February 15, 2010
A mere four months after his previous article stating HR was a waste of space, Times columnist Sathnam Sanghera is at it again. His latest missive in today's paper is headlined: 'The fuss that HR makes about itself far outstrips its contribution to the world'.
Deep breathes everyone, put away those claws, let Sathnam outline his argument... "British HR executives are grossly overpaid, those in the public sector particularly so", he states. It seems Sathnam is basing this sweeping generalisation on a league table of the 20 top-earning public sector HR directors - published by another HR title - half of whom are employed by the BBC.
He then goes on to list who these Beeb execs are. Top of the pile is BBC People director Lucy Adams, who earns £320,000-a-year, according to Auntie's figures. That's not on, says Sathnam, and she should fire most of her team and then herself, because she contributes nothing.
So maybe he should really write: "The BBC's HR executives are grossly overpaid".
Deep breathes everyone, put away those claws, let Sathnam outline his argument... "British HR executives are grossly overpaid, those in the public sector particularly so", he states. It seems Sathnam is basing this sweeping generalisation on a league table of the 20 top-earning public sector HR directors - published by another HR title - half of whom are employed by the BBC.
He then goes on to list who these Beeb execs are. Top of the pile is BBC People director Lucy Adams, who earns £320,000-a-year, according to Auntie's figures. That's not on, says Sathnam, and she should fire most of her team and then herself, because she contributes nothing.
So maybe he should really write: "The BBC's HR executives are grossly overpaid".
It's pretty obvious that Sathnam doesn't rate HR - he admits that himself: "Too many HR departments, often
dismissed as "Human Remains" or "Human Restraint", are self-serving,
neurotic and navel-gazing."
Guru looks forward to the next column pointlessly attacking HR in four months' time. Find yourself a new target for God's sake you ill-formed berk.
Guru would once again encourage disciples who disagree with Sathnam's views to drop him a line with particularly large file attachments at sathnam@thetimes.co.uk.
Guru looks forward to the next column pointlessly attacking HR in four months' time. Find yourself a new target for God's sake you ill-formed berk.
Guru would once again encourage disciples who disagree with Sathnam's views to drop him a line with particularly large file attachments at sathnam@thetimes.co.uk.
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Comments (1)
At least Sanghera is consistent in churning out the same drivel, though as a journalist, basically cutting and pasting his earlier diatribe smacks of laziness.
Perhaps he's miffed that someone else won the HR Journalist of the Year award that he bagged in 2006 (nothing like a lover spurned, is there?) or maybe Watson Wyatt have asked for his 2009 Award for Excellence trophy back a bit earlier than he expected.
For someone who is happy to slag off the HR profession, he's also happy to be in their pay.
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
I expect a large scale exodus from HR into journalism as a result of reading his article, as it's clearly far easier to earn a few quid from inflaming people rather than inspiring them. Compared to the challenges of the HR profession that's a walk in the park
Posted by Graham Salisbury | February 15, 2010 4:05 PM
Posted on February 15, 2010 16:05