Pro Bono in the Human Resources Profession
The Taproot Foundation is currently working to expand the Human Resources practice area, so I have been doing a lot of research on the subject. In the course of my research, I have noticed that many of the industry leaders, the big hitters in HR, are not doing pro bono. Compared to other categories of professional services firms, there is significantly less formal pro bono work in the HR field. This came as a big surprise to me because I would think that such a people-centric profession would be really into pro bono, and the philosophy of HR seems consistent with the tenets of the pro bono movement.
In HR there is an emphasis on people as commodities and methods to best leverage the skills and talents of these commodities to help an organization reach its strategic goals. In Pro Bono there, too, is an emphasis on people as valuable commodities, and it is by leveraging the skills and talents of people that pro bono improves society. The end goal of HR may be narrower, but the thinking is similar. It seems natural, therefore, to expect that many members of the HR profession would want to join the pro bono movement. I can only continue to puzzle as to why the pro bono ethic is not a bigger part of the institution of HR.
I wonder how HR professionals feel about this and whether they would like to see the firms they work for doing more pro bono.
