By Allison Ebner
The origins of the role of Human Resources began back in the early 1900’s, when women were called ‘welfare secretaries’ and got involved in the care and protection of women and girls. In the 1920’s, it evolved into a Labor or Employment Manager role in predominantly engineering and manufacturing sectors. In the 1940’s, the term ‘personnel management’ was introduced and began to take the shape of staff that helped bridge the gap between an organization and the employees. Finally, in 2018, National HR Professionals Day was declared a public holiday by Governor General Hon Steadman of Jamaica, after his colleague Governor General Sir Patrick Allen had initiated the celebration of this day in 2013. So why the history lesson? Because it helps to understand the past as we move at lightening speed into our future!
HR is one of the fastest growing professions in the market today, with projected growth of HR jobs to be about 6% higher than other positions that are measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But more important than the number of jobs being created is the evolution of the job itself. Today’s HR professionals need an entirely different set of competencies than they did just ten years ago. These essential skills include developing exceptional communication and negotiations skills, mastering an advanced level of business acumen (operations, finance, sustainability) and the ability to influence decision-making across all levels of your organization. It is critical that HR professionals gain a strategic seat at the table with CEO’s, CFO’s and operational leaders to help respond to our rapidly changing workforce, technology advancements and increasingly complex employee engagement strategies. At EANE, we are your partner in developing career pathways that will help you build these essential skills whether you’re a seasoned professional at the CHRO level or an Emerging HR Professional. This month, we are excited to launch HR YOUniversity, a collection of over 40 different professional development courses designed to level up your skills in three core areas: Compliance, Creating People Centric Cultures and HR Leader Development. In addition to this extensive course catalog of programs, we’ve expanded our round tables to include an Emerging HR Professional networking group and a Learning & Development networking group. Providing space for you to talk and engage with your peers is vital to your professional development and growth.
As we look forward to welcoming 180 HR professionals to our SOLD-OUT HR Connect: Shaping the Future of HR Conference on September 26th, our entire team here at EANE extends our THANKS to all our HR Professional colleagues for the work you do every single day, supporting your employees and your organizations! We are on this ride with you and look forward to providing you with the resources and opportunities to master the skills you need for an impactful and successful career!