When finding the right employees for your organization is getting a bit challenging due to labor shortages, finding ways to improve the productivity of your HR department is probably making its way to your list of priorities.
After all, the human aspect of a business is often as important as the financial, organizational, and procedural side due to the high impact that qualified and proactive hires can have on a company’s performance.
In this context, the following article provides some recommendations on how to use small business loans to strengthen this important area of your business at a moment when the economy appears to be making a solid comeback.
Which areas can you focus on to improve your HR department?
The first step to identify potential areas of your Human Resources that can be improved is to break down the department’s functions so that you can identify the weakest links.
Most experts group the different processes and activities carried on by the human resources department as follows:
- Recruitment & Hiring.
- Compensation.
- Organizational Structure.
- Training & Development.
- Culture.
Each of these areas contributes its fair share to the department’s success and the company. Yet, it is understandable that, for some business owners, only one or two might be deemed as essential for accomplishing the business’ mission.
The three key areas that most businesses commonly prioritize when attempting to increase the productivity of an HR department are Recruitment, Organizational Structure, and Compensation.
On the recruitment front, the ideal HR team would be quick yet thorough in completing the different staffing needs of the company by tapping multiple sources of talent while conducting detailed interviews that aim to identify the best candidates for the job.
Additionally, companies should have an appropriate procedure to rapidly onboard new hires so they can start being productive at their job positions as soon as possible.
Moreover, on the compensation front, effective HR management must understand the reality of the marketplace to be able to offer competitive compensation packages, attractive enough for the best-qualified candidates.
Finally, the department’s organizational structure should ensure that the different activities and tasks that need to be completed are adequately assigned across the board while keeping an eye on anomalies like workers who have too much to do or job positions whose functions overlap.
In some cases, improving Human Resources might start by hiring a consulting firm that can provide external insights and recommendations regarding the areas of improvement they might find within the department.
Since hiring these consultants might not be something that owners have budgeted for, companies can always use small business loans to finance their HR management restructuring projects.
This investment should prove profitable once a more efficient department emerges, one that can attract the right talent to improve the firm’s financial performance and productivity.
The role of technology in HR nowadays
The rise of cloud-based applications and other software innovations have resulted in a wave of products and services created to expedite some of an HR department’s most time-consuming functions, including payroll, recruiting, and interviewing.
After the pandemic, conducting interviews via video-chat platforms like Zoom or MS Teams has become the norm among HR professionals. Companies probably realize that this is a great way to save time and resources, especially during the early stages of the hiring process.
Moreover, the use of online-based onboarding tools is becoming more popular as this frees up the time that HR professionals regularly spent on training new hires by substituting those interactions for thoroughly conceived online courses that seek to educate the newly-enrolled employee so he/she can quickly get to know the firm and how things work.
Bottom line
Now that we have identified the key processes that can be ramped up within an HR department, you can rely on small business loans to make the investments needed to increase the productivity of such a crucial area of the business, whether you intend to use those proceeds to buy or subscribe to a software that facilitates a certain task, or by ramping up your firm’s headcount to strengthen the department’s efficacy.
If you are actively looking for a loan provider, you can count on the small business loans offered by Camino Financial. You can apply online in a matter of minutes and receive a response in less than 48 hours.