HR Moves Closer To The P&L As Workforce Strategy Gets Measurable
Key Points
Most organizations still treat HR as an administrative function disconnected from financial performance, missing the opportunity to tie people decisions directly to margins and productivity.
Paul J. Tiernan, Director of HR at ICA Language Services, applies an accountant’s lens to human capital, using data-driven performance systems and ROI-justified benefits strategies across a globally distributed workforce.
His approach extends to coaching managers out of performance bottlenecks and building technical HRIS capabilities that give HR the same operational rigor expected of any other business function.
I look at HR as the department in charge of leveraging people to make money. HR is the lever to improve employee performance, and employee performance needs to be tied into work metrics.
Paul J. Tiernan
Director of HR
ICA Language Services
Human resources is usually boxed in as the department of paperwork and conflict mediation. In for‑profit companies, though, HR can play a much sharper role: aligning people decisions with how the business actually makes money. When workforce management runs through a return‑on‑investment lens, HR can act as a structured way to support margins and productivity.
Paul J. Tiernan looks at human resources through an accountant’s eyes. As the Director of Human Resources at ICA Language Services, he manages a distributed workforce spanning 37 U.S. states and five countries. His background includes founding an HR consulting firm and serving as General Manager at Hotel Tabard Inn, where he reversed a $240,000 loss into a $300,000 profit. Applying that same financial discipline to human capital, he raised annual retention at his current company from 54% to 77% and reduced turnover by 25%. He treats HR as a business function whose work should show up in the company’s financial results.
“I look at HR as the department in charge of leveraging people to make money. HR is the lever to improve employee performance, and employee performance needs to be tied into work metrics,” says Tiernan. For Tiernan, applying an ROI mindset to a globally distributed workforce means paying close attention to behavior and expectations.
Benefits in translation: When it comes to overhead management, Tiernan focuses on efficiency. Drawing on his experience at Hotel Tabard Inn—where he cut health insurance costs by 40%, saving $150,000 annually—Tiernan treats employee benefits as calculated maneuvers to keep the engine running. Purchasing the absolute lowest-cost health insurance backfires if it drives top talent away and fails to keep them healthy and at work. “We need to get them the plan that’s right for the people that use it,” he says. “Because if we can’t keep them here because of benefits or pay, we’re fighting a losing battle.”
Testing the teachers: That strategy of value optimization also shapes how he approaches talent development. Tiernan prioritizes tracking specific work metrics directly tied to the organization’s outcomes, such as evaluating student scores to identify and develop high-performing teachers. He requires HR initiatives to be justified in terms of their impact on the company’s overall financial goals. “If it’s not focused on making things better, we need to make sure that functionality is making the business more profitable,” Tiernan says.
But a performance-driven culture requires capable leadership. Often, companies promote high performers into management without giving them the frameworks to lead. When these leadership gaps emerge, proactive HR leaders step in to diagnose the root cause before it impacts the bottom line. In his work, Tiernan frequently sees managers turn to HR to handle performance problems when what they actually need are coaching skills. He addresses the bottleneck by stepping in to train the leaders, equipping them with tools they can use to manage their own teams.
Managing the managers: “Personally, I use the Gallup method when it comes to talking to people and having those everyday or weekly conversations with employees to see how things are going,” he says.
From paper to programming: Tiernan views all of this as part of a larger cycle of improvement: recruiting the right people, maintaining competitive pay and benefits, refining policies, and adjusting processes as the business evolves. For many organizations, the HR function is growing more technical. Tiernan notes that modern strategy often relies on systems capabilities as much as traditional HR skills. “You’re doing a lot of systems work,” Tiernan says. “When I started in HR, it was primarily paper and a lot of computers, but now you’re actually programming the HRIS to get the information that you need.”
Tiernan’s approach relies on a technical infrastructure and HR practitioners who can use data tools to make better hiring and coaching decisions. As the scope of enterprise technology and global operations continues to expand, he expects HR leaders in for‑profit companies to act as operators who keep the business running smoothly, a direction that talent management trends also reflect. “That’s where I see HR going, to be the lever that boosts employee productivity.”
