Yesterday’s Advisor covered the first four steps recommended by HR.BLR.com for moving HR from service provider to strategic partner. Today, we’ll cover reorganizing, branding, and metrics, and we’ll take a look at a special resource for smaller HR departments.
(Review steps 1 to 4.)
Step 5. Organize the Department to Support Strategic Thinking
Once you see what your aligned HR department needs to look like, take time to get the department ready.
- Restate HR’s mission, goals, and objectives to clearly support the corporate strategic mission, goals, and objectives.
- Rewrite policies and procedures.
- Restructure organization and assignments as needed.
- Communicate the new goals and objectives to each member of the department so that they understand their role in achieving them.
- Evaluate your human resources professionals on their performance toward the strategic goals and objectives. You won’t get far if you talk strategic but base rewards on routine service.
Step 6. Develop a Brand
One objective for the HR department should relate to marketing itself as a strategic business partner. How should employees, managers, prospective employees, customers, and competitors view the HR function? Marketing the department as a strategic partner includes demonstrating problem-solving skills, being solutions-oriented, and adaptable. It also means insuring that others come away from their interactions with HR feeling that they have been treated professionally.
Step 7. Develop and Use Strategic Metrics That Management Will Understand and Respect
Business leaders are comfortable evaluating success based on numbers such as return on investment, return on equity, expense ratios, and other measures that quantify results. Part of speaking the language of the organization’s leaders is adopting similar measurements for the HR function and also for how the company as a whole is doing in the management of its human capital.
There is a wide array of measurements available to HR professionals, including, for example, turnover rates, returns on investment of HR initiatives, cost of hiring, and compensation as a percent of total costs.
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Step 8. Try Succession Planning as a First Key Strategic Objective
One of the key functions of HR is staffing, including recruiting, hiring, training, developing, and retaining employees. Although there’s surely no labor shortage today, over the next 10 to 15 years, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics projects labor shortages particularly in light of the baby boomers’ exodus from the workforce.
Therefore, this is a good place for HR to demonstrate its strategic capability to meet the future needs of the company. Developing a succession/staffing plan is a good illustration of how the HR professional can assume the role of a strategic business partner.
What About Small HR Departments?
Thinking strategically is tough enough for big organizations, but, like many HR challenges, it’s even tougher in small departments. If you’re in a small or one-professional department, there’s time for strategy as soon as you deal with the other dozen challenges that will hit your desk every day. Harassment accusations, sudden terminations, intermittent leave headaches, accommodation requests, you name it. In a small department, if it’s not one thing it’s another.
We asked our editors if there was any special help directed right at the smaller—or even one-person—HR office. They say Managing an HR Department of One is unique in addressing the special pressures small HR departments face. Here are some of the features included:
—Tutorial on how HR supports organizational goals. This section explains how to probe for what your top management really wants, and how to build credibility in your ability to deliver it.
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—Overview of compliance responsibilities, through a practical 2-page chart of 21 separate laws with which HR needs to comply. These range from the well-known Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to lesser known, but equally critical rules such as Executive Order 11246. Also included are federal and state posting requirements. (Proper postings are among the first things a visiting inspector looks for … especially now that the minimum wage has been changing repeatedly.)
—Training guidelines. No matter what your company size, expect to do training. Some of it is required by law. Some of it is just good business sense. Managing an HR Department of One walks you through how to train efficiently and effectively, in the least amount of time, and for the least money.
—Prewritten forms, policies, and checklists. These are enormous work-savers! Managing an HR Department of One has more than 50 handy tools, from job apps and background check sheets to performance appraisals and leave requests, in both paper and on CD. The CD lets you easily customize any form, policy, or checklist with your company’s name and specifics.
If you’d like a more complete look at what Managing an HR Department of One covers, click the table of contents link below. Or better yet, take a look at the entire program. We’ll send it to you for 30 days’ evaluation in your own office with no obligation to buy. Go here, and we’ll be happy to make the arrangements.
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