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HR...A Strategic Partner!
When senior management looks to streamline operations and lower costs, human resources is one of the functions that often lands in the crosshairs. Technology is radically decreasing the manpower needed to accomplish many hiring, benefits and performance-management functions. Recent research supports this. |
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However, any company's success--indeed, its survival--depends on the effectiveness and engagement of its employees. And who finds new employees ... brings them onboard ... imbues them with the corporate mission ... and takes responsibility for the compensation and benefits packages that are the key to employees' engagement with and loyalty to the company?
Why, HR, of course.
Every move you make should be aimed at elevating the role of human resource management to its rightful place at the top of the corporate food chain. Without great hiring, training, performance management and employee retention, operations suffer--and profitability will quickly head south.
Connect the dots between HR and marketing. Consider this sobering fact: according to Gallup's 2013 State of the American Workplace, only 41% of employees feel they know what differentiates their company's brand from its competitors. This is a sorry state of affairs. If your own employees don't understand the "brand" that you have dedicated so many resources to creating, how can you expect them to feel good about their employer? Worse, how can you expect them to effectively serve as ambassadors of your brand to the rest of the world? Helping employees understand the company they work for and its position in the market should be a key HR function--but that won't happen until those in charge create linkages between marketing and HR.
Leverage external providers. Some HR functions can be carried out by experts outside the company, while others are integral to internal function. You can achieve cost savings by outsourcing the brand-neutral and administrative functions or by adopting a shared-services approach, allowing your internal HR managers to focus on strategic tasks aimed at increasing productivity.
Focus on employee engagement. The Gallup report also finds 70 percent of employees to be disengaged from their jobs:
- 20 percent "actively disengaged"
- 50 percent just going through the motions
At the same time, not surprisingly, the 30 percent who are engaged "come up with most of the innovative ideas, create most of a company's new customers, and have the most entrepreneurial energy." Fostering engagement makes employees feel like a part of the team. Engaged employees will be eager to contribute work and ideas that help reach company goals.
Engagement often springs from a sense of being valued--which, in turn, is created through accolades, compensation, work environment, and many other HR-related factors. Increasing the engagement of the 70 percent should be priority number one--and who is better positioned to take the lead on this but HR?
When parents treat one offspring like the proverbial "ugly stepchild," the dynamics of an entire family can be disrupted. The same is true in a corporate setting: each department is integral to the function of the company as a whole, and none more so than human resources--the portal through which all employees must pass, and the only department they will remain connected to no matter where they move within the company.
Think about how your company can enlist HR in the effort to become more strategic, and you will have made a critical move toward increasing success and profitability in the future. |
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