A successful HR department is the cornerstone of any good business, so it’s vital to get things right in this area. Looking after the people within a business ensures things will continue to run smoothly, and avoid staff turnover which can be incredibly time consuming and costly.
If you manage an HR team or a business with a struggling HR function, take a look at our top 5 tips for running a successful HR team.
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Be available
There will come a point in every employee’s career when they have a serious issue to raise with HR. Quite often, HR teams are rushed off their feet covering multiple areas and may not have the time right away to meet employees’ needs. This can lead to people feeling undervalued and result in a lack of employee engagement.
Ensure your HR team has the ability to quickly respond to employee needs, whether it’s a quick question about Christmas opening hours or more difficult issues like not being happy at work or having to report an issue with a colleague – be available!
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Automate the manual tasks away
As anyone who works in HR will tell you, the job covers a lot of ground, from recruitment and onboarding to staff appraisals and promotions to name a few. This is why it’s important to understand which tasks within the HR team can be automated or made more efficient. Consider investing in HR software which can help to reduce the amount of manual or repetitive work done by the HR team, allowing the team to focus on the more important areas of their jobs.
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Have a solid recruiting and onboarding process
One of the key areas of an HR team’s responsibility will be recruiting and onboarding new members of staff. It can be an incredibly time-consuming area, from working with stakeholders to create job briefs, to creating job adverts and managing applications, and arranging interviews and getting back to successful and unsuccessful applicants. And that’s even before onboarding has started.
One way to make this area more efficient is to have a world class process that works. Not only will it make this time-consuming area more efficient, it will also help with employee engagement of new hires, and staff turnover by keeping new recruits happy in their new roles.
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Invest in your employer brand
Creating and developing your employer brand can be one of the activities with the highest return on investment for HR teams when it comes to recruitment. An employer brand allows your team to showcase what it’s like to work for the business, and comes across as very professional and a great place to work.
Consider investing in a website (or an area of your existing company website) to show off the business as the place where someone would want to work. This can include featuring employee benefits and reasons to work there, as well as staff testimonial videos and office tours to give a better impression of what it’s like to work for the business.