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TL;DR
Most organizations still treat HR as an administrative function disconnected from financial performance, missing the opportunity to tie people decisions directly to margins and productivity.
Paul J. Tiernan, Director of HR at ICA Language Services, applies an accountant’s lens to human capital, using data-driven performance systems and ROI-justified benefits strategies across a globally distributed workforce.
His approach extends to coaching managers out of performance bottlenecks and building technical HRIS capabilities that give HR the same operational rigor expected of any other business function.
Paul J. Tiernan
ICA Language Services
Director of HR
Director of HR
Human resources is usually boxed in as the department of paperwork and conflict mediation. In for‑profit companies, though, HR can play a much sharper role: aligning people decisions with how the business actually makes money. When workforce management runs through a return‑on‑investment lens, HR can act as a structured way to support margins and productivity.
Paul J. Tiernan looks at human resources through an accountant’s eyes. As the Director of Human Resources at ICA Language Services, he manages a distributed workforce spanning 37 U.S. states and five countries. His background includes founding an HR consulting firm and serving as General Manager at Hotel Tabard Inn, where he reversed a $240,000 loss into a $300,000 profit. Applying that same financial discipline to human capital, he raised annual retention at his current company from 54% to 77% and reduced turnover by 25%. He treats HR as a business function whose work should show up in the company’s financial results.
“I look at HR as the department in charge of leveraging people to make money. HR is the lever to improve employee performance, and employee performance needs to be tied into work metrics,” says Tiernan. For Tiernan, applying an ROI mindset to a globally distributed workforce means paying close attention to behavior and expectations.
Benefits in translation: When it comes to overhead management, Tiernan focuses on efficiency. Drawing on his experience at Hotel Tabard Inn—where he cut health insurance costs by 40%, saving $150,000 annually—Tiernan treats employee benefits as calculated maneuvers to keep the engine running. Purchasing the absolute lowest-cost health insurance backfires if it drives top talent away and fails to keep them healthy and at work. “We need to get them the plan that’s right for the people that use it,” he says. “Because if we can’t keep them here because of benefits or pay, we’re fighting a losing battle.”
Testing the teachers: That strategy of value optimization also shapes how he approaches talent development. Tiernan prioritizes tracking specific work metrics directly tied to the organization’s outcomes, such as evaluating student scores to identify and develop high-performing teachers. He requires HR initiatives to be justified in terms of their impact on the company’s overall financial goals. “If it’s not focused on making things better, we need to make sure that functionality is making the business more profitable,” Tiernan says.
But a performance-driven culture requires capable leadership. Often, companies promote high performers into management without giving them the frameworks to lead. When these leadership gaps emerge, proactive HR leaders step in to diagnose the root cause before it impacts the bottom line. In his work, Tiernan frequently sees managers turn to HR to handle performance problems when what they actually need are coaching skills. He addresses the bottleneck by stepping in to train the leaders, equipping them with tools they can use to manage their own teams.
Managing the managers: “Personally, I use the Gallup method when it comes to talking to people and having those everyday or weekly conversations with employees to see how things are going,” he says.
From paper to programming: Tiernan views all of this as part of a larger cycle of improvement: recruiting the right people, maintaining competitive pay and benefits, refining policies, and adjusting processes as the business evolves. For many organizations, the HR function is growing more technical. Tiernan notes that modern strategy often relies on systems capabilities as much as traditional HR skills. “You’re doing a lot of systems work,” Tiernan says. “When I started in HR, it was primarily paper and a lot of computers, but now you’re actually programming the HRIS to get the information that you need.”
Tiernan’s approach relies on a technical infrastructure and HR practitioners who can use data tools to make better hiring and coaching decisions. As the scope of enterprise technology and global operations continues to expand, he expects HR leaders in for‑profit companies to act as operators who keep the business running smoothly, a direction that talent management trends also reflect. “That’s where I see HR going, to be the lever that boosts employee productivity.”