You can't spell HERO without HR
It’s almost silly season, the time to destress and swap your laptops for the Lapa. So, just before you hit “set” on your “email vacation message”, there are a couple of boxes you need to tick off so you and your team will be able to unplug and get a much-deserved break.
This month we took a look over the past eleven months, focusing on the various layers of Human Resources, why it’s important in any organization, and how you can measure your success when managing people.
What is HR and the Basics of HR
Human Resources is a division of a business that is charged with finding, screening, recruiting and training job applicants, as well as administrating employee’s wellness benefit programs. When talking HR, you cannot talk wins and losses without having the 7 HR Basics in place:
1. Learning and development
When you are looking at your challenges for the year, use that time to set out a budget for staff development. 8 out of 10 employees are normally not incompetent, but lack either the confidence or the knowledge. You will find that in the long haul you will save and make more profit when you invest in upskilling your team. Try introducing the following:
- Orientation
- Employee development
- Training
- Performance management
- HR development
2. Succession Planning
Not all of us can close shop for the festive season, maybe you want to continue operations right through. Due to end of year fatigue, you will have a few team members taking time off work. Do you need to market your holiday hours well in time, and are you giving every team member a fair chance off? Are you promoting based on the quality of the work and not on demographic-related factors? Are you offering:
- Diversity
- Compliance
- Equal employment
3. Compensation and benefits
Do you have any incentive system in place? Are you able to implement salary increases and benefits for your team? Align your policies as soon as possible, this allows you to reward and acknowledge well deserved acts with ease and transparency. Things to review are:
- Wages/salaries
- Incentives
- Benefits
4. HR info systems
There are many tools and apps that can assist your company to stay in line with its CRM and filing. When you are still a small business and have taken on most of the roles yourself, or you have a team, a central place of work or data storage is crucial to keep in line with the deadlines. These tools help with:
- Job analysis
- HR planning
- HR assessment systems
5. Recruitment & selection
Check your recruitment, job descriptions, and boarding contracts. Update them if needed and find the best way to automate and file your staff info. Look at performing job analysis which includes:
- Recruiting
- Selection process
- Staffing
6. Performance Management
Performance is more than just evaluating the employee Key Performance Inputs, but also evaluating yourself as the business owner. Consider whether you have created the kind of working environment that promotes your employees to be successful. Consider the following:
- Health and wellness
- Safety
- Security
7. HR Data and analytics
Make use of CRM apps and information from your countries Labour Laws to make sure you are aligned with them and not breaking any rules. It is better to be safe than sorry, the last thing you need is a labour issue at the beginning of the new year. Be sure to update:
- HR policies
- Employee rights and privacy
- Labour management relations
November's Finance Fridays
Why you need HR
Whatever your situation, the one area that you want to be strong and steady in is human resources. Having a solid base for employee management is essential to creating prosperity for your business, and this affects your bottom line in ways you may never have considered. Setting business goals creates alignment. Getting all of the “moving parts” in an organization aligned is crucial for success, and setting outcome based goals is the plan. It isn’t enough to simply create a big, aggressive goal and call it a day. To make that goal mean something, you need to be able to track it! And, you need to track it in the right way. Here are a few ways to track outcome goals:
- Productivity
- Quality
- Service
An interview with our founder
We all know Kristine Tudhope is the Founder and Face of UPvisor with years of experience of managing people. A moment to pick her brain and learn more on how she has implemented the above policies and tools to improve her business and more importantly grow her team is priceless. In our #FinanceFriday Week 4 video this month, we interview Kristine as she shares her experience and knowledge that she has gained through the years before she moves on to her new role as CEO of Woodridge Connect. She will be giving us insight on finding the right fit for your organization and creating a healthy work culture.
Even though we are all preparing to close off the year, now is the best time to either introduce or spruce up your HR systems, to be up to date and in place. HR plays a key role in developing, reinforcing and changing the culture of an organization. It is not the business that makes the man, it is the man that makes the business.
If you need help with figuring out your HR systems, make sure to contact us on [email protected] so we can set up a call to discuss your needs and the best solution for you!