People are at the heart of organisations. Without the right people, there are no new ideas, there is no innovation, essentially there is no progress. And in any of today’s industries, you cannot sit still for a minute because digital innovation is disrupting us all.
HR keeps this vital part of the organisation pumping and driving business success. But it’s more than just good management of different processes, it’s about developing a people strategy that supports business goals.
As processes become automated, HR has the opportunity to push itself into a more strategic role, making an impact on the success of the organisation, its people and the overall running of the HR department. However, due to perceptions of HR being an operational function in the business, it has been hit with a lot of criticism. In 2014, Harvard Business Review 1 published an article with a rather brutal description of CHROs: “Most of them are process-oriented generalists who have expertise in personnel benefits, compensation, and labour relations. What they can’t do very well is relate HR to real-world business needs. They don’t know how key decisions are made, and they have great difficulty analysing why people—or whole parts of the organisation—aren’t meeting the business’s performance goals.”
In the face of change, HR must adapt much like finance and marketing did a decade ago. If HR cannot develop a people management strategy that aligns with the business ambition, then it cannot be a legitimate part of the leadership team. Tall order? Not if you hit the ground running using our tips.
This smart paper is about HR’s impact on the business and is part of the HR. Make It series. The purpose of this series is to equip HR with insights and practical tips to make people management simpler, faster, smarter and better.
We all know the theory so this is the year we make it happen. Let’s see all the great HR people out there have an impact on talent and the success of the wider business. As Elvis Presley would tell you ‘a little less conversation, a little more action please’.
3 Three tips to keep it simple
- Consumerise to make it easy and simple : We’re used to intuitive design on any device. Please, if you need a manual to work the system, no-one will use the system. Arm your employees and managers with a simple yet effective process. The harder your HR systems are to use, the less likely you’ll get regular and accurate input.
Employees need to have a way of managing their own information, and to be accountable for it – self-service style.
For managers, they need more sophisticated tools that can assist them to plan for teamdevelopment, give feedback and recruit. We like our images so think to display information visually to increase engagement and completion of tasks too.
- Carefully manage data : Employee information stored by organisations consists of a mix of company and private data. Beyond compliance regulations, HR must ensure that the right data is seen and used by the right people.
A rule of thumb is to only collect data that the organisation really needs. With new General Data Protection Regulations in Europe, there will be changes to the way HR can collect and store data, and companies will need to be compliant.
- Be transparent and communicate : A synonym of purpose is motivation. People are more accepting of admin tasks if they understand the purpose. If employees understand the importance of updating personal information in a timely way, they’re more likely to do it. Likewise, managers are more likely to perform ongoing reviews if they know that the information will be analysed and used, not just filed away.
Being transparent and communicating the reasons for specific processes will ensure higher and quicker completion rates. It’s also crucial to keep following up to ensure things get done– we’re all busy people.
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