As a former Chief HR Officer, you may not be shocked to hear me say that the human resource function and its people are critical to every organisation. Indeed, my years as an MD have simply reinforced this view.
I believe HR has the ability to power innovation across an organisation, ensuring the right culture and strategy for success.
By giving human resources a seat and voice in the boardroom, companies can empower themselves to not only prepare for the future but put themselves ahead of the curve.
There are a lot of stereotypes around human resources, from the idea that it is a department that has little responsibility beyond administration and bureaucracy, to claims it works in isolation. Such claims are the opposite to the way organisations – and HR – should work towards long-term success.
Putting HR front and centre can bring sound corporate governance to your organisation, help create a robust strategic planning process and enable organisational change and transformation.
Of course, every organisation is different and the role and focus of your HR team needs to fit the business it is part of. It’s essential that the HR function stay relevant in all that they do and drive, rather than focussing upon the wrong things. The one common focus should be on the organisation’s culture because, from my experience, it is the culture of your organisation or team that will define your success.
People work for people, whether that be their immediate managers, those they admire in the c-suite, or the colleagues they collaborate with on a day-to-day basis. Teams that are inspired and feel rewarded will produce better results and be more prepared to reach for new heights than those who feel that their every move will be open to criticism.
Establishing a ‘rhythm of work’ that incorporates HR
Organisations should question whether they have sound corporate governance that involves human resources.
Establishing a ‘rhythm of work’, with HR at its centre, will ensure your business is working strategically and in a robust manner.
Human resources should be involved in effective board meetings and relevant business reporting, as well as helping to set out a robust risk framework within your organisation. By using HR professionals as part of your team at the highest level, you can communicate effectively to create a robust strategic planning process based on appropriate data and insights.
HR can be a strategic advisor to the board, helping bring in agreed key performance indicators (KPIs) across the organisation. This can be done using a balanced scorecard, which contains relevant HR KPIs; for example:
Productivity per head: staff costs as a percentage of revenue/profit.
External employee ratings and reviews, and internal survey engagements and outputs.
Headcount trend: retention of new hires, percentage of those performing, approved vacancies, time to fill, flexible working.
Inclusion and diversity data by hierarchy and discipline, pay and reward, and learning and development interventions.
Understanding, monitoring and addressing risks
Human Resources has a key role when it comes to monitoring risk within organisations. Here are just a few areas where data produced by HR can be used to see where your business is potentially at risk:
Loss of key people, especially from important roles, and succession planning.
Sickness absence levels and patterns, accidents at work, and wellbeing programmes.
Screening of employees, whistleblowing policy, and adoption of values.
Cost of staff turnover and effectiveness of onboarding.
Brand image from negative PR, social media, reviews, complaints, tribunals.
Business continuity procedures and readiness, such as pandemic response or cyber-attack.
How best to engage the workforce, whether that be flexibly or permanently.
Organisational change and transformation
Organisational design is another specialist area where HR needs to be involved at board level. Businesses need to ask themselves what their most effective and efficient structure is, questioning key elements such as job design and how they need to engage workers, outsourcing, levels of authority for expenditure and decision making, ownership and accountability, and even potential mergers and acquisitions or integration strategies.
Of course, advancements in technology are changing the conversation. Remote working, complete with flexible hours, the desire for home working and changing office dynamics, is becoming more prevalent at the same time as artificial intelligence is impacting job design and productivity.
These changes mean the way people prefer to communicate, learn and work is also changing, something which has its own knock-on effect when it comes to recruitment, specifically in terms of recruitment talent rather than someone with a specific skillset.
Reimagining your organisation
Human Resources leaders have the ability to empower boardrooms to embrace the fast-changing world of work.
The success of an organisation depends on it having a strong culture that is at the centre of everything it does. To achieve this, board level buy-in is essential.
Furthermore, HR should get involved in setting a robust governance framework, within which it will play a key role, as well as with strategic planning and communication. Human Resources managers should also agree appropriate KPIs and reporting protocol, covering both business as usual and all appropriate risks, and be active within organisational design - considering both the present and the future.
Human Resources managers need to be prepared to reimagine the basic tenants of their organisation so it can remain creative, adaptable and strong.
HR can help board members and managers push forward on establishing purpose, improving employee experience, and driving leadership and culture. By helping to build a more flexible, responsive organisational strategy, they can ensure their organisation is prepared to meet demographic shifts, embrace new technologies and be ready to respond to economic fluctuations.
This strong, flexible model is necessary for organisations to be able to be brave and innovative, and to futureproof their workforces for whatever changes are coming down the line.
Whatever workforce challenges you're faced with, our experts can help match the right talent solutions to the unique needs of your organisation. Get in touch with one of our experts today.
