Strategic HR is more than just the common clerical and legal duties that many HR departments are in charge of. Many companies fail to understand that HR plays a large role for your workforce talent throughout the employee lifecycle. While it’s true that HR is responsible for onboarding top talent, making sure the paperwork is in order, and ensuring compliance in company policies, they often fall out of the picture once an employee is hired and oriented.
Below are a few reasons that strategic HR remains valuable to all companies and employees no matter what stage they are in. The 7 articles demonstrate why strategic HR is important and valuable to company growth.
1. HR outsourcing: a sophisticated, innovative future?
From the article: Kemsley warns that providers will have to become more flexible and cope with a more “hybridised” model of outsourcing: “The challenge is to have flexible models and increasingly tailored provision to meet organisations’ needs but remain cost competitive.”
He concludes that “outsourcing will continue to be a very important strategic tool in balancing quality and cost effectiveness in resourcing”, but urges organisations to really think through how it will provide the benefits they want “to avoid the random, knee-jerk reaction to outsourcing we saw 10 years ago”.
2. 5 strategies for employers in a competitive job market
From the article: Get strategic about recruiting
I think we can all agree that it has become increasingly difficult to find qualified workers — and this challenge spans from white-collar to blue-collar segments of the economy. As a result, employers need to hone their recruiting process to ensure they are finding and attracting top talent with a focus on quality over quantity of applicants.
3. HR departments failing to adapt to changing business demands: Report
From the article: “The bottom line is that despite diverse deficiencies, progress is possible,” said Nathalie Bression, Hackett Group Global HR Executive Advisory Practice Leader, in a statement. “We suggest that for 2015, HR organizations start by improving strategic workforce planning, focusing on critical roles and enhancing their ability to make data-driven decisions. They should prioritize talent management, and improve their ability to develop leadership skills within their company. A close look at the HR skills set is required, to assess where HR organizations need to add capabilities in key areas such as business acumen, strategic thinking, and change management. HR organizations should create a long-term technology strategy. And they should improve data and systems integration to enable evidence-based workforce decisions.”
4. Strategic human resources is key to organizational success
From the article: Strategic human resources is about harnessing human potential
In the past, I advocated for people and things, developed programs, and made decisions that did not have a return on investment. They were nice to have ‘feel-good’ programs that seemed to make sense for employees and morale.
They were allegedly in the best interest of employees, but not necessarily the organization as a whole. If an organization becomes uncompetitive, unprofitable, and ineffective because employees see their relationship with their employer as a provider of perquisites, then the organization will likely go out of business.
5. Workforce Planning: The War Room Of HR
From the article: Whether you are in the Philippines, elsewhere in Southeast Asia or in countries around the world, multinational corporations should follow several workforce planning best practices:
- Make workforce planning and strategic business planning parallel processes
- Ensure your leadership values data-driven decision-making and promotes a culture of objective transparency
- Invest in a sophisticated data engine with analytical tools to generate meaningful workforce information
- Combine internal, external, structured and social data to produce deep insights into talent availability and shortfalls
- Hire HR specialists who are adept at data modelling, interpretation and forecasting
What’s going on in your War Room? Workforce planning is the most strategic people management activity to take place within an organization. In an electric business environment, the battle for talent will be won and lost even before the players take to the field. What’s your plan?
6. The Importance of an HR Policies & Practices Strategy
From the article: Whatever your approach, the key to success is to devote the time and resources it takes to develop a policies and practices strategy for your business before the need arises. It’s an investment that can pay large dividends in increased productivity and minimized litigation. And it’s an essential component of your comprehensive people strategy.
7. Why Is It Important for HR Management to Be a Strategic Business Partner?
From the article: The value HR management brings to strategic planning is paramount in attaining organization-wide goals. Implementing strategic plans is nearly impossible without the input of human resources and employee involvement. Recognizing the value of HR management is a critical step in developing business strategy, and it takes human resources management’s forward-thinking principles and business acumen to put those plans into action.
About the Author: Jocelyn Pick
