Shared Goals, Shared Value — Where HR and Security Naturally Overlap
Bridging two departments can unlock enterprise resilience, people protection, and smarter security management.
Picture this: Your newest employee, let’s call her Akua, just started work on Monday. By Wednesday, she’s clicked three phishing links🎣, propped open the server room door with a fire extinguisher (“for airflow!” 💨) and is now asking IT why his login isn’t Password123. Who saves the day? HR and security — working together like Batman and Alfred. 🦇☕
Culture eats strategy for breakfast — If security feels like the office police 👮, employees will hide mistakes instead of reporting them.
Better Together: When HR & Security Join Forces
What happens when HR and Security stop giving each other the side-eye and start working together? Magic. (Or at least a safer, smarter, and more resilient workplace.)
Sure, HR is all about people, policies, and that one employee who still can’t figure out the printer. Security? They’re busy monitoring threats, locking down systems, and side-eyeing that same printer because it might be a security risk. But dig deeper, and you’ll find their missions overlap more than a Venn diagram at a team-building retreat.
In today’s world — where risks range from cyberattacks to workplace conflicts — the question isn’t if HR and Security should collaborate. It’s how fast you can make it happen. Because when they team up? Good things follow:
✔ Smoother onboarding (no more ghost accounts haunting your systems)
✔ Faster threat detection (HR knows that look before IT sees that log)
✔ Better crisis response (because panic is not a strategy)
Let’s break down where these two powerhouse teams align — and how to turn that overlap into your organization’s secret weapon.
1. Security Isn’t Just Locks & Firewalls — It’s People
Gone are the days when security meant guards at the gate and cameras in the hallway. Today, your biggest risk — and greatest defense — is your people.
HR holds the keys to employee behaviour, from hiring to exit interviews.
Security needs that intel. When they sync up, organizations gain:
🔹 Early risk flags (Is that new hire too curious about restricted files?)
🔹 Stronger workplace safety (HR + Security = a united front against threats)
🔹 Faster crisis response (No more HR and Security playing phone tag during an emergency)
Bottom line?
If security is a language, HR is the translator — and everyone needs to be fluent.
Enterprise resilience is stronger when everyone speaks the same language — especially when people are at the centre of your risk environment.
2. Where HR & Security Already Cross Paths (They Don’t Know It Yet)
Forced teamwork is the worst. (See: every awkward icebreaker ever.) But HR and Security are already working together — just maybe not intentionally. Here’s where their worlds collide:
🔸 Onboarding/Offboarding
- Security: Revoke their access before they even clean out their desk.
- HR: Also, remind them about the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)… again.
🔸 Insider Threats
- Security: Why is this employee accessing files at 3 AM?
- HR: Oh, that’s Bob. He’s on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and bitter.
🔸 Crisis Response
- Security: Evacuate the building!
- HR: And here’s the mental health hotline for after.
🔸 Policy Enforcement
- Security: No tailgating into secure areas!
- HR: We put it in the handbook. Page 47 (But nobody reads page 47).
🔸 Investigations
- Security: We need logs of their activity.
- HR: We’ve got receipts — literally.
The fix?
By mapping out these shared workflows, both functions can reduce redundancy, increase speed, and deliver a better employee experience.
3. Why This Partnership Doesn’t Always Click (Yet)
Let’s be real — HR and Security don’t always see eye to eye. Common roadblocks:
🚧 Different dialects — HR talks culture, Security talks threats.
🚧 Data silos — Security can’t act on what they don’t know.
🚧 Ownership gaps — Who handles workplace violence prevention (Spoiler: Both should.)
🚧 Cultural clashes— Security seems punitive; HR seems overprotective.
The solution?
A shared mission, anchored in protecting people and enabling operations. Both functions must agree: “We’re in this together.”
4. How to Make This Partnership Work
No need for a corporate lovefest — just practical steps to align HR and Security:
✅ Form a Task Force— Hold quarterly alignment meetings. Assign a liaison from each team to coordinate actions.
✅ Share Data (Responsibly) — Define what information can be shared (e.g., performance trends, access logs) and use anonymized data when discussing patterns or risks.
✅ Co-Design Policies and Protocols — Draft insider threat or workplace violence protocols together and ensure policies are people-centric, not just compliance-centric.
✅ Train Together— Run joint tabletop exercises and emergency drills. Invite HR to security briefings and vice versa.
✅ Speak Plainly — Do away with the acronyms. Focus on outcomes: How does this support employee safety and organizational resilience?
5. Final Thought: Build Bridges, Not Walls
Security and HR don’t have to agree on everything. But they must align on purpose: safeguarding people and ensuring business continuity.
As security leaders evolve into strategic partners, and HR takes on a bigger role in organizational risk, their collaboration becomes not just helpful — but essential.
Ask yourself:
- Where are the handoff points between Security and HR?
- Are we proactively working together — or just reacting when things go wrong?
- What’s one small thing we can co-own today?
Because shared goals create shared value. And that’s how you build a secure, adaptive, people-first organization.
Call to Action
What’s working (or not) in your HR–Security partnership? Let’s hear your stories, wins, or roadblocks in the comments — or reach out to collaborate on building more resilient teams.
Written by Jedidah Rhoda Morkly
Jedidah Rhoda Morkly is an HR Professional who blends quality assurance into HR strategies to boost workplace efficiency and team morale. But here’s the twist: she’s also pushing to make security everyone’s responsibility — not just IT’s. Jedidah believes protecting data and client privacy isn’t a niche task — it’s a shared effort across all departments. By merging HR insight with security awareness, she’s on a mission to help build workplaces where people and data thrive safely. She currently serves on the communications team for ASIS Accra Chapter 278.
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