What is already commonplace in large companies is still rarely applied in smaller and medium-sized companies: the pursuit of an HR strategy. This can have various reasons. Often, the operational activities of the HR department are prioritized in everyday life and the pursuit of an HR strategy becomes a secondary matter. Sometimes, however, the necessary knowledge about the benefits of such a strategy is lacking and it is therefore not pursued.
In our latest blog post this week, we'll go into what constitutes an HR strategy and why it's recommended.
HR strategy is also often called personnel strategy and is derived from the company's personnel policy and overall strategy. It is aligned with business activities and is a company's overall plan for managing its workforce. The HR strategy serves as a guidepost for the HR department and provides direction for all sub-areas of HR. This includes, for example, recruiting, performance appraisal, compensation and also departures.
Mainly in small companies, the HR department is still not given enough importance. Often in SME's there is still the perception that HR has to deal mainly with administrative issues. In the meantime, however, the role of the HR department has changed. Today, one no longer speaks of the administrative personnel manager, but of the strategic business partner.
In addition to the advantage of having a guideline for day-to-day work thanks to the HR strategy and knowing the long-term goals and being able to pursue them accordingly, it also makes a significant contribution to ensuring that the overriding corporate goals are achieved.
Forward planning is also crucial to ensure that the right employees are available in the right place at the right time so that all the company's current and future tasks can be handled without interruption. Employees are a company's most important asset because without them, the company cannot achieve its goals and consequently cannot remain competitive. HR strategy helps recruitment to become more proactive and avoid staff shortages, overstaffing and understaffing.
A good HR strategy always supports the company's growth in the long term and attaches great importance to employee retention. Furthermore, it is important that an HR strategy builds on existing strengths and values and further cultivates and consolidates these within the framework of the corporate culture.
Possible structure of the HR strategy:
There are various factors that play a role in the design of the HR strategy. For example, the importance of the HR department in the company, the industry, the workforce structure, the resources, the corporate goals and strategy, but also the corporate culture are decisive for the strategy development. Below you will find a compact and simplified grid (based on www.hrmbooks.ch) that can help you in designing the HR strategy:
Initial situation
Core objectives and secondary objectives
Focused fields of action
Measures according to HR areas
Projects and main activities
Derived from the fields of action and goals. These can be, for example:
Success control
Conclusion
In summary, it can be said that an HR strategy has many advantages. The size of the company is of secondary importance. A good HR strategy helps to ensure that the company's overriding goals are achieved, that competitiveness is maintained, and that the right employees are available at the right time and in the right place. It also supports the sustainable growth of the company and employee retention.
We at Batterman will be happy to advise you. Especially in the areas of recruiting, personnel development and succession planning, we are happy to support you in finding the right strategy for your situation and your company.
Batterman Consulting Basel AG
Executive Search,
Byfangweg 1a, CH-4051 Basel
T +41 58 680 55 55
basel@batterman.ch