Business management academic, and author Henry Mintzberg, is quoted as saying, “strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite: it’s the starting point”. Without a strategy of some description to start from, your business is likely to lack focus and direction. Having a strategy, or multiple strategies, will inform your planning. It will ensure that your business understands what it is doing, why it is doing it and where it is going.
In this blog, we look at what a HR strategy is and the benefits of having one for your business.
What is a HR strategy?
The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) define HR strategy as follows, “it (HR strategy) is about creating a coherent planned framework for employees to be hired, managed and developed in ways that supports an organisation’s long-term goals. It helps ensure that the various aspects of people management work together to drive the behaviour and climate needed to create value and meet performance targets”.
Within a business, it is common that you will have a number of strategies. For example, your business may have a marketing and communication strategy, a finance strategy and an operations strategy. If you have these in place then you should also have a HR strategy. All of these strategies combine together and interface with each other in some way. They’ll form the overall business strategy and the people needed to put that into action.
What are the benefits of a HR strategy?
When creating a HR strategy, you need to support it with a set of policies and procedures. Having these policies and procedures will help your business. They will set clear standards and expectations for employees which promote a positive working environment.
A HR strategy should have input from staff, it should be communicated and regularly reviewed. In doing so, you are letting your team know where the business is going and how they can contribute to its success. You’re also letting them know how they can develop themselves and how their progress will be measured. For employees that level of engagement creates strong buy in. It fosters a powerful team spirit and if that is harnessed correctly then it can drive performance, productivity and profit.
A properly designed and defined HR strategy will also enable a business to stay legally compliant. Employment law can be a minefield and changes regularly. By having robust, compliant policies which underpin your HR strategy (that are checked and updated frequently), your business will fulfil its legal obligations. They ensure that the rights of employees are recognised and this in turn will provide protection for the business.
How can HR software help with my HR strategy?
A key element of many HR strategies is to modernise the way that companies approach HR management. They should move away from traditional paper, forms and filing cabinets to a more sustainable and collaborative way of working. HR software removes the need for HR related paperwork and gives staff the ability to self-serve on their typical HR admin tasks. This can include making holiday requests or finding a copy of their contract by using their phone or computer.
HR strategies will typically include a number of measures and targets which will assess how successful the strategy is. This might include increasing employee headcount, ensuring staff turnover rates are low and monitoring sickness absence data. HR software, such as our HRX system, captures all of this data and allows it to be reported on and analysed so that progress can be monitored and if issues arise they can be acted on quickly with data to support the decision making process.
Speak to our HRXperts today
If you’re looking to create a HR strategy or you’re thinking about reviewing and updating your HR strategy, why not get in touch to see how our software can help. You can also sign up for a FREE 30 day trial and take it for a test run before you commit.
