Best practices and benefits of a successful HR strategy

HR professionals play a key role at every company, supporting team members as they experience both challenges and successes with your organization. The true value of HR goes far beyond filling positions, completing checklists, and handling paperwork. Companies must move past this traditional, limited view and embrace a new perspective that positions HR as a strategic contributor to organization-wide success. Companies of any size can adopt this approach by developing an impactful HR strategy.

What is an HR strategy?

An HR strategy is a plan that aligns human resource practices with the goals of an organization. It encompasses everything from talent development, to performance management, to employee recognition. A great HR strategy gets the most value out of your company’s workforce, analyzing current employee and organizational needs and swiftly carrying out initiatives to meet them. It acts as the bedrock of a strong organizational culture through programs that focus on facilitating frequent two-way feedback, fostering a sense of psychological safety and belonging, encouraging team members at every level to show appreciation, and so much more.

The benefits of a great HR strategy

An effective HR strategy can make an impact on several key areas:

• Retention. If retention wasn’t a priority for every organization before the Great Resignation, it should certainly be one now. Is your HR team using predictive analytics to identify top performers who may be considering leaving your organization? Has HR implemented retention strategies that keep top talent at your organization?
• Productivity. Do you know which areas of your organization are the most productive? How about the ones that are underperforming? With easy access to this data, you’ll know how best to allocate your resources to maximize ROI and keep all parts of your business running smoothly.
• Talent gaps. Your HR strategy should be able to identify both the talent gaps your organization has now and the needs that it will have to address in the future.
• Recruitment. An HR team that understands the traits of high performers who fit your company culture can identify hiring criteria designed to recruit the best candidates possible. In addition, HR can implement innovative ideas that help attract new talent to your organization.
• Employee engagement. Whether it’s building an incredible employee recognition program or placing a new focus on employee wellness, HR is in a position to have an unmatched impact on employee engagement with the right strategy.

5 HR strategy best practices

 

A winning HR strategy can transform how the people in your organization feel and work on a daily basis, taking your company to new heights. Here are five of the most important things to incorporate in your organization’s HR strategy.

1. Develop a recognition program

Employee recognition is not an optional, fun gesture that has little actual business. Team members want and deserve frequent, in-the-moment recognition. Knowing that their efforts are appreciated leads to greater engagement — unsurprisingly, recognition is the number one driver of employee engagement — leading to greater success for your organization. Ensure your organization’s recognition program supports both social recognition and a points-based rewards system for the broadest appeal and highest adoption rate.

2. Support employee engagement

Every organization dreams of engaged, motivated team members. But to find out exactly what your company’s employees need to become more engaged, you need their honest, frequent feedback. To ensure team members feel comfortable expressing their voice and can easily share their insights and concerns, provide anonymous feedback channels like pulse surveys powered by a modern employee engagement platform. When employees see your organization and their managers quickly act on their input, their engagement will grow.

3. Provide opportunities for professional development

Employees value the opportunity to grow with your company, so make sure that avenues for professional development are available to them. These include the chance to learn new skills, a defined career path, and coaching from managers and other skilled employees. You can also encourage growth by providing recognition to those who achieve their development goals. If you’re not sure what development opportunities your employees are looking for, ask them with an employee survey.

Technology like a learning management system (LMS) can also help. These platforms give learners the flexibility to engage with materials when and where they prefer. And they let instructors and administrators easily manage training programs and see how learners are progressing.

4. Focus on employee retention

Without the best talent, your organization will struggle. HR needs to be on the forefront of your company’s efforts to address employee retention. There are many ways HR professionals can support retention-focused initiatives at your organization, from recruiting employees who align with your organizational culture to training managers on how to build a relationship of trust with their team members.

Prioritizing employee wellness is another great way to help retain employees. If your employees feel tired, isolated, and generally unwell because of work, they’re not likely to stick around for long. HR can develop a set of initiatives that aim to combat burnout and boost both physical and emotional wellness. These include offering flexible hours, providing coaching for struggling employees, encouraging the use of paid time off, and ensuring that responsibilities and expectations are appropriate for each role and employee. HR professionals can also develop educational programs on topics like fitness, sleep, hobbies, and nutrition.

5. Establish great company values and a meaningful mission

Your company values are the core philosophies that guide everything that your organization and employees do. They should guide how your team interacts with internal and external stakeholders on a daily basis. They’re closely related to your organization’s mission statement: a concise, powerful description of the purpose of your organization. HR should work to ensure these guidelines are not forgotten, meaningless words. When everyone from leadership on down lives by your organization’s values and pursues its mission on a daily basis, impactful collaboration and positive business results are that much easier to realize.

Power your HR strategy with the right tech

Are you ready to improve the way that team members at your company think, feel, and act? Building an effective HR strategy for your organization can positively impact everyone at your organization, no matter what part of the employee lifecycle they find themselves in.

Creating a new strategy is a big task, but there’s HR tech that can help. The Achievers Experience Platform makes recognizing, rewarding, and listening to employees easy with powerful tools in the form of Achievers Recognize and Achievers Listen. Achievers helps give both HR professionals and employees access to what they need for aligned, sustainable success.