Every company or organization is built through a roadmap that defines its goals and motivates the individual working for those goals. The process that is undertaken in setting the road map in realizing organizational goals through the company’s most vital asset—its people—is the core of strategic human resource planning.
A typical strategic HR plan lays down the strengths and weaknesses of every company or organization. It provides an overview of almost all aspects of the organization, the current environment of the company, the situation it’s in, and where it should be in connection to the goals set within a specific time frame.
For the company to thrive and reach its goals, a clear strategic plan for human resources is needed. Human Resource (HR) planning is a process that determines the present and future human resources based on the actual needs of the organization and company in order to realize its plans.
It simply connects HR management with the totality of the company’s strategic HR plan. It also ensures that the company’s HR requirements were ascertained based on the specific goals set by the company itself. In this way, HR management can integrate HR planning into the entire working process, the mission and vision, and the needs of all stakeholders of the company.
In integrating the HR planning to the totality of the company’s current operations, an assessment must be done first. It is important to note the longevity of the HR department whether it’s a newly established HR dept or a long-standing one. The present size, as well as the expected growth according to the organizational plan, must be considered also.
Considerations In Building Your HR Department
If you are building your HR department from the ground up, the following must be taken into meticulous consideration:
- HR priorities – This is all about setting up the primary goals of the HR department in connection to the vision-mission goals of the company. Creating a contextualized HR handbook comes in handy as well. If you want a clear path ahead, better start right. A handbook will clearly define the best practices expected of the employees, systematic workflows, succession plan, compensation details, hiring procedures, job descriptions, and other necessary details.
- Onboarding all stakeholders – All people involved must be on the same ground when building your HR department. All must be acquainted with all the policies from the companywide staffing plan to the performance evaluation process. All the processes in-between must be thoroughly explained and get all the people on board. Aside from the policies and plans, the budget must be deliberately set examining the pros and cons both from the perspective of the management and employees. This must be done to comply with the federal and state labor and employment laws.
Areas for Human Resource Assessment
All stakeholders must also be well-oriented in the following areas for Human Resource assessment
- General workforce planning and implementation – This includes the details of the entire workforce, their recruitment, and deployment as well as retention.
- Possible work environment and conditions – This is all about personnel relations, workplace safety and security, job satisfaction, and plans for professional development
- Human Resources Information Systems – This includes first: the system and its maintenance; second is the process that provides reliable data for informed decision making.
- Performance Management – Performance expectations must be clearly explained. Regular giving of feedback to stimulate productivity must be given.
Approaching Your HR Development Plan
However, a different approach must be taken if you are building an HR department in view of expansion.
Here are some tips.
- Revisiting priorities – This is the time when you will identify how far you have come and what is left to achieve. See if you have diverted from the original plan and what must be done to realign yourselves to the goals of the company. Goals must be redefined too if there are amendments that must be done. If the previous goals set are still relevant to the present time. In revisiting the priorities one must also establish the aim of assessment–identifying the concerns that must be addressed. The management must decide what kind of approach to be taken in order to get the most out of the assessment.
- Action Plan –At this point, an outline of the entire plan, like the scope of work, activity schedules, stakeholders agreement, and other vital details must be laid down. It must be organized in a way that shows the summary of the evaluation results and the budget implications of each action plan.
- Budget – Expanding human resources entails a serious additional budget for the department. The company must not only project the usual HR expenses like salary and benefits, HR software, maintenance, but also incentives and training expenses. These are necessary costs to prepare the ground and the employees for productivity and personnel retention.
- Data Collection – Identifying the existing documents like evaluation, survey, documentation of the previous activities, company reports, and other available sources that might be significant for the company’s assessment.
- Data gaps and other areas of improvement – When enough data are being collected and evaluated in line with the assessment goals, specific gaps and areas of improvement will naturally rise to the surface.
- Data Analysis – This process includes the revelation of the root cause of the gaps and other areas that impede the company from reaching its goals. Now you can come up with recommendations and methodology that are simple, realistic, and have a sustainable impact on the company since we are not only talking about the present but the future of the entire company.
Best HR Practices Around The World
In addition to the varied human resource assessment approach, here are the best HR practices around the world and the latest trends that are worth following.
Implementing Selective Hiring Unconventionally
Identifying potential employees and developing a hiring strategy for certain roles is crucial for the company’s success and critical to the company’s short and long-term goals. There are specific roles and tasks that require specialized soft skills and applicants that possess those soft skills are harder to find and more difficult to assess.
It becomes imperative to use other means to fetch such rare talents, such as joining social media groups that can vouch for individuals with sought-after soft skills. Another thing to consider is the organizational culture that the applicant must fit into or adapt to.
Designing an Effective Contextualized Training Program Based on Current Assessments
You cannot expect productivity from untrained personnel. Academic background, credentials, experiences, and previous merits are not enough for you to gauge that an employee will perform well in his/her current job.
He/she must have a custom-fit training opt for her new job in his/her new environment. Determine first the key areas necessary for improvement. These areas must be need-based. Employees must have continuous learning opportunities to be motivated and maintain their vigor to perform well.
Establishing Self-Managed Team
Self-managed teams are process-dependent. They do not require constant close monitoring. Instead, they have the initiative and knowledge to accomplish their tasks with or without their manager’s constant supervision.
Everyone is working together to achieve a common goal. Team members take responsibility and own their work as they are more in control of their daily work routine. They are motivated as they are directly accountable based on their performance.
Appropriate Use of HR Technology in Hiring, Retaining and Terminating Personnel
Almost everything nowadays operates more efficiently by using technology however there must be a balance in utilizing technology in HR operations.
The technology must be scrutinized and tested in order to reliable information and efficient automation to further enhance the overall HR processes.
Setting the Right Compensation, Rewards, Incentives, and Recognition
Compensation is the monetary or non-cash payments given to an employee in exchange for his/her service for a certain business.
A reward is a prize that the company or employer bestows upon an employee for a job exceptionally done while an incentive is awarded as a motivating factor.
The primary aim of the company or employer is to foster healthy competition and encourage every person to excel in their performance. The reward is not predetermined hence it is announced or given after a certain period of time. It could be in the form of money or non-monetary.
However, the incentive is set in advance to stimulate their desire to excel or reach a specific target or goals for the company. Recognition is the means by which a personnel is being acknowledged for their significant contribution to the entire company.
Compensation, rewards, incentives, and recognition are the best motivating factors to keep your employees engaged, interested, and motivated to give their all. These are necessary aspects to take into account to maintain a vibrant and productive pool of employees.
These are also necessary for their entire well-being since through these they will feel valued and appreciated.