Who Does HR Report To?

Missy · February 2002

We are looking at yet another restructure and we will probably report to the CFO from now on. I think reporting to the president makes more sense, but am curious about how it works in other organizations.

Gar · February 2002

I work for a local government and our HR director reports to the County Manager, our highest official.

bsa · February 2002

I work for a small manufacturer with 11 management staff, including only 2 officers -- so I report to the VP Finance, just because the President is more interested in sales/customers.

Rockie · February 2002

At our medical facility, Human Resources is considered a member of Sr. Management (same level as CFO and COO). I report to the Chief Executive Officer.

MarilynR · February 2002

We're a small (27 emp) design/manufacturing firm. HR is part of the administration dept, and I report directly to the CFO, who is also the manager of that dept.

jbnunzio · February 2002

We are a large non profit credit union and I report to the CFO who sits with the COO,CIO and CEO as a member of Executive Management.

sonny · February 2002

Like GAR we are a local government. HR reports to the Director of General Services who reports to the City Manager. I personally believe HR should report directly to the top. More neutral, less chance of conflict of interest.

Janet · February 2002

We are a manufacturing company of about 400 EE's. There are 2 of us in HR and we report to the VP/Controller. This is by default--the HR Manager was downsized 5 years ago, and nobody else seems to want to deal with HR.

Gillian · February 2002

We are a 375 employee private, non profit University. I report to the Exec. VP of Finance and Business. While there is some controversy surrounding HR reporting to the top exec. vs. someone else, I think it really depends on the influence of the HR person and the perspective of the person to whom HR reports. Sometimes there is a general dislike of HR reporting to a CFO because of the orientation to financial matters, sometimes to the detriment of HR. Reporting to the top isn't a panacea because the top person may not understand the people side of the business either. In my case, I have no problem with the reporting relationship because I am also on the Presidents Cabinet and have direct access to anyone I want to, as well as the support of the Exec. VP to whom I report.

Margie · February 2002

We report to the President/CEO.

AnneLa · February 2002

We are a large non-profit Credit Union. I repor to the EVP/COO. He enjoys HR more than the President/CEO does...........

keithlf · March 2002

We are a structural steel fabrication plant with 178 employees and I report to the President/General Manager. Some of our smaller affiliates have the controller as the HR person and all report to the General Manager..

City · March 2002

I am the CFO of a private club and was the CFO of a manufacturing facility for many years. HR always reported to me because it provided for a balance of power.

Previous to me, HR reported to the CEO and under that supervision, the company hired more people and ignored personnel issues because the CEO did not want to focus personnel issues or employee problems. He thought that personnel issues were not very important so, they got ignored and managers had a hay day keeping their departments overstaffed.

The CFO can be objective for the entire company and balance the financial needs of the business against the personnel needs of the various departments. In addition, the financial impact of any potential lawsuits are usually more readily recognized by the CFO and those issues are more likely to be brought to the forefront quicker by the financial department than the CEO who may just dismiss it without recognizing the consequences of his or her actions.

Since I am not an HR professional, I don't understand the reluctance that some of the replies seem to indicate regarding reporting to the CFO...unless the HR person would rather not have any financial responsibility to their employer?

Gillian · March 2002

You may be a more balanced CFO. Some CFO's, and I found several in my consulting days because the CFO was often my point of contact, have a hard time understanding the people side of a business, therefore shut out the HR person. Of course, there are HR people who do the reverse. I have no problem reporting to the Exec. VP of Finance and Business because he is balanced. He rightly asks how much will it cost but will listen to the pro's and con's as opposed to automatically saying "no" because something will cost a few $. The CFO at one of my former clients wouldn't let the HR person belong to the local HR organization because he saw no value in it. I think that this is what you are seeing in the responses.

Rockie · March 2002

From my 20 years experience working in the human resources world and reporting both to a CEO and a CFO, I much prefer the CEO. Tradionally, HR has been seen as a liability instead of an asset, but thankfully, enlightened managers have seen the important funtion that a strong, experienced, trained human resource professional can bring to the table. I am very thankful in my present position that I am considered an integral part of the management team and do not report to anyone other than the CEO and I am seen and respected as a member of sr. management. It is the first HR position I have had where I felt that HR has been given the respect and status it deserves. Of course, I work for a visionary that thinks outside the box and invites new and different ideas into the company. He sees the long range benefits of program, not just the dollars and cents it may cost today.

I certainly respect and appreciate what our CFO represents and the role he holds in the company. Fortunately, he and I have a good working relationship and have mutual respect for each other's positions in the company.

System · March 2002

We are a construction company of around 300 employees and I report to the VP of Finance. This is the first time I have not reported to the President or top person.

Cheryl S SPHR · March 2002

I am the VP of HR in a Community Bank. I report directly to the CEO/President and serve as a member of the Corporate Management Team. I think HR deserves a seat at the table as a member of management in order to be a better strategic business partner. But, of course, I am biased!!

Rich · March 2002

In a large Court (4,200 emps), I report to the Court Administrator - top person.

atherese · March 2002

We report directly to the Executive Director. Years back we reported to the Finance Director, but had more problems and issues reporting to Finance. The Director only wanted to look at the bottom line, number issues and not the human side of issues and so had a lot of morale, personal issued that were not dealt with well.

Mutagawa · March 2002

We are a large county health care system and our VP of Human Resources reports to the CEO.

