What is strategic HR?

Many employees or managers feel that investing in the human resources department or HR department is not necessarily critical. Some feel that the HR department deals with non-essential, non-business related issues, such as benefits, grievances and employment law. However, this is a simplistic and wrong view. The HR department should be an integral part of any business and an unprofessional HR department can, in the long-term, be detrimental to the company’s overall competitiveness and even success.

The HR department does much more than just deal with administrative issues. A successful and well-run HR department can contribute to the overall morale of employees, reduce employee turnover, reduces cost – the bottom line, making a company more competitive and more successful. It will essentially help run the company’s overall business smoothly, allowing managers to concentrate on their business. Therefore, the HR department deserves commitment via support and capital in order to be professional and successful business unit.

Developing HR strategy

This is where strategic human resources or strategic HR comes in to play. Since the HR department can be an integral part of making sure a company runs smoothly, it should have its own strategy and objectives. The HR department, together with senior management, should pin-point exactly what the HR policy and goals are. These should be part of overall HR planning and business strategy and become part of the company’s overall strategic policy.

However, HR strategy cannot be made in a vacuum; it needs to be in sync with the company’s overall strategy, to be successful. Generally, the HR strategy or HR policy will address issues such as recruitment (how to get the best employees), retention (how to keep employees, once hired), compensation and benefits (how are these paid and are they competitive?), termination (how to let go of employees legally) and exit strategy (how employees can legally terminate their employment, learn about why they are leaving and make sure employees do not leave with company secrets). These are some of the broad areas an HR strategy will cover.

HR planning to complement business planning

Successful HR planning should go hand-in-hand with the company’s overall business planning. A professional HR department can help a company grow and remain competitive. Happy employees are more likely to work harder, take less sick leave and stay at the company for longer. This means that an HR department can indeed be integral in a company’s success. Strategic HR can also help to monitor employee morale and pin-point potential issues and help address these, before they become problematic.

The HR department should keep detailed records and data, and management can use these to help pin-point potential issues. These could be things like, employee turnover, amount of overtime taken, levels of sick leave, number of grievances, number of disciplinary issues etc. These statistics can help understand employee dynamics within a company and help improve morale, which in turn will help the company compete.

To help plan and implement a successful HR Strategy, it would be instrumental to first conduct an HR Audit.

If you would like more information on Human Resource issues, then please contact our team of experts.