But who is going to do all the work? Historically speaking, human resources strategy, roadmaps, and decisions, have been developed and made by human resources. Makes sense, right? However, that tide could be turning. According to a 2011 survey of human resources and finance executives by Towers Watson and Forbes Insights, 38% of finance executives believe strategy development will be much more of a shared role between human resources and finance in future years.
What does this mean? On the one hand, it could result in a showdown at the corporate corral between human resources and finance. But on the other, it could be viewed as an opportunity to develop and maximize a complementary opportunity – let human resources handle the understanding, compliance and communication aspects of health care reform and let finance assist with mitigating the new significant costs associated with this major organizational requirement. As the survey says, “Organizations that can bring both functions to the table in determining the right response to reform will be far better positioned to maintain both a competitive labor cost structure and be a talent magnet as well.”
