Does HR have an image problem?

Charlie is right on target. Additionally, HR needs to stay current. I recently spoke to a group of 70 HR professionals and many were not aware of various social media tools, let alone were they using them regularly. If we aren't on top of how quickly the world of business (not the world of HR only) is moving, then we need to step aside and let the new age HR leaders take over.

I agree with what all my colleagues said and I want to add in that HR can help their "image" problem by continually focusing on how their programs support business needs and initiatives. If they can demonstrate consistently to business leaders that the HR programs and initiatives have a direct impact on propelling the business forward and/or supporting a business objective, they would begin to be consistently viewed as a strategic partner. It is always about the business and moving the business forward. Through their work, HR professionals impact that regularly and the more they can articulate and demonstrate that, the more highly they will be valued by business leaders.

The problem is that HR has always been pictured as the administrative guidepost for the organization. If you had a pay issue you wet to HR. If you had a benefit issue you went to HR. The problem is that the world has changed. HR has not. As David Ulrich so eloquently said in his books, HR has always tried to impress on upper management with what it is that HR does.
If we want to change the image, then HR needs to move towards understanding how and what the organizational strategy direction is. We need to refocus our view to one of understanding how our HR processes affect that strategy. We need to change our focus to what HR delivers to the organization.

I agree with facets of each answer listed here and would like to throw in my own 2 cents. Like Charlie said, we need to stop worrying so much about our supposed image and start worrying about what matters most...the people we serve, the standards that we're held to and how we do what we do. Like Jay, we also need to stay current...ensure that we understand not only what is happening in our own worlds but also what is happening in the business world at large. We need to be able to walk the walk and talk the talk. To Daniel's point, we need to understand the business. In order for HR to be a part of the business, we need to understand the business. How can we do what's in the best interest of our employees and our companies, if we don't even know what the business' key pain points and opportunities are? The day HR's "image" changes is the day that we stop doing and start being. Stop talking about being a partner to your leaders and start actually being one. Show your worth through your actions...not your words. Image is about credibility and credibility is about execution. Plain and simple.

In a word, yes. The old Big Hat No Cattle label may not be heard often these days but it is still the case that senior HR people and the profession as a whole are not taken seriously by finance directors and even HR directors themselves have given up on the idea that they should be on the board. Without a real power base HR struggles to make an impact and it's universally accepted that there are still very few genuinely strategic HR functions. HR is sometimes criticised for hiding behind policy, procedure and compliance because it allows them to play the policeman and they are in their comfort zone. In fact there is far more risk in failing to have the right people in place than there is in getting a tribunal complaint yet HR fails to make the case for investment in strategic HR in many organisations. The reality is that with HR transactions going online in larger oganisations most people only see HR managers these days when they get their redundancy notice. This is a shame because HR is not irrelevant to organisational effectiveness, quite the opposite as many organisations fail because they fail to address people issues.

Until HR starts creating deeper, business dependent relationships with Employee Development, and starts demonstrating, measuring and showcasing value in terms that are important to the C-suite - concrete, business related KPIs - then HR will continue to be seen as a non-strategic department. Knowing that 90% of a workforce was trained is nice, knowing that surveys reveal 90% of a workforce says they have tools to do their job is nice, but the C-suite needs to see and know how the workforce is driving business critical programs and initiatives - because of hiring and training.