In this month’s HR Leader magazine, an article has been run that says ‘HR wants compulsory training for line managers’. According to a recent survey by XpertHR, 8 out of 10 HR people think management training is a must. Why? Because the majority of HR people surveyed did not rate line managers’ skills in their organization when it came to the people management skills. They attribute this to the fact that managers are increasingly taking on more people responsibilities yet too many organizations are failing to provide the relevant training and support for this to be done effectively: “Training gaps in staff development, recruitment and retention, absence management and grievance handling were just some of those identified.”
The question of where many of these functions sit – with HR or line managers – has been debated for many years. However, as line managers continue to take on more of these functions, people management training certainly needs to be provided in order to give them a fighting chance and to equip them to do it to the best of their abilities.
The question raised is whether HR should just own these functions or should line managers be skilled up to take over the people management responsibilities. What are your thoughts?
