Just 18 of the FTSE-100 companies have HR representation at board level. Is this right or wrong in principle?

Yes, there are boards that will never have an HR professional, and yes there are those that may possibly not have a need for it. But you can bet that these are in the minority and that they definitely don’t account for the 82% of FTSE-100 companies which don’t have HR on their board.

So, if you’re an HR professional, and you or your boss is not on the board, let’s look for the reason.

The role of head of HR should be as varied as that of the chief executive. The core functions of personnel welfare, accountability, recruitment, training and employee administration are the sort of tasks that can happily fill the day and justify a basic remit. But they are not an argument for HR representation on the board. A really good head of HR should see themselves as the conductor of an orchestra of employees and broadly be able to understand how to play every instrument to see how each harmonises with the others.

They should have an in-depth understanding of the business model and a grasp of the nuances of how their competitors operate. They should have an insight into customers that is at least equal to that of their marketing colleagues. They should investigate profit-and-loss items way beyond employee costs. Reciting the mantra of ‘employees being our most important asset’ isn’t enough, they have to do something about it.

Stop running a department and start running the company. HR is the one function that can and should be the core from which the dynamics of the business is run.

Most newly appointed HR directors look at replicating their predecessor’s role rather than changing it. Workload and culture are often cited as reasons for this lack of proactivity. But by using this excuse, they lose the argument.

If workload can’t be reallocated to give HR executives time for more vital aspects of running the employee asset-base, then it exposes the weaknesses of the very people who are supposed to be responsible for staff allocation. If HR directors can’t reasonably justify why they need more staff to get on with making the rest of the group more effective, then they shouldn’t be in the job.

Rent the video Dead Poets Society (Robin Williams) and see how a fictional teacher took 300 years of apathetic teaching culture and single-handedly changed it for good with dramatic effect.