HR strategy in 2024 is about crafting a collection of highly targeted policies and procedures to turn a bunch of talented staff into a cohesive team on a mission. Sounds great, right? But what does it actually mean?
Well, let’s say HR strategy is the science of leveraging your people to achieve your goals. It steers the employee life cycle. It’s a guiding light, ensuring your employees have the tools, knowledge, and support they need to rock their jobs. And it helps keep the show running smoothly, from recruitment to exit.
But it’s not always as easily done than said.
Obstacles to Designing a Successful HR Strategy
HR operations play a crucial role in driving organizational growth. For this reason, you’re expected to make sure the organization always has the right people in the right roles, and in turn:
- Foster innovation
- Maximize productivity
- Support business growth through an effective strategy
But here’s the kicker…
HR plays a pivotal role in the organization, for sure. But there are many challenges requiring strategic planning, effective communication, and continuous adaptation to overcome, in key areas such as:
- Talent acquisition and recruitment
- Employee performance and productivity
- Employee retention and attrition
- Learning and development
- Diversity and inclusion
- Workforce planning and succession management
- Compensation and benefits
- Employee wellbeing and engagement
- Organizational design and restructuring
- Compliance and risk management
The question is, how do you pull everything together, in all these areas, from the mountains of data in your HCM or HRIS, ATS, onboarding, L&D platforms, payroll, other disparate systems or even spreadsheets?
Even if you spend copious amounts of time crunching numbers from all these different data sources, how you combine and transform them into a compelling story to support your overall business goals?
“It Is Now Possible to Use Data, Rather Than Anecdotes or Intuition”
“With technological advances and increased computing power, organizations of all sizes can leverage increasing volumes of data within their organizational functions. It is now possible to use data, rather than anecdotes or intuition, to evaluate the efficiency of HR processes; employee productivity, diversity or attrition; and other key business metrics”, explained the SHRM in their The Use of People Analytics in HR research. “The improved efficiency that people analytics tools offer can also allow HR professionals to focus more of their attention on innovation and strategy.”
It’s referring to a powerful bespoke HR strategy, tailored for specific jobs and departments, not a one-size-fits-all situation. It means customizing a strategy to fit like a glove, so every employee at every level can reach their potential, while contributing to the business reaching its own pinnacle of success.
People analytics gives you crucial insights to optimize your strategies across multiple areas, ultimately contributing to the organization’s overall objectives.
So, how do you harness the dream team to deliver a legendary strategy?
Aligning Your HR Strategy with Your Overall Business Strategy
It’s clear a game changing strategy empowers you to:
- Make more informed decisions
- Boost the employee experience and engagement
- Impact bottom line profitability
Moreover, data is your secret weapon for getting there. It’s more than retrospective analysis. Additionally, it’s like having a crystal ball that shows you the future, helps you spot opportunities, and forearms you to adjusts the strategy for ultimate success.
Leveraging people analytics for an A+ strategy includes:
- Understanding the business strategy – HR leaders need to be in the loop, and ideally part of the planning posse, in terms of overall business objectives. It’s essential for aligning a HR strategy that synchronizes your people and your company’s aspirations for success.
- Assessing needs – You need to know what ingredients you’ve already got and what’s missing. People analytics makes light work of this. Imagine slicing and dicing many different horizontals and verticals in as many ways as you need to identify gaps and bottlenecks. It’s like taking a deep dive into your HR programs, figuring out what works, what needs a boost, and what’s MIA.
- Planning for success – Ever heard the expression, “A goal without a plan is just a wish”? This is exactly the point of having a data-driven HR strategy rather than something you trot out on instinct every year. At the end of the day, that’s like trying to reach a destination without a map. A strategy with clear, measurable goals is your route to victory. After all, it’s one thing to say you want to conquer the world. But it’s another thing to plot the steps to get there.
The SHRM research confirms: “71% of HR executives who use people analytics report that it is essential to their organization’s HR strategy.”
It’s unsurprising feedback, given how transformational people analytics is in the greater scheme of HR strategy. It converts raw data into actionable insights. And this, in turn, equips you to make informed decisions that propel the company forward.
At HireRoad, it’s our aim to elevate your plans beyond traditional policies and procedures. With our market leading people analytics software, PeopleInsight, your HR strategy can be the change-enabling force that advances your company’s success story.
Who else wants an easier, faster, and more effective way to design a results-driven HR strategy? Book a free demo for a look behind the scenes and see for yourself how you could be strategizing for success with elite people analytics in just 10 days.