You are back! I know last week’s post was a bit of a cliffhanger, so you had to come back and see what Level 3 in HR Development looks like – I do not blame you! Or, maybe I just popped up in your LinkedIn feed after you got tired of cycling through those cat videos – I am not judging. If you do fall into category 2, I invite you to swing back over to hrforyall.com and give the previous two posts a look. Oh, and while you are there, why not sign up for our email list? I do not spam you with useless stuff – all you will get is blog posts (though I may share a cat video if one strikes my fancy).

If you do not want to go back and read the other two posts, I hope your employer does not conduct drug screenings, because not wanting to read my blog may qualify as “Reasonable Suspicion,” nevertheless here is a quick recap:

Level 1 is your entry-level, get-your-foot-in-the-door-level; so you are learning by doing. It is not uncommon to reflect on your career choice and wonder if you should have listened to your mother and become a Rodeo Clown. Level 2 is where you know the processes, but you have not quite figured out why you do these processes, which brings us to Level 3 on the HR Development Scale.

Level 3 HR pros not only know the mechanics, but they have some understanding – at least on the surface – of why these processes are in place. Level 3 HR Pros are good with buzzwords and statistics, such as: “an engaged workplace is a productive workplace.” Or, “we should offer this, that, and the other because it will increase morale.” These are usually true statements, and they hold up until the operations side of the business sees the cost and wants to know if the money would be better spent elsewhere, like on a new machine or software upgrade. In these situations, if the only thing you can answer is that it will increase morale, you have lost the battle, if not the war. It is hard to maintain morale when you lay off 10% of the workforce while hanging on to an HR Department whose primary function appears to be planning popcorn parties for the middle of the week.