Simplicity will Amplify Your Business Outcomes.

In the July 2025 edition of HRMonthly, the AHRI National President, Michael Rosmarin, referenced research that found employees in organisations with simplified practices were significantly more innovative, experienced higher levels of trust, and showed stronger retention. 

He highlighted how complexity creeps in without intent and recommends focusing on providing leaders with tools that are user friendly, frameworks that are easy to understand, and processes that connect clearly to business priorities. 

As Michael concluded: “In that context, HR’s ability to simplify isn’t just helpful, it’s essential.”

Yet, in a second article in the same magazine, Melissa MacGowan points out that HR Practitioners still spend 50% of their time in reactive mode leading to a constant battle between responding to urgency and planning for impact.  Her advice includes simplifying workflows, reframing performance conversations around business values, and aligning HR’s effort to align with business KPI’s rather than just HR ones.

And in a third article, Richard Gerver, argued that we have over complicated business processes from a place of fear or the need to prove ourselves.  He argues that when you simplify things, employees don’t feel like they must prove their worth or justify their role.  He concludes that when communicating an idea, it should be in a way that a five-year-old could understand.

In essence all are confirming what my colleague, Di Armbrust and I, argued in our book “The 2% Effect” 10 years ago.  Our premise, backed by extensive experience, was that overly complicated policies and processes are designed to stop a small percentage of people (the 2%) from doing the wrong thing.  Unfortunately, as we pointed out, this approach has two unintended consequences.  Firstly, the 2% now have more rules to break. And secondly, the good people who don’t need the rules in the first place, just get frustrated with the additional impost on their ability to achieve their goals.

I therefore agree with Michael’s comment that “In that context, HR’s ability to simplify isn’t just helpful, it’s essential.”

My point is that that Di and I were correct all those years ago.  Simplicity isn’t just helpful, it’s essential.

Yet today, 10 years later, the challenge remains for HR Practitioners. How can you continue to make your processes simpler and easier?  Or perhaps the challenge remains for leaders and managers.  How do you support and encourage your HR Practitioner(s) to make their processes simpler and easier.

Either way the answer remains the same.  Simpler and easier HR processes.  Oh, and I’d argue risk and compliance training processes can also be addressed the same way to also give the same outcomes.

For the past 25 years I have proven such simplicity is possible. The challenge is, do you, the reader, have the courage to start the necessary changes.  I hope so.

If you want to know more, contact me personally. Cheers Mark.