Déjà vu?  Hate HR all over again?  With a call to “Blow up HR”, Mark Effron, vice president of talent management at Avon Products, Inc. has rekindled the earlier Hate HR firestorm.  Marc Effron advocates, “Blow up HR.  Put this corporate punching bag out of  its misery and rebuild it to focus leaders”, in a letter to Fortune’s editor in the October 16, 2007 issue.  You may remember that in August 2006, Keith Hammonds’ article, “Why We Hate HR” in FAST Company caused much furore and many of us rushed to defend HR.  To be fair, Hammonds subsequently moderated his views but HR’s reputation had taken another unfair hit. 

It's ironic that Marc Effron is responsible for talent management and is talking about leadership while making the attack on his colleagues.  Not exactly a shining example of corporate teamwork!  In addition to attacking the HR profession in general, Effron has introduced an element of toxicity into Avon’s management with the public attack on his colleague, Lucien Alziari, Avon’s senior vice president of human resources.  Alziari is a distinguished HR leader, who joined Avon in 2004 following a PepsiCo career and stints with British Rail and Mars UK.  Throughout its global operations, Avon, under the effective leadership of Andrea Jung, has long enjoyed an outstanding reputation for leading-edge HR practices.  With this single vicious “Bury HR” attack, Marc Effron has damaged the positive image of his employer, Avon Products.   

HR itself does not need any more toxicity.  Many of us contribute regularly to the ongoing debate about seeking to improve the HR profession, and we welcome new ideas.  Sadly, Mark Effron's call to “Blow up HR” makes no positive contribution to the debate about the New HR model needed to cope with the demands of a global future.  His attack just provokes negativity. 

It’s unfortunate that the HR profession does not have any formal procedures to disbar Marc Effron for unprofessional behavior, unlike our colleagues in the Legal profession.  Perhaps, HR needs create its own professional disbarment procedures.  At the very least, we should award Marc Effron with HR’s 2007 Ignominy Award for the uncalled-for attack.  The award should cite his provocative comments, “Bury HR.  Put this corporate punching bag out of its misery.”  In addition, Effron must apologize to the HR profession at large and specifically to his Avon colleague, Lucien Alziari