Why HR Should be THANKFUL for Obamacare!

I was at a local SHRM gathering recently conversing with a group of peers when I inadvertently pricked a nerve in the middle of an otherwise pleasant conversation amongst HR professionals.

“So, you guys get a handle on this Obamacare thing yet?”

You’d have thought by their faces that I’d just brought up religion or politics while breaking wind.

As painful as it is, I say “Thank God for Obamacare.”

I’m not saying this to champion any administration or political agenda. Rather, I am thankful for what Obamacare has revealed about the dysfunctional ways that many organizations approach Human Resource Administration. Dysfunction brought to light can finally be dealt with.

Part of the problem is how HR has been conditioned to deal with admin loads through “the technology quick-fix.” As innovative firms continuously poured out new HR software resources over the past two decades, Human Resource departments grew fat with disparate software. Over time, managers have done their best to quilt together this patchwork of siloed software systems with manual work-arounds and Excel spreadsheets. It all seemed to be going fine until mandatory Obamacare compliance pushed these hodgepodge systems to their breaking point.

HR’s Obamacare plight is part and parcel to a greater problem, and it pertains to how organizations tend to approach Human Resource matters in general. While systems theory and lean thinking has made its way into operations, sales, and marketing departments, rarely have these thinking modes and methodologies crossed over into HR. Understandably so—the prevailing opinion of HR is that it’s pure expense, at best a cost-controller, and not worth the investment.

Now, as Obamacare with its lungs full of lofty penalties is knocking on their door, many employers are realizing that their HR departments are but houses of straw. Not to the fault of the professionals that worked there—they’ve only been given straw with which to build.

Unfortunately, many employers are going about solving their Obamacare crisis the same way they’ve solved other HR issues. “HR, fix this problem. And do it as cheap as possible.”

Sound familiar? It’s this search for the simplest and cheapest solution that has left HR professionals frazzled and inundated with inefficient administrative burdens that suck away every ounce of creative thought.  It’s not an excuse, it’s a direct outcome of the dysfunctional environment organizations have created by reducing HR to mindless spreadsheet generators and poster hangers.

I’m thankful for Obamacare because its requirement for data consolidation has been a catalyst for dialogue around HR administrative restructuring—a necessary step in growing HR into a strategic player.

In other words, HR has a fleeting opportunity to use the search for an Obamacare solution to build the case for administrative streamlining and redeployment of current resources. Perhaps this entails a large-scale move to an integrated HRM System that fulfills their employer’s Obamacare needs and creates administrative efficiencies in the process. Perhaps it means increasing administrative outsourcing and freeing up people for redeployment toward strategic HR projects. Either way, administrative streamlining and business process outsourcing ought to be part of the Obamacare solution. As Prof. Ed Lawler writes in his book, Global Trends in Human Resource Management: A 20 Year Study, administrative outsourcing is an essential step in creating conditions for Human Resource professionals to grow into a more strategic role.

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 Related Blog: Strategic HR: What it Means and How to Get There

Of course, the other option is to continue the routine of seeking out the “simplest and cheapest” solution possible, and adding yet another bundle of straw to an already flimsy HR system. Just pray it doesn’t get windy. Obamacare won’t be the last administrative nightmare that comes along.

Related Blog: What to Look for When Selecting an Obamacare Solution

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