By Shena L. Holliday, SHRM-CP, Tulane MJ-LEL Student
HR… WOMP WOMP…
Have you experienced bad HR?
Yes!
Nope, one of the lucky ones I guess!
HR's Bad Reputation
Unfortunately, if you’ve been in the workforce for any length of time, your answer is probably a resounding YES on the above survey. From distrust, clique-ish team members, unfriendliness, poor policies, untrained staff, or just plain non-existent HR, there’s many reasons why historically HR has mostly had a bad reputation (I can't help myself, yes, I'm a Swiftie). This is a serious problem and can ultimately affect a company’s bottom line through high turnover, costly litigation, and poor employee morale. It’s not a question of how we got here, right? We know that so many times HR is overlooked as a critical role and tagged onto someone’s other job duties. As a result, little attention is paid to the HR function of a business until it’s needed to react. Time to proact!
HR’s Time to Shine!
In recent years, we have seen a shift in focus and priority on HR and how important its function is in a company. The pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, the MeToo movement, and other social unrests have all likely contributed to this shift. HR, as a profession and body of knowledge, prepares an individual to respond during such unfortunate events. Having a department focused on a company’s greatest asset is also crucial in being proactive in compliance, risk-management, personnel relations, and other potential cost-inducing business activities.
Data shows that when HR is seen as a strategic partner and valued equally as finance and operations, companies see increased success. HR can partner with teams to strategize and optimize decision-making. So let’s keep the momentum going!
Okay then, so why Tulane MJ-LEL?
In our professional HR efforts to change the narrative on HR’s bad reputation, Tulane has a degree program that will contribute to an HR professional’s toolbox. Tulane’s MJ program is expertly organized to train and educate business professionals on the legal aspects of Human Resources. The curriculum includes a variety of courses from legal analysis to gender in the workplace to social media and intellectual property. Each course is a steppingstone to becoming a skilled legal professional. With two courses per semester, the information and studying time fits into already busy, working lives. The professors are extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. It’s quite observable that their main interest is to set up us as students to become skilled, knowledgeable legal professionals and visionaries in the field.
Experiencing Tulane’s MJ-LEL program and getting the opportunity to earn this degree is the highlight of my educational experience and will be one of my proudest accomplishments – graduation date May 2024, here I come! If you are interested in becoming a legal professional either to complement your current profession, to be able to work with lawyers, or share my mission to fix HR’s reputation, make this your degree! You won’t regret it!
Changing the Narrative: HR's Bad Reputation © 2024 by Shena L. Holliday is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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