If you think HR is your highest expense, you’re right. If you think HR is your biggest profit driver, you’re also right. Providing that HR is used to it’s maximum potential (in both cases) as this is not always the case in some company’s.
You get out of HR what you put into it. And it isn’t just about budgets and staffing and benefits.
In the simplest terms, company performance is directly related to how well HR empowers employees to do their best work every day, week and year.
Most founders are either top salespeople, product people, finance or marketing people, but rarely HR people.
Many still take the “bodies in seats” approach for talent acquisition, throw money at software instead of coaching, cut costs, skimp on benefits and think annual reviews are effective performance management benchmarks.
People are the lifeblood of any business. Fail to take care of them and they’ll fail to take care of your company. This is even echoed by those who really do know what they are talking about.
“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
RICHARD BRANSON
Even so-called enlightened founders and CEOs know treating their people well is critical, generally resigned to paying through the nose for it, and expect little to no ROI.
1. Always link your recruitment, benefit costs and similar costs to your financial plan
If you can link these HR responsibilities it will without doubt help you make quick recruitment decisions based on your vision, cashflows and predictive analytics.
If you haven’t made one already, make creating a financial model a top priority. This will save you many hundreds of thousands in monetary terms on over- recruit and future layoffs, as well as allow you to recruit quickly to take advantage of any market opportunities.
2. Drive digital transformation organically in concert with IT
Start prioritizing digital by improving internal communication: the number of channels, open and anonymous, as well as cadence, centralization and connection of different apps through APIs. Remote work has accelerated this process for many companies, with HR at the forefront of implementation and communication. The results are faster and more efficient business processes, more productive and engaged employees and more cash flow left for growth.
3. Go big on mental health awareness and care for employees
When potential candidates see you as a company that help your employees maintain good mental health your ethical status is elevated. Do this through regular check-ins, employee surveys and early interventions. Remote work brings strong teams closer together but drives weaker teams farther apart. You can’t fake genuine concern and care for employees in 2020. Burnout is real, with significantly longer hours despite or caused by a lack of commuting. If you can’t save an employee from burning out, odds are they’ll quickly leave and find another remote job where they do feel supported. There goes 150 percent of their salary — plus the hidden costs of turnover.
4. Use anonymous survey employee engagement
Find out how employees feel about everything from office paint colour and food in the stocked kitchen to conflicts with managers, feedback about trainings and needs for personal and professional development, among other topics. Instead of guessing or hoping employees will react with higher engagement and productivity, hear it from the employees themselves and act quickly to get them what they need.
5. Use HR to advertise your internal projects
Giving your staff this transparency helps companies take advantage of internal resources and limits hiring from outside, which is usually riskier and always more expensive.
It also helps to communicate what is going on within the company and can empower staff to feel that that are truly making a difference.
6. Empower HR to organise frequent offsites meet ups
Using this often unused but crucial element is paramount to getting a cohesive operating business. These offsites introduce people from different departments to each other and each other’s work, show them how what they do rolls up to the bigger mission and reiterate the company’s vision.
This un-siloing process helps people feel more connected to a higher purpose and mission and increases engagement, and productivity. It also shows a strong element of trust and empowerment from the company to it’s employees which is often paid back to the company tenfold.
