Best Practice Strategic Human Resource Management
Strategic human resource management becomes increasingly important in today’s competitive global marketing environment. Agile technologies depend on attracting and managing top talent, people who have the skills for digital communication, social engagement, cross-training in different competencies and making relevant contributions to the company’s culture and core values. That’s why strategic HR management is so critical to attract, retain and develop human capital.
The right HR policies and technologies can automate management tasks, streamline administration, nurture customer service, engage staff and control the increasingly critical service model that has replaced or strengthened the traditional manufacturing business model. In today’s user-friendly digital environment, it’s critical to build strategic partnerships, create excellence in service delivery and control every aspect of the customer experience. That requires an informed, engaged, technologically savvy and loyal workforce.
What Is Strategic HR Management?
Strategic human resource management, in today’s business environment, relies on software, digital equipment, technology and proactive human intelligence to stimulate employee engagement, attract and retain top talent, manage succession planning and meet company short- and long-term goals. Key considerations in any strategic HR management plan include:
- Providing opportunities to engage staff so that they can demonstrate their abilities, competencies and skills
- Offering employees ways to advance their careers and learn new skills
- Investigating company needs and developing recruitment and hiring policies to fill any gaps in talent
- Defining the company’s vision to employees who reinforce these values with customers and stakeholders
- Aligning human resources strategic management processes in ways that make the company money at the lowest possible costs
- Organising human resources strategic management to manage distribution, R&D and other core business goals
- Using technology to automate, monitor, chronicle and compare key company processes
- Dealing proactively with competitors and emerging business trends
- Strengthening employee engagement
- Collaborating with staff to boost retention rates
- Improving work experiences
- Managing traditional HR tasks such as hiring, onboarding, making payroll and initiating disciplinary actions in transparent, consistent and engaging ways
Strategic human resource management is the bridge between critical company business initiatives and the practical tactics and actions needed to make the crossing in the most direct and beneficial way.
Cultivating a Strategic Human Resource Management Partnership
Companies often affirm that employees are their most valuable resource according to multiple company mission statements. Strategic HR management is the vehicle that drives innovation, fosters better operational practices and manages the most successful recruiting and retention efforts. To that end, HR departments should strive to become strategic business partners with the C-suite, industry thought leaders and social platforms that are relevant to the company’s industry.
Organisations today face challenges in achieving more efficient service capabilities and automated, data-driven benefits while providing the ‘personal’ touch that stakeholders demand. Strategic human resource management offers HR departments the right tools to become strategic business partners with company executives and planners. HR professionals are ideally situated to offer the following key benefits:
- More efficient allocation of resources
- Deploying trained specialists where they’re most needed
- Cutting administrative costs
- Leveraging external providers
- Automating intelligence-gathering initiatives
- Eliminating wasteful and repetitive actions and processes
- Understanding customers and employees holistically
- Planning for expansion, growth and entry into new markets with strategic human resource management
Strategic HR Management Goals
Regardless of size or industry, your company’s strategic human resource management goals include some common denominators. These include the following:
- Recruiting, selecting and placing personnel for optimal efficiency
- Deploying staff in the most advantageous configurations
- Training and developing employees
- Appraising employee performance
- Remunerating employees based on industry standards, performance, value to the company and other criteria
- Motivating employees to achieve company goals through incentives, recognition, coaching and mentoring
- Planning for company expansions, growth, entry into new markets, etc.
- Providing HR visibility
- Enabling self-service management of each employee’s account
- Logistical planning for workforce mobility
Contributing to Strategic Goals
HR departments increasingly take on new responsibilities that involve a company’s strategic business goals. Proactive strategic human resource management offers the following key business benefits:
- Align Around a Common Strategy: HR is ideally situated to align different departments, projects, tactics and strategies
- Increase Productivity: Proactive management techniques can engage, motivate and reward your staff, and the right technology can streamline operations, reduce HR costs and increase production.
- Manage Resources Efficiently: Managing resources responsibly and efficiently is one of the biggest benefits of strategic HR management.
- Deliver Sustainable Performance Levels: Proactive strategic human resource management ensures that advances and increases in performance are sustainable over long-term periods.
Building Scalable Capabilities
Strategic insight is critical for building an agile and scalable business. One company found that putting the right people in place was one of the biggest differentiators for staying at the top of its industry. In fact, reports from some of the world’s top companies show that HR departments – using strategic human resource management – are critical in facilitating sustainability by balancing environmental, social and economic factors to facilitate better short-term and long-term performances.
Strategic HR management enables smoother growth, greater flexibility and faster reaction times to business trends. The right strategic human resource management processes ensure that a company has the right people in place at the right time to take advantage of market trends and business opportunities for growth.
Managing Risk and Maintaining Governance with Strategic Human Resource Management
Efficient governance touches on many activities such as onboarding and offboarding, recruiting, planning for succession, streamlining operations, conducting performance reviews, training and development and managing risk. HR departments must routinely assess potential financial abuses, insurance cover for business perils, wrongful hiring practices, discriminatory workplace practices, on-the-job potential for injuries, managerial abuses, unauthorised release of personal information and noncompliance risks. Best practices for managing risk and governing employees include:
- Defining strategic objectives
- Prioritising key business initiatives
- Mapping talent drivers and business drivers
- Identifying the most important HR processes
- Leveraging the right software and technology to manage strategic planning
- Monitoring and measuring results efficiently
- Innovating continuously, inventing new processes and leading others
Why HR Needs to Adopt Strategic HR Management Practices
Today’s competitive business practices include recruiting and retaining employees who demonstrate less loyalty to organisations and greater allegiance to core values, personal reputations and peer-to-peer relationships. HR departments need to work as strategic partners with the C-suite and at-large employees to foster loyalty, impact company decisions and fulfil their obligations.
HR professionals have long pursued greater influence in the boardroom. Savvy companies are inviting HR staff into positions of prominence when these workers can demonstrate knowledge of human resource strategic management best practices. HR staff can advance into prominence by championing the right management software, technology tools, business intelligence and human resource strategic management policies.
