Running organisations that employ lots of people is increasingly difficult. No wonder the Rich List is full of more property entrepreneurs than any other kind. Inanimate objects like buildings can’t sue for unfair dismissal for discrimination over age, race, faith, gender, or sexual orientation – or demand flexible working or maternity rights.

Bosses who do a poor job can be as bad as workers: no one seems to accept blame for anything. Rose Gibb, chief executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Health Trust, received a £75,000 pay-off after at least 90 patients died from clostridium difficile in hospitals she ran. The message is: reward for catastrophic failure.

Companies should cut back on non-essential functions and ship expensive jobs abroad to cheap countries when they can. Legislators who have never met a payroll refuse to understand that when they gold-plate employment rights, they ultimately destroy jobs and prosperity. That is why unemployment is so high.  

Companies should get fit now. As Albert Einstein said: “Bureaucracy is the death of any achievement.” When it is a question of survival, there is no room for the non-essential. And the HR function is anything but essential.