Most business owners set forth their businesses wearing multiple hats, including the HR one. While some may even succeed in getting their business off to a promising beginning, unfortunately, they grapple with people management as the company begins to prosper. Keeping an eye on HR activities and managing the intricacies of employment law isn’t an easy feat and can turn out costly if anything goes south.
The employees of any organization are valuable assets. Providing them with growth opportunities, treating them fairly, and keeping them satisfied are the key to achieving an organization’s overriding objectives. And that’s where the HR professionals are well-placed to help an organization.
HR is primarily an umbrella term that involves the management and development of employees. It is an integral part and potential segment of the business that serves as a strategic tool to achieve a competitive edge.
Traditionally, it only focused on processing payroll, hiring, laying off, and managing annual pay reviews. However, in the past few years, HR has reframed positively and now covers a broader remit. Having come a long way from the conventional approach, HR has become a comprehensive business function that centers on, along with other crucial activities, keeping the employees engaged.
Need more convincing reasons? Let’s explore some of the ways how HR helps achieve business goals and hit new benchmarks:
Align organization’s goals and objectives
Business leaders often pay much heed to strategic planning and everyday business operations that they lose track of their organizational values – vision and goals. But a dedicated HR department can help the business owners reground their vision, reignite the values, and refocus on factors that drive employee’s behaviors.
However, with business environments continually in a state of flux, professionals must stay abreast of the latest HR practices to respond to the future trends of culture and people. For this reason, individuals should consider an online master of HR to acquire the core competencies and skills required to thrive in this field. That way, HR professionals can assist in connecting the dots between employees, their team responsibilities, and the organization’s management.
What’s more, an online degree allows professionals to remain focused at work while improving their HR expertise and honing their leadership capabilities.
Hire the right people
With a great workforce, organizations can accomplish much in a short period. That’s because managers know that hired individuals will complete tasks on time and deliver top-notch quality work. But unfortunately, the opposite is also true.
Hiring the right people for an organization is one of the significant aspects of HR. Hire just a couple of individuals, too many, or an unsuitable candidate, and the organization will have to pay in the long run. Scouting the best talent for an organization is a challenging task. Vetting candidates’ resumes, interviewing, and recruiting can stretch for months, and anything may go wrong during this process.
The HR of any organization is responsible for recruiting candidates that meet the necessary qualifications for a specific job position. Instead of being concerned about pre-hire metrics, HR teams concentrate more on post-hire metrics such as talent retention and performance. That way, new hires stick around, and retention helps the organization move onwards and upwards, significantly saving time and money.
Enhance employee development
The recruitment path doesn’t just come to a stop when the fresh talent signs the dotted line on the papers. Instead, HR teams develop an effective employee onboarding process to welcome the new hires. Through this program, HR professionals equip the new employees with information and organizational skills to work at their full potential.
However, training and development opportunities aren’t just for the new hires. Almost every other employee has skill gaps. Therefore, the HR team leverages various processes to ensure that employees have ample opportunities to advance in their job roles.
HR professionals view employees as ‘human capital,’ and they fully-well know how they are the sources of future leaders. Hence, the HR function provides adequate internal training and continuing education opportunities.
HR pros are well-aware that employee development will ultimately lead to enhanced productivity, improved employee engagement, and increased job satisfaction. Thus, these professionals also design a curriculum that assists employees in strengthening their strong suits and work on areas they lack.
Maintain company culture
Every organization reflects vibes and attitudes that imbue at all business levels. An organization with an exceptional, engaging, and encouraging work culture catches employees’ eyes and retains them; thus, reducing the employee turnover rate.
Primarily, organizational culture refers to a range of practices, values, and expectations that depicts how employees work together in a workplace. A supportive work culture powerfully enables the right strategies and business plans. However, even the best-laid plans might get hindered by a toxic or dysfunctional culture.
As the central and only business function with access to an organization-wide view on employees’ effectiveness, the HR department is perfectly-positioned to drive the right culture. Substantially, HR plays an integral role in keeping the tone right at the workplace. It takes on a multi-pronged approach and consistently nurtures the organizational culture.
HR professionals work collaboratively with C-suite executives and lower-level employees to establish an engaging and conducive work culture. Also, time and again, HR leaders have to be more considerate and understanding to rectify cultural woes.
Improve employee engagement
Organizations that underdeliver on HR departments may witness knock-on effects on their bottom line. That’s because people, work culture, and the success of a business are inextricably linked. When employees work grueling long hours and aren’t appreciated, their work motivation may get adversely affected.
Consider the repercussions of poor HR. Let’s take Uber as an example – a company plagued by a wide array of HR catastrophes, from sexual harassment scandals to ignoring employees’ complaints back in 2017. In turn, this resulted in bad press and dissuaded many people from working or using this global drive-sharing company. Thus, it establishes that an effective HR team isn’t just a nice-to-have option for organizations but rather a must-to-have.
Through carefully designed survey and exit interview strategies, HR professionals determine the factors that lead to employee dissatisfaction. Furthermore, they help solicit suggestions, feedback, and ideas from employees about new business strategies.
Final Words
Organizations that truly understand the value of HRM are more likely to leverage its best strategies and practices. It allows them to stand out in the contemporary marketplace and meet the demands of today’s dynamic business environments. Not to mention how HRM can yield multiple benefits for the organization only when given proper decision-making authority.
Therefore, it makes sense to employ dedicated HR professionals and keep them in the loop during the decision-making process. The hard work HR professionals pour in affect the ability to execute expansion plans smoothly, attract the best talent, and arm them with the essential skills. Not only this, but the HR teams also look after other employee-related matters, from parental leave policies to absence management, thereby making the business more compliant.
All that’s to say is HR professionals often tend to sink in the background. Yet, much they do propels the business growth and allows the organization to reach unprecedented heights.
