the HR Role in the organization
The role of the HR leader is to bring together the company objectives, the department goals, the Performance Management process, policies and practices, the handbook, and the company culture together. Alignment of all segments of the employee experience will result in cohesiveness and consistency from end to end of the organization.
HR is the Talent Leader and expert. HR is the facilitator and driver of new or improved processes. HR assist other leaders in company alignment. HR audits and examines all current practices and policies, improving them where needed. HR is the keeper of the culture.
HR leaders should make a regular practice of proactively reviewing your employment practices ensuring they are aligned with the current and evolving company goals and objectives. Only reviewing or updating when there is an “issue” can leave your company exposed and create an unfavorable work environment and culture for your team.
Let’s look at a few areas of review.
External Recruiting. Ensure you have clear job descriptions and position requirements that are developed from a job analysis. If your job descriptions haven’t been updated within the last few years, then it is time to do so. Job tasks change over time, technologies update, some tasks become obsolete – you want the job description to be reflective of the actual work being performed. If you have no job descriptions, there are base templates you can purchase, there are sample job descriptions for common jobs to use as a foundation and then you can build them out. Completing a thorough Job Analysis will help you fully understand the work that is being performed and can give you one-on-one time with your team members in their work area. The connections made are valuable and can give insight into your team’s day to day work experience.
Use structured, effective interviewing techniques and train leadership so strong candidates are selected. Hiring based on “gut” or whether or not you have a good initial phone call doesn’t always make a good match. If you have no structured process, you can create a simple one with behavior-based interview questions, there are products that you can purchase, some HRIS have built in interviewing formats and some job boards allow you to create questions that will become a part of the application process.
Performance Management. Ensure you have a strong and more importantly consistent performance process; with performance targets aligned to the company objectives. Train leadership so they provide meaningful and constructive coaching, feedback, and goal setting. You want to make sure that reviews are timely. You should consider changing your process if your performance reviews are tied to compensation. It is recommended that compensation and performance evaluation are not related processes. If your PM process hasn’t been updated in the last few years, this would be a terrific opportunity to review a new system, one that is more conversation based and less “check-box” based.
Talent Review. Develop and implement a Human Capital Review process. Identify successors and top talent. Performance manage talent that is not growing, succeeding or contributing to your organization. Ensure your talent groups are right sized and diverse. Creating career paths for your team is motivating and can drive retention. Internal mentorships, lunch and learn training sessions with senior leaders, cross-training - and other opportunities can enhance career growth. It is far easier to grow your own leadership and backfill from your own bench than to recruit leadership positions from outside the company. Knowing there is a career path in your company will attract talent and there is a great story in having leadership that has come up “through the ranks” so to speak.
Development. Assist leaders in creating personal development plans and stretch assignments for leadership successors and top talent. Discuss career interests with employees and work with your teams to create their own individual development plans. Sometimes written plans are only given to poor performers when we need to drive behavior change or they will be exited from your company. Instead, partner with all leaders, or emerging leaders and help them create meaningful plans for themselves. Foster lifelong learning.
Training programs and mentor programs support your teams in reaching their potential. Internal progression is effective for the company and engaging for your team.
Policies. Review all policies, SOPs, practices, labor posters and your handbook to ensure they are effective, up to date and aligned with the overall company objectives. Laws frequently change throughout the year. Consider signing up for a company that provides automatic notices to keep you on track. Create an action plan for improvement with each topic you audit. Auditing a little, then correcting a little and then returning to audit a little more will help you manage the volume of tasks that usually result from an audit. Consider outsourcing your HR Audit. Having a fresh and independent set of eyes can bring fresh perspective, give you ideas on prioritization on corrections and even be hired to assist in larger project work.
Employee Engagement. What kind of work experience is your team having? Life is hard, there are so many things coming at you every day. When an employee comes to work, they simply do not want more difficulties. In general, your teams want to come to work, do the things they are paid to do, have a little fun, make money and go home. Ask your teams how they are doing. Visit their staff meetings, stop by their department with a cup of tea and chat for a few minutes, or eat with different groups at lunch time. If your company conducts employee surveys, really dive into them and follow-up. Ask your team, “what is working” and “what isn’t working”? Encourage this same engagement from every leader of every team. Employees are really good at telling us what is not working - we only have to ask. And then make needed changes. If your company conducts an employee survey and then does nothing in response, it may be better to not conduct the survey.
If you need support in evaluating your current practices and brainstorming easy to implement ideas, find support in a colleague, a business coach or an HR consultant...Let’s talk.