A beautiful meteor shower has rendered those who watched it blind. Bill, having been splashed with genetically engineered triffid plant venom during his work, missed all this and appears to be the only one who can still see.

And what he sees are triffids taking over the world as they kill their victims with a deadly, whip-like poisonous sting, feeding on their rotting carcasses.

This is what is happening in the world of HR at the moment, although the triffids in question are in fact marketers and their victims traditional HR folk. For the march of marketers is gathering pace, leaving in its wake a plethora of personnel cadavers without the acumen to fight off the sting of the people that late comedian Bill Hicks described as the “ruiners of all things good”.

Before the emails come thick and fast into my inbox I must point out that I have nothing against marketers. In fact, my beef is with those in HR for failing to step up to the mark and prevent interlopers taking their role as head of people at a time when people (in particular getting the best talent) is top of most chief executives’ agenda.

Of course, I am not talking about all HR people. There are many HR directors who quite rightly sit at the top table, whose opinion the CEO seeks regularly and especially when thinking of future strategy. The HRDs of McDonald’s, Tesco and Procter & Gamble spring to mind. But, just as HR is taking its rightful place as a core element in business strategy, it is in danger of proving the detractors right and allowing people from other, supposedly more businesslike, disciplines to take its place.

The trend of marketers running the people agenda took a big step forward last year when Cable & Wireless restructured its HR department, renaming it People and Brand. Now Sainsbury’s is following the trend with the appointment of customer director Gwyn Burr to its top HR job. Burr this week took up the newly created role of customer service and colleague director.

In her new role Burr drops responsibility for marketing, own-label brand strategy and store space but retains customer service, PR/corporate communications, CSR and sponsorship roles, adding the people agenda.

So is this bad news for HR? Sainsbury’s thinks not and I agree. There is much synergy between marketing and people external and internal brand, communication, reputation and so on. Bringing marketing and HR together means the role of people is directly aligned to bigger strategic growth plans. As Burr says: “I have always said Sainsbury’s is an experiential brand.”

The challenge now is for the world of HR to ensure it shows it can deliver better on people strategy. After all, Bill survived the triffid invasion to begin a new life.

Siân Harrington is editor of Human Resources magazine

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