Planning and updating the business plan every year is common practice in order to have a clear overview of where the company stands in terms of reaching its missions and checking off goals that have already been fulfilled. It is however less common for companies to also plan an annual HR strategy, but it is just as important and will go hand in hand with the business plan in order to reach the goals.
The difference is that the business plan is focused on how the business is doing in terms of ROI and budget, while the HR strategy is focusing on the employees to ensure they reach their potential.
To achieve the objectives of your HR strategy you need a clear route and a path which everyone in the organisation must follow. Today we’ll talk about how to create a 2022 HR strategy to reach all your goals.
Table of Contents
Create Your Human Resources Strategy
Companies use the HR strategy to analyze and determine all the elements related to the Human Resources policies of the company for the upcoming year. From staff dimension, structure and work environment to the hiring process, onboarding of new employees and talent retention.
Because of the diversity of all these indicators, it is important to have some things clear and fresh in mind before outlining the strategy.
Know Your Surroundings
At the beginning of each year, businesses establish a strategic plan where the annual goals get fixed. Many of these heavily depend on the Human Resources department and in order to reach them one must know the answer to these questions first:
- What can we improve from last year?
Only by identifying your organisation’s problems and how to solve them will you be able to improve. Dragging your issues into the new year will only pile them one on top of one another. - What are this year’s challenges?
Analyzing what’s new or coming in your sector is also fundamental. You should know what changes, events and activities are going to take place in the next months and how they will influence your market so that you can be ready for them, adapt and take advantage. For example, if your company is going to undergo a digital transformation you’ll have to think how it will affect your employees. - Which elements inside of the business needs more attention?
After looking around your organisation, you also have to look inwards and study the state of the business and the staff. With Factorial HR, for example, you can create free Human Resources reports that will show you a graphic vision of the business and will give you an idea of what you can do to improve it. A high turnover rate? Low motivation? It’s important to keep track of these things and to find solutions quickly.
As you can see, it is essential to have clear communication between the HR department and the Management. Without communication, it is impossible to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals and that no department needs to be left behind.
Goals for Your HR Strategy
The objectives on the company’s strategic plan are called long term objectives and will help measure the progress of your HR strategy. These goals can be divided between:
- Explicit Objectives: Are the ones that focus on attraction and retention of talent, employee motivation and employee engagement improvement. To do so, in your HR strategy you have to consider employee experience, onboarding process and career plans.
- Implicit Objectives: Are the ones that follow the company’s philosophy and help create company culture. To show how the HR department can help improve productivity, work environment and quality of life for the employees while following all labour regulations.
If you want more information regarding how to start an HR key results strategy in your company you can check our OKR post.
Define Responsibilities
Once you have your objectives clear, both for the business and for the Human Resources department, it’s time to create the HR strategy and to analyze what the department needs to do in order to achieve the goals set out.
First, you should assign a person in charge of creating and implementing the plan. For the smallest companies, it is usually the Managing Director who is in charge of everything. In the slightly bigger ones, it may be the person responsible for all the Human Resources related tasks, and for the large businesses, with several HR profiles, you will have to assign each one a task inside the plan with the corresponding goal. If it is necessary you may even have to divide the department into subcategories.
Ideas are always better understood with graphics, so creating an organisational chart of the structure of the business will be of great help. The chart will show:
The hierarchic structure of the business: Directors, managers, supervisors, employees, etc.
The different departments within the company: Marketing, sales, development, Human Resources, etc.
Vacancies in each department.
The organisational chart will depend, of course, on the size and type of business, but it will be really helpful for your staff planning, as it will show how many people you need to hire and for which positions in order to meet your goals.
Identifying Vacancies
Thanks to the organisational chart you will have discovered the new positions to fill this year in order to achieve your objectives. In the HR strategy you will define:
- Which positions are open. You’ll write a detailed description of the position including department, place of work, responsibilities, functions, who they will report to and the workload.
- Profile needed to fill the position. Here you’ll have to specify the education, experience and skills needed. With that, you’ll be able to evaluate if you already have an employee with that professional profile and give him a promotion or a relocation more suited to their skills, or if you have to hire someone new. Regardless of the decision, you’ll have to start a selection process.
As you’ll see, these steps are always subject to the Human Resources policy of the business. But they are very important steps in your strategic HR plan, so take your time studying and analyzing your company to get to the best solution.
Defining Your Human Resources Policy
The Human Resources policy of the company must be updated to meet the demands and challenges from the general strategic plan and the HR plan. The policy will also dictate the day to day guides of the HR department and the direction that the company is going to. Below we listed the guides that we think are essential when making a 2022 HR strategy.
Company Culture Guide
Developing a strong company culture that your employees can align to is nowadays essential for any modern company. Start by defining the company’s values and mission.
Cultural diversity is essential for companies aiming for a presence in the international arena. It not only challenges old or rigid processes but also opens up the space for new, culturally sensitive ideas. These are essential when trying to enter a new market.
Hiring and Recruitment Process Guide
In addition to detailed functions, contracts and compensation for each one of the different positions to fill, you must decide if the hiring process will be done by someone inside the company or if you’ll outsource the whole process.
If it is a task for someone inside the company you’ll have to establish a strategic onboarding process to ensure talent retention.
Compensation Guide
Determine the starting salaries at your company based on levels of experience. In these calculations, make sure to include incentives and benefits to make sure all expenses are in line with the budget. Furthermore, set the budget for the company’s travel expenses and severance pay for those who could leave the company.
Personal and Professional Development Guide
Taking care of new hires is important, but it is also very important to make sure your senior employees feel that their work is valuable. In your HR strategy, you should assign part of the budget to train for the personal and professional development of your employees. You can determine the lagging skills by conducting performance reviews in your company. Then follow up by organizing workshops that focus on developing those missing skills. By doing so you will help your employees to achieve their own goals and career plans, increasing their satisfaction working for your company.
Inside the HR policy, you should include a guide of best practices from the business, according to its vision, good conduct guides and conflict resolutions.
Save Time Creating Your HR Strategy With Factorial
A good HR strategy is fundamental to the final result and achievement of the company’s goals. But it is a hard and time-consuming job too if you don’t have the correct tools.
With Factorial you can create your organisational chart fast and easy. See who is in charge of what from a glance and decide which departments need help or restructuring.
Furthermore, with Factorial you’ll get all kinds of Human Resources reports that will help you analyze the state of your company to make your HR plan more effective and efficient.
Register to Factorial today and start saving time from your HR tasks to use in your HR strategy.
