Speaking at London HR Connection networking event HR Can Get the Top Job, Abdin said HR needs to realise the power it has to influence commercial performance and take its place in the boardroom.
"HR can deliver results as long as it understands the main drivers of performance," she said.
Abdin revealed that only 5% of CEOs come from traditional "people services", whereas 50% come from finance, marketing or operational backgrounds.
Abdin said when she was company secretary at a previous organisation she looked through the records to see how many times ‘people’ had been mentioned in board meetings. "It was only once, during the time of the employee survey. I decided that needed to change."
Abdin put her own HR director in charge of strategic review at Simplyhealth.
"People said that couldn't be right when I told them," she said. "But for me HR is at the heart of the company. No one understands better the changes that the organisation needs to connect with both its employees and its customers."
It is not always possible to present hard figures demonstrating the return on investment in people programmes, according to Abdin.
However, she denied this would turn hard-nosed executive boards away from funding the area. "When someone who is earning £18,000 a year is helping me directly or working late or from home, that shows all the value you need," she said.
