The "Dispensable" HR Philosophy

One of the biggest sins and tragedies of Human Resource Management in Organizations, is the arrogance to consider their staff to be dispensable and replacable, and to make the staff feel completely underappreciated.

Many a times, especially the “major” companies, when people leave, they tell them “Sure, you can go, there are hundreds of people out there waiting to get YOUR job”.
Also another tendency is to find fault with the staff, and heavily penalizing them for little mistakes they did, completely overlooking the positive contributions they have made.

1) Reality: an organization is nothing without its people. Without the people, your “organization” is only assets, systems and taxes. If your people are dispensable, then so are your values, vision and ambitions – so what’s left?
Assets, systems, and taxes? Let the robots rule the world lah!

Khalifah Umar ibn Al-Khattab recognizes this - once he was sitting at the masjid, and he asked his companions – if you were to make one wish, what would it be?
And after they stated their wishes, Umar said, “as for me, I wish this masjid was full of great men – men in the likes of Abu Ubaidah al-Jarrah and Mu’adz ibn Jabal” - men who can change the world and truly make a difference.
Without great men, masjids can fall, khalifahs can be overthrown, da’wah stopped, knowledge only stored in books.

Simply put, without great individuals, organizations fail.


2) “Those who aren’t thankful to people, aren’t thankful to Allah” (authentic hadith narrated in Sunan At-Tirmidzi)

If you fail to recognize people’s true contributions, and the value they add, and if you consider them dispensable in spite of all this, then the truth is, you aren’t thankful to God.

Think about it: What kind of hypocrisy do you live with, when you expect God to forgive your sins and reward you with Paradise and to reward all your efforts, yet you yourself fail to acknowledge the good in people?

Loyalty cannot come out of lack of acknowledgement and gratitude.

3) If the good people leave, who’s left?
People who recognize that their talents can add value elsewhere, and who feel ‘dispensable’ – won’t hesitate to move on.
But people who feel a little bit insecure due to them feeling a lack of experience/skill, would choose to stay despite being dispensable - because they don’t have much of a choice.

So, theoretically, if we continue this ‘dispensable’ HR Philosophy, in the long run, the good people go, and the not-so-good ones stay.
So what does that speak for the future of the organization?


Let’s treat human beings in our organizations with the right empathy, gratitude and respect. When we do, only then can we fully unlock their potential and provide them the ripe platform to change the world.

Allah reminds the Prophet Muhammad (sallAllahu alayhi wasallam) in his wisdom in dealing with his companions:

فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِنَ اللَّـهِ لِنْتَ لَهُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ كُنْتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ الْقَلْبِ لَانْفَضُّوا مِنْ حَوْلِكَ ۖ فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ ۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّـهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
“..And had you been severe and harsh-hearted (with them), they would have surely broken away from you;
so pass over (their faults), and ask (Allah's) Forgiveness for them;
and consult them in the affairs.
Then when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah, certainly, Allah loves those who put their trust (in Him).”
(Surah Al-Imran 3:159)