Gracie · March 2002

I used to work in a 2450-staff Women's and Children's Hospital and HR reports directly to the CEO. A restructuring in the recent years brought HR to report to the Director of Performance Management.

THe idea behind the change was that HR is intricately related to Performance, depts are staffed based on how the managers measure his/her depts' performance and how these performance measures align with strategic objectives. For example, if you expect all calls to be answered at 1st ring, then HR must review this with the dept mgr to see how s/he wants to meet this performance measure...more headcounts or look for aumatomated solutions or review/change the performance measure etc etc considerations. HR becomes an active partner in the operational accountability of each dept, instead of just passively adding headcounts to each dept based on the instructions of the managers. The Director of Performance Mgt also oversees all training and development programs.

Right now where I work, HR reports to the Director of Finance. This is 260-staff private organization. There is only 1 HR person handling all HR matters. The arrangement clearly states the position of the company.

Min · March 2002

I work for a small rural hospital. I guess I would normally report to the CFO, however, we have chosen that I report to the Administrator (CEO) since our CFO has a relative working here (you never know when an issue might arrive).

bobbysmom · March 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-05-02 AT 10:06AM (CST)[/font][p]I currently work for a 350-employee, pipe fabricator shop and report directly to the president, with a dotted line to corporate HR. The company was acquired by the parent company approximately 6 years ago and the culture is still very much a mom and pop shop. HR is not seen as a partner in business despite the reporting structure and I feel the role is looked upon as a "necessary evil," forced on them by corporate. In another fabricator shop I worked for a few years ago, HR was a member of the sr. management team and was involved in running the business. I reported to the GM, with a dotted line to corporate HR, and I felt HR was looked upon as a legitimate business partner. What I've learned in both situations is that sr. management leadership must want, respect, and USE HR in running the business and it takes a confident, wise, business-savy leader and professional to do this.

Jessica · March 2002

We are a small credit union with 17 employees. I report to the CEO because HR has such a critical function in a small business. I am lucky to have a very active CEO, and CFO so our work is balanced by a variety of considerations. It would not make sense in our credit union, as it is currently run, to have HR report to the CFO.

System · March 2002

Some of you might be interested in Margaret Morford's presentation "How to Make HR a Player." She has spoken on this topic at several SHRM chapter meetings. Here's a link for more information:

[url]http://www.hrhero.com/conference/guestspeaker.shtml[/url]

Christy Reeder
Website Managing Editor
[url]www.HRhero.com[/url]

Don D · March 2002

I went into HR straight out of college in 1969. In the past 33 years, I have found that more often than not, HR is generally directly under the CFO. I would prefer not to be directly under the CEO for numerous reasons. One, he is much too involved in issues not related to HR/Safety and would not have the time or inclination, I've found, to sit with you during briefings or sorting out problem situations. HR is a support/peripheral department no matter what others might say about their seat at the table or title or perceived worth in the organizational structure. And, that's as it should be. Support to all the other arms of the organization, not answering to any of them, answerable primarily to the CFO, who himself, is sorta peripheral and 'apart from' in a way also. This has proven, at least to me, to give the HR department or HR professional much more leeway, freedom to administer the policies and autonomy if you will. I have also worked directly under the administrator of a medical facility. What she did was on a daily basis exercise totally controlling tactics to maneuver every department, including HR, as would fit her personal objectives and agenda. Where I am now, I just convinced the CEO to split off Engineering and Manufacturing, both of whom were under one guy, the Mfg Director. On a daily basis he had been exercising control over engineering in a (successful) effort to gain his personal goals and inflict his personal agenda on another department. It runs much smoother now and both managers have a degree of autonomy, not to mention accountability, and neither is reporting to the other. From a somewhat selfish perspective, I have found over the years that CFOs are basically numbers people with accounting backgrounds who relish the idea of a Human Resources professional running his or her own departmental area without daily micromanagement. That's refreshing and I hope it doesn't change before I retire. Regards. Don in MS.

Diane in FL · March 2002

LORD GOD, NEVER have HR report to a CFO! This rarely, if ever, works, because the CFO is hard result, hard dollar, black & white oriented. If your company wants to hold up any and all improvements in performance management, employee/management development or anything else that is difficult to measure against dollar investment, then move forward with the HR-CFO reporting structure.

HR needs direct access to and support from the CEO. What happens is the CEO generally doesn't fully understand all the intracacies of the HR function, and so is inclined to pawn off the supervision of the function to another main division, generally Finance/Accounting due to the payroll, retirement & benefits functions. (Sometimes Operations due to the recruitment and training functions). The mere fact that HR is comprised of so many specialized functions critical to the organization should tell the CEO that s/he needs the top HR person as a direct report.

Don D · March 2002

Diane sounds like either sour grapes over a past reporting experience or she relishes what she thinks might be a seat close to the CEO. I have years of just the opposite kind of experience reporting to a variety of CEOs. Guess she knows the wrong ones.

wbeteet · March 2002

I'm in violent agreement with "Diane in FL" HR should always report to the CEO of any company or organization

Don D · March 2002

Methinks folks in HR should not be 'violent' about anything, even agreement.

Missy · March 2002

Thanks to everyone for your responses to my question. I'd also like to thank HR Forum for making this their poll of the week. I've printed it out and am going to use it to support putting us directly under the president.

Wish me luck!!

Who Does HR Report To?

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