The Death of HR — Why the Human Resources Profession Failed Its Final Exam

Why the Human Resources Profession Failed 

For decades, Human Resources was positioned as the moral compass of organizations—custodian of culture, protector of fairness, and architect of talent. But reality has exposed something uncomfortable: HR has been more “Human Remains” than Human Resources.

The shocking closure of over 200,000 companies, as reported by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, reveals something deeper than economic turbulence. It exposes systemic failure across leadership, governance, and—critically—the HR function.

1. HR Was Never Independent — It Obeyed the Boss, Not the Truth

In most organisations, HR does not report to ethics. It reports to power.
When the boss is biased, HR becomes biased.
When the boss wants shortcuts, HR provides shortcuts.
When the boss hires substandard people, HR simply stamps the paperwork.

HR rarely challenges bad leadership because HR itself is structurally dependent on leadership approval.
A function that cannot say “no” is not a function—it’s a formality.

2. Poor Hiring = Poor Companies = Poor Survival

Companies do not collapse because markets shifted; they collapse because their people could not shift with the market.

When HR hires:

• the wrong leaders,

• the wrong managers,

• the wrong employees

…the organisation becomes a slow-moving bureaucracy destined for irrelevance.

The closures across India demonstrate this: capability gaps kill companies faster than competition does.

3. Performance Reviews Became Obedience Reviews

Most performance systems in India evaluate conformance, not performance.
Employees are rewarded not for creativity or capability but for:

• pleasing the boss,

• maintaining silence,

• following outdated procedures.

This destroys innovation from within.
A company where questioning is punished is a company ready for burial.

4. Leadership Development Programs Failed — Especially the Expensive Ones

Leadership programs offered by prestigious institutions (including top management schools) have not translated into organisational transformation.
Why?

Because leadership cannot be learned in a classroom—it must be practiced in a culture that allows real leadership.
When participants return to toxic environments, the certificates become decorative, not transformative.

5. Investors Didn’t Know Where to Invest — Because Information Was Broken

Investors depend heavily on:

• governance disclosures

• HR reporting

• leadership transparency

When HR masks internal rot with polished presentations, investors miscalculate risk.
The result?
Capital flows into fragile companies while strong ones struggle for visibility.

6. A Portion of These Companies Were Simply Shells

Among the thousands of companies that shut down, some were used for:

• money laundering

• invoice routing

• circular trading

• tax evasion

• dormant asset parking

HR was either bypassed or knowingly compliant, failing to question suspicious hiring patterns, payroll anomalies, or identity mismatches.

7. The Final Verdict: HR, As We Knew It, Is Dead

The traditional HR model—
administrative, obedient, compliance-driven, politically dependent—
is no longer viable.

The world demands:

• Strategic HR, not clerical HR

• Data-driven HR, not intuition-driven HR

• Ethical HR, not obedient HR

• Talent Architect HR, not Process Administrator HR

• Courageous HR that can challenge a CEO if required

Most organisations do not have such HR.

And when the foundation is weak, the building collapses.

HR Did Not Fail Because It Was Weak — It Failed Because It Was Never Empowered

The profession was never given the independence required to protect the organisation from itself.
It became a spokesperson for leadership rather than a safeguard for culture.

Thus, HR—as it has been traditionally structured—is no longer relevant.
It must either reinvent itself entirely or make way for a new model:

People Science + Organizational Psychology + Data Analytics + Governance Integrity = The New HR.

Until then, the obituary is clear:

HR is dead.

Long live People Strategy.