Human resources (HR) is a critical department in every company. It has a significant impact on the personnel side of the business and often gathers valuable data that can assist with strategic decision making.
However, HR professionals can only act as strategic business partners if they examine their data properly. If you want your HR department to provide strategic value, here are some tips to get you started.
For HR to become a strategic business partner, it needs to understand how it impacts the company in measurable ways. Usually, this involves identifying relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with HR’s role in an organization.
There are a surprising number of metrics that can be worth examining. For instance, salary competitiveness ratios, employee productivity rates, employee satisfaction indexes, absenteeism rates, average tenure times, termination rates (both voluntary and involuntary), 90-day new hire failure rates, and time-to-fill metrics are just some of what HR may want to explore.
After HR identifies relevant KPIs, it’s time to gather data and locate any successes and shortcomings. The goal is to figure out areas where HR is already shining as well as metrics that need to be improved.
Dig through historical company data to find low-performance issues that would benefit the company if they were corrected. Then, consider what factors influence that metric and examine current processes and procedures.
For example, if your new hire 90-day failure rate is high, HR might want to review candidate screening processes, onboarding and training programs, and other areas that have a high amount of impact on new hire selection and their initial experiences. This allows them to determine whether specific influencers are harming results, locating points where action might be necessary to see improvement.
Part of being a strategic business partner is providing company leaders with actionable insights that positively impact the company. Once HR has identified any KPIs that need improvement, along with associated processes and procedures, they can craft recommendations for enhancing those areas.
For example, HR might recommend creating a more robust onboarding and training program to help new hires succeed, a move that could reduce 90-day failure rates. If candidate recruitment and screening are playing a role, HR could create a standardized hiring approach or provide training to hiring manager’s, both of which may improve that metric.
Additionally, HR can set measurable goals that relate to those KPIs. By setting challenging but achievable objectives, HR is outlining targets for improvement. Further, it gives them a way to track the effectiveness of any procedural or program changes, as progress towards the goal suggests that a change could be working.
By integrating hard data into the recommendations, HR can act as a strategic business partner, giving company leaders critical information that can make it easier to determine how the organization can improve and thrive.
If you’d like to learn more, the team at TRC Staffing Services can help. Contact us to discuss your questions with one of our experienced staff members today and see how our expertise can benefit you.