“Breaking down the barriers between the human resources and finance functions can reap a number of benefits for an organization. When there’s an understanding of the connections to the firm’s overall strategic vision, a comprehension of each other’s purpose, and critical evaluation of their shared value in supporting that vision, an HR and finance collaboration can be truly effective.”
These words came from a fantastic ADP article by Victorio Milian, an HR consultant, writer and speaker from New York City. He used the article to argue that HR and finance need to work together and understand each other’s roles, an argument that I agree with.
And so in today’s article, I thought I’d build on that and share a few thoughts of my own.
Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Most people think that HR is about the softer side of business because it revolves around dealing with people, while finance is seen as being about the harder side because it deals with numbers.
The truth is that these days, both HR and finance have soft and hard sides, and if your teams are to be at their best, they need to be willing and able to mix the two. It’s like chocolate chip ice cream, where we need both the crunchiness of the chocolate chip and the softness of the ice cream to work together.
Finance and accounting leaders need to understand people so that they can recommend solutions that will drive positive employee behavior. Meanwhile, HR teams need to understand how employee decisions can affect the financials.
Parlez-Vous Français?
Most companies have historically operated in such a way that the HR team speaks French and the finance team speaks German. That’s all well and good when they’re communicating within their own departments, but it also stops them from sharing information as efficiently as they could do.
Instead, they both need to speak each other’s language, or alternatively they need to find a common language that works for them both, like if they both communicated in English.
From an HR point of view, we need to understand the impact their recommendations will have on the bottom line. If they recommend a new system, policy or benefit, they need to be able to argue their case and show why making the change will be worthwhile.
Finance needs to be able to do the same but in reverse. They need to understand that while keeping an eye on return-on-investments (ROIs) is all well and good, they also need to factor in the human element. If finance is exclusively focused on cutting costs, for example, then their best case scenario would be for every single employee to be laid off.
And so whether you work in HR, finance, or some other department, my advice to you remains the same. Communication is key, and if you’re not speaking the same language as everyone else in your company, you’re setting yourself up for failure before you ever get out of the gate.
That’s it for me, and I’m off to eat a bowl of ice cream because the idea’s in my head and now I can’t stop thinking about it.
You might not know this about me, but I’m an ice cream nut who once lived in Le Mars, Iowa. Le Mars is known as the Ice Cream Capital of the World because it’s the home of Wells Enterprises, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of ice cream.
I also own a Ninja CREAMi ice cream maker so that I can make my own ice cream. I think it’s about time for me to whip up another batch.
