – means that the line where PR ends and HR begins is becoming increasingly blurred.

It’s no secret that the remit of HR professionals is evolving and expanding beyond recognition and with this adapting role comes a new set of responsibilities. Perhaps one of the greatest of which is a contemporary need for better communication with a number of stakeholders. Professionals must now engage with a variety of candidate pools to pipeline new talent, create and develop a strong employer brand and effectively communicate with existing employees – often internationally – to aid morale, productivity and retention.

Shifts in employee attitudes and the associated impact on engagement have been highlighted in several recent studies. For example, according to the latest Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends Report, which surveyed over 2,500 organizations across 90 countries, companies are struggling to engage our modern, 21st century workforce. Today’s employees are more discerning and more dynamic than ever before, and as the world of business evolves, the way we manage our people has to develop to reflect and relate to this. But while there is no doubt that effective employee engagement is absolutely vital to an organisation’s growth and success, there is not yet a single set convention of where this responsibility lies.

While companies with over 1,000 employees increasingly have a dedicated internal communications department – who will report directly to the communications director, smaller companies looking to implement an engagement strategy often instinctively turn to their HR teams. This is, unsurprisingly, putting unprecedented pressure on practitioners as they are asked to pull on a whole new set of skills in order to meet this growing demand to communicate with talent.

And this trend is not exclusive to SMEs. It’s not unheard of for large multi-national organisations – some with in excess of 10,000 staff – to manage I