SwCA Episode 158: How Much Law Do I Really Need To Know To Succeed in the HR field?

SITE: http://www.courtneyanderson.com/swca-episode-158-hr-heroes-hangout-series-how-much-law-do-i-really-need-to-know-to-succeed-in-the-hr-field.html 

SHOW NOTES: In this episode our topic is, “How much law do I really need to know to succeed in the HR field?” 

Answer: As much as possible.

Human Resources is all about humans! Finding, hiring, retaining, engaging, educating and serving humans. The end-users for organizations are humans. Even at a veterinarian the human is the end-user customer who finds, procures and pays for the animal medical service. In the arts the human audience or attendee is the end-user. For-profit organizations have human end-users as clients and customers as do public governmental agencies. The human is the entire focus of commerce, government and society. It is therefore logical that the expert in human resources is a pivotal role in an organization!

The HR professional is a professional. The field of HR is rapidly changing with new issues impacting business (technology, transparency, innovations, inventions, etc.) and the wider societal frameworks that businesses operate within (law, custom, etc.). The HR professional must understand the basics of the legal framework that their organization exists within. It is not sufficient for an HR professional to know that a particular form must be filled out by staff. They have to understand why the form is filled out (what is the purpose, how does it impact other areas, etc.). 

I make the analogy in the show that the legally uninformed HR professional is analogous to a person who does not know how to play a sport being told to stand on a playing field and do a certain movement. What is the bigger picture framework of the game? What are the rules? What is the purpose of the recommended action? 

Please visit the show page at CourtneyAnderson.com (link above at SITE note) to access the rest of the show notes.