The benefits of a proactive HR strategy

Does your HR strategy support your business goals? Do you even have an HR strategy? It’s very easy to leave your HR policy on the shelf, only to be taken out in moments of crisis.

If you’re spending all your time dealing with the same type of people-related issues and never getting the chance to proactively focus on making improvements, then you might want to take a step back and think about adopting a proactive HR strategy.

What is a proactive HR strategy?

First, let’s explore what proactive HR isn’t. Does this sound like a typical situation for you?

If that sounds like you, you’re stuck in the world of reactive HR. While reactive HR is important, especially when surprise issues arise, it’s key to balance that with strategic plans for recruiting, selecting, managing and motivating people so they can give their best performance. That’s what we mean when we talk about proactive HR.

What are the benefits of a proactive HR strategy?

We’ve said it many times, but we really believe that people are your biggest asset as a business owner. People power your product or service, so it makes sense that HR would sit at the strategic heart of your company. Getting the right people through the door, keeping them motivated and engaged so you can keep hold of them is what makes the wheels turn.

So, having a robust and proactive HR strategy can take in everything from recruitment, selection, benchmarking your business against competitors to employee engagement and all the way through to your leave process.

But much more than that, a great HR strategy can reflect your business’ vision and prepare your people for the future. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits.

1.Get an overview of how your HR processes function

By taking a step back and thinking critically about HR aligns with your business goals, you’re giving yourself the chance to assess how all of your HR processes are functioning. The benefit for your business? You get all of the information you need to decide if any processes are draining time, resource or money. Then you’re in the perfect place to standardise regular tasks and make those small changes that make big differences.

2. Revamp your recruitment strategy

One of the greatest benefits of being proactive with your HR processes is getting a real handle on recruitment. What processes are you using currently? How much does it cost for you to replace an employee who’s left?

Proactive recruitment means that you can define a process that lets you identify, engage and build relationships with potential candidates before an urgent need arises.

It may seem like that level of proactive recruitment is reserved for huge companies with sizeable HR functions. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead, by investing your time in assessing how you do things now, you can spot quick wins that will help you level up.

The kind of things to look out for include:

• Your employer brand – how are you selling your business to prospective candidates?
• Time to hire – is it taking you months and months to fill critical roles?
• The interview process – are you asking the right questions to the right people? Are you assessing for cultural fit as well as skill level?

3. Increased employee engagement

We’re big believers in the importance of employee engagement – helping your people to feel valued, motivated and aligned to your business goals. And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that HR is a vitally important piece in the employee engagement puzzle.

Giving your HR practices a full health check gives you an opportunity to review how you encourage participation from employees – are you giving them a chance to feedback or suggest ideas? And how about development plans – do they align your employee goals with your business goals? Is there an opportunity for people progression?

One thing we know for sure is that employees who feel that they’re being listened to, invested in and developed along their chosen career path are more engaged, productive and much more likely to stay with you.

 

Are you ready to get HR healthy?

When it comes to getting proactive with your HR strategy, Citation has all the tools and advice you need. From employee engagement to recruitment and selection, our HR & Employment Law specialists have all the expertise your business needs to get truly HR Healthy.

To see how we could start supporting you today just give the team a call on 0345 844 1111 to get the ball rolling.