How does HR contribute to an organization’s success?

Question: (org. on Quora)

Answer (by Dan Walter)

Whether you have an HR professional or not Human Resources is likely the single greatest contributor to your organizations success.

First. Unless your company is really large, HR controls more of your revenue than any other department.  At small and mid-sized company as much as 65-75% of revenue is used to pay staff and provide their benefits. This means that even small improvements in HR can result in material budget increases for other departments. Improvements in this area are often simply viewed as controlling pay or limiting staff. But, even better improvements may be gained by improving the perception of pay or creating a work environment where people actually do their best, instead of operating at three quarters of their potential.

Second. The best strategy and tactical planning in the world cannot be well executed by incompetent, uninterested or unmotivated people. Human Resources first goal is making sure you have the right people. Without them you will fail, 100% of the time.

Third. They protect you from the problems that come from the mercury poisoning of disgruntled employees and lawsuits that come (mostly) from disgruntled ex-employees. Whether it is mediating disputes, motivating personal and professional growth or simply documenting and enforcing policies that keep people from becoming injured, a good HR department has your back, by being out in front of things.

Fourth. Great HR build your company culture and communicate your company strategy. (poor HR departments may not do either.) Your company culture or personality drives employee (and often investor) perceptions. Perceptions are reality for most people. Every company’s strategy is clear to its founders. But communicating this strategy and how it will become reality requires a broader vision and understanding of human dynamics. The task of communication usually falls to HR. So your HR department is in charge of how your employees define reality and how you make it better.

This most could stretch many pages. It should also be noted that failure in each of the above items can directly lead to your company’s failure or stagnation.