Which is more beneficial for an HR career, Free MBA or SPH/PHR?

[Just Conversation]

Originally Posted by High Altitude

Since you work in HR, do you see HR responsibilities starting to be disbursed to other departments?

I only ask, because I am now starting to see this happen a little bit.

For instance, I know of a company where all recruiting has gone to marketing, payroll/record keeping/benefits to accounting, lots of hiring and other employee performance type responsibilities given to dept managers etc....basically they have dissected their HR department, spread it out to other departments and laid off most of HR.

It is just a couple companies that I know of, but I am wondering if something like this is going to catch on and spread.

This would only be effective if the people in the other departments knew how to do the HR stuff and had time for it. Could the staff in the other department:

Develop an affirmative action plan
Create a new benefits program
Design a health insurance plan
Create a compensation plan
Understand Employment Law
Understand performance management
Know how to deal with problem employees without getting the company in legal problems
Run applicant tracking and human resources software for government and corporate reports


I DOUBT IT. Many companies who try to eliminate HR run into morale, legal, benefits, compensation, performance management and recruitment problems because no one on staff knows these areas.

[Michelle21689]

Thank you everyone, I would go for both but which would you put first? I was thinking an MBA since that takes longest than a PHR correct? If I have kids in 3 years I think it would be more difficult to complete...I would absolutely go for PHR/SPHR.

I wouldn't be eligible for another year because I have to be employed 1 year but it's something to think about. They don't have a specific HR program so I would rather get a free MBA attending classes on campus since I work at the univ. than pay for A masters in HR.

[charlygal]

Do the MBA first.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by Michelle21689

Thank you everyone, I would go for both but which would you put first? I was thinking an MBA since that takes longest than a PHR correct? If I have kids in 3 years I think it would be more difficult to complete...I would absolutely go for PHR/SPHR.

I wouldn't be eligible for another year because I have to be employed 1 year but it's something to think about. They don't have a specific HR program so I would rather get a free MBA attending classes on campus since I work at the univ. than pay for A masters in HR.

MBA takes much longer than a PHR. The PHR consists of studying for and passing a certification exam. They also have prep classes that can be helpful.

Do you have a business undergrad? If so, another advantage to doing the MBA now is the school may waive many of the pre-req courses like basic accounting since you have taken them in your undergrad already.

[Burger Fan]

Originally Posted by High Altitude

Since you work in HR, do you see HR responsibilities starting to be disbursed to other departments?

I only ask, because I am now starting to see this happen a little bit.

For instance, I know of a company where all recruiting has gone to marketing, payroll/record keeping/benefits to accounting, lots of hiring and other employee performance type responsibilities given to dept managers etc....basically they have dissected their HR department, spread it out to other departments and laid off most of HR.

It is just a couple companies that I know of, but I am wondering if something like this is going to catch on and spread.

Absolutely not. I'm government so we may be different than what you may have seen, but we have far more work than we know what to do with, none of which can be farmed out to other areas of the institution, if for no other reason than legal/contractual limitations.