It is that time of the year again, where all of us need to make our determinations or resolutions to achieve something more this year.

‘HR Teams’ are no exception to this, as they are a critical component of employee well-being in any business, no matter how big or small.

In this article, we will discuss 3 important resolutions which our HR Teams need to take to excel themselves and thereby make their employees surpass in their personal and professional front.

1.Clear HR Policies

The first item on my agenda for the new year would be to implement a concise and strong HR policy that prevents grievances from reaching a conflict stage and further escalations. This is very important given the current situation of layoffs happening in the IT giants due to which trade unions are attempting to break into the IT industry, which has long avoided any unionization of its employees.

As per a report in the Hindustan Times, trade unions such as Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) have come out in support of software titans employees facing termination. The report notes that this could be the beginning of unionization among the IT sector in India.

Reasons cited for this layoff has been ‘under-performance’, ‘non-upgradation of skills by senior people’, ‘involuntary attrition’ etc. Whatever may be the reason, the HR team can implement some strong HR process like, roping in professionals to train its workforce on life skills, including interpersonal skills and dealing with changes.

Although workforce optimization is nothing out of the ordinary for the employers, it is a crisis situation for the employees. For such critical situations, if we have our HR teams armed with strong HR processes to handle the friction, there is no need for a person to go and approach the Union, labor commissioner, court or government.

In addition to layoffs, there are many other areas where HR teams can concentrate on improvising this year. Some suggestions that come to mind are :

  • Bring in organizational development intervention, creating suggestion schemes and make employees participate in decision making.
  • Conduct frequent employee satisfaction surveys.
  • Involve employees in their goal setting and planning their career path.
  • Conduct feedbacks on the future than on the past. This will help them improvise on their skill sets and give you better results.
  • Do not ignore Social Networking amidst employees in your policies. ‘Employee Engagement’ is very essential for a successful organization.

You can read more on Driving Employee Engagement in Organizations from one of our earlier blogs.

2. Using BIG DATA in HR Management

Let’s begin with what is Big Data and then see how it will be useful in HR management. Big Data is “Extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions”.

A growing number of companies are trying to apply a data-driven approach to the unpredictable business of human interactions.

To use the words of an eQuest whitepaper, for human resources, in particular, big data marks a “historic opportunity” to make the “most rigorously evidence-based human-capital decisions ever”.

The three core areas where data analytics can be applied are talent acquisition, learning and development, and employee engagement.

Values derived from the analytics help HR find the blind spots in the company; identify departments that are doing better and how it can be replicated elsewhere in the company.
But how can this be done? To convert diverse and disparate data derived from different areas of an organization, you can consider the approach mentioned below.

  • Ask the right questions and get the data
  • Integrate diverse data and analyze its meaning
  • Ensure data compatibility or consistent structure of data across geographies to input information so that there are no overlaps or omissions.
  • Slice and dice data and share information with others more through visualization.

3. Continuous Recruitment

Talent acquisition or Recruiting is the MOST important function of the HR team. If you want a successful organization you will need the right person on board. There are a ton of talented, skilled, educated and smart people available. But how will you find them?
You can consider the following approach :

  • Implement an evaluation and selection process from both behavioral and technical perspective that will find the real stars for your organization.
  • Identify the target market, develop talent brand marketing campaigns, establish applicant screening methods and organize internal recruitment forms.
  • Conduct behavioral interviews as it improves the job match.
  • Check for the compatibility factors by evaluating ‘Emotional Intelligence’. Poor compatibility can cause HR issues which will cost the company money and decrease morale.
  • Understand the depth and scope of each candidate skill set to identify the best fit.
  • There are several recruitment tools available in the market.
  • “SkillRobo” is one such ‘Employee Assessment System’, which is very powerful and easy to use cloud-based recruitment software.
  • Mobile recruiting tools are another choice, which is an important aspect of recruitment marketing.
  • Video interviewing should be an option considered by the HR team, instead of the traditional telephonic interview for candidates located far off. It gives the hiring managers a visual and verbal assessment of the candidates.
  • Increase the usage of social and professional networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, BeKnown and XING as they have become the sourcing tools of the trade for hiring highly-skilled professionals.
    All that said, now what are the resolutions of the HR Team in your organization? Share with us your thoughts.