As with any department or business, optimizing communication is the key to success, perhaps especially in the Human Resources (HR) department. Because this department’s responsibilities include making sure the people of the business are well looked after, along with dealing with a ton of legal processes and ensuring that data and forms are accurate, it’s easy to see why.
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Despite the importance of communication, a lot of companies are still making a lot of mistakes. Today, we’re going to explore the top eight mistakes that HR departments make by giving you all the information you need to avoid making them yourself.
#1 Not Keeping Things Simple
There’s a lot of professional and legal jargon that can be used in an HR department, and not everyone is going to remember everything. To prevent this from becoming a problem and to avoid encouraging miscommunication, use it as little as possible.
#2 Not Spending Time on ‘Why’
HR staff often fall into the trap of explaining a policy of the business but not explaining “why” it’s a policy or why it relates to the person being spoken to. In business, it’s always best to get people on the same page and never leave them in the dark. By telling them why a policy has changed, it’s much more likely to be implemented.
#3 Not Using a Platform per Purpose
Think about how many communication tools your HR department uses. With different messages and projects being discussed across each platform (such as e-mail, the phone, and instant messaging), it’s easy for messages to become distorted and lost.
Instead, dedicate a platform for a specific purpose, such as using instant messaging for the everyday running of the department and e-mail for more long-form tasks and goals. This helps to keep communication organized and effective.
#4 Not Talking to Employees
“Whether you’re making or implementing a policy change, talking about legal processes or in other ways implementing a process into your business, you need to make sure you’re communicating with your employees to monitor the impact that it’s going to have and to ensure everything is implemented in the best way,” shares Nick Taylor, an HR manager for Elite Assignment Help and State of Writing.
#5 Not Consistently Improving Methods
While it’s easy to spend time trying to improve the communication levels of your HR department, there are numerous companies that will make changes and improvements and then stop and believe the job is done.
It’s not. Improving communication within your HR department should be a consistent and continuous process that is constantly but gradually happening all the time.
#6 Not Writing Accurately
Think about how many times someone in the HR department types or writes a message. From e-mails and instant messages to recruitment content and application forms, writing is such an essential part of the job, so you’ll want to do everything in your power to make sure it’s accurate.
To give you a helping hand, below are some online tools that can help make writing easier;
- Academ advisor / Study demic – These two sites are full of email writing guides to help you format and structure your HR emails.
- Paper Fellows – This is an online editing tool to ensure your written content is accurate and formatted professionally, as recommended by Revieweal.
- Via Writing – This online tool is designed to help you check the grammar of your writing and provides tips on how to use it better.
- Academized / Simplegrad – These are two online formatting tools to help you lay out your written content in an easy to understand and read way.
- My Writing Way – Use these online style guides to help develop your written voice into a professional and purposeful style.
- Writing Populist / Oxessays – Use these online tools to help you write subject lines that stand out and help generate keywords for your headings and subheadings.
#7 Using Generic Content
The HR department is all about connecting and communicating with human beings, and for the best results, you’ll want to produce content they connect and resonate with. If they’re bored and lose interest, this increases the risk of miscommunication.
Rather than copying and pasting content to everyone required, try personalizing the e-mails by using names. You can also rewrite content so that it’s appropriate and suitable for the audience it’s intended for.
#8 Not Allowing Feedback Opportunities
There’s no way any department of your business will be able to improve unless everyone is given the opportunity to provide feedback on how it’s doing. By giving employees the opportunity to share what’s going on behind closed doors, you’ll be able to identify common issues that can then be resolved.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are plenty of mistakes that need to be avoided if you want to optimize the communication levels of your HR department. Be smart, be organized, and you’re sure to have the best results.
Freddie Tubbs is a communication professional at UK Writings writing agency. He regularly attends HR and marketing events and writes columns for Essay Roo and Boom Essays blogs.