The role of HR has never been more critical. Unlike in the past, where doing business mostly entailed offering services or selling a product and making a profit, today’s buyers are a lot more invested in the business. They want to know your values and what the company stands for, and will not hesitate to walk away if the values don’t meet their expectations.
Even worse, this comes at a time when competition for talent is fierce. First off, there’s a shortage of specific critical skills in nearly every industry. Additionally, even if you’re able to identify the right talent, convincing them to choose your organization has become very difficult since everyone is chasing the few qualified candidates.
It leaves the already-overworked Human Resource (HR) departments with a lot to do. And, that’s before you mention retention.
5 Areas to Focus on in 2020
Since the challenges just keep piling, it would be advisable for HRs to have a clear plan going into the new year if they’re to help their organizations. Experts recommend prioritizing the following five key areas:
1. Communication
The most productive, satisfied, and loyal employees are well trained, well informed, and highly appreciated by their employers. These employees know that their work is valued, and the employer continually reminds them about and praises them for every job well done.
HRs must keep it this way in the new year to increase the chances of attracting and retaining the best talent. Put differently; you must constantly find new ways to engage employees. Always seek new channels to keep the conversations flowing.
Fortunately, you can now find whole-package HR communications solutions to help you manage calls, emails, videos, text, etc. from a single dashboard.
2. Inclusion over diversity
Recently, in a bid to build wholesome workforces and a culture of togetherness, organizations have focused on cultivating diversity. Diversity here meant embracing everyone, regardless of their cultural, religious, or other beliefs.
In 2020, however, HRs will need to go one step further and consolidate the gains of their inclusivity efforts. And, that means adopting a new mission – inclusivity. The difference between diversity and inclusivity is that an inclusive organization actively tries to bring the desired diversity while a diverse organization waits for it.
In 2020, organizations will need to get out of their way to bring the desired diversity into the workplace. Inclusion helps with both talent attraction and retention.
3. Getting C-Suite help
One of the biggest challenges that HRs have faced in the past years is isolation. Often, management and the C-Level only give orders, and the HR department has to do everything else. From finding the right talent to convincing them to join and stay at the company, it’s all been left to the HR department.
While, ideally, these are duties of HR, studies show that organizations would gain a lot more if management and the C-level were involved to a degree. Why? Because it’s the best way to capture the essential needs of the company in the recruitment and talent management processes.
By improving the connection between HR and management, organizations can initiate strategies and structures that grow value through shared goals.
4. Providing personalized experiences
Employee wellbeing will become a big thing in 2020 onwards. Factors like employee health, financial prosperity, and fitness that have, for a long time, been treated with contempt will become chief priorities of successful companies. Indeed, organizations that don’t take these issues seriously will find themselves struggling to attract or retain talent.
To adequately address these issues, HR management experts urge organizations to begin treating workers as individuals rather than groups. That’s because what makes one employee happy might not necessarily appeal to the next.
So, rather than offer collective incentives such as subsidized gym memberships, HR needs to start finding ways to address issues at an individual level.
5. Getting buy-in for HR investment
Finally, in 2020, HRs need to work even harder to get buy-in for human resource management initiatives. In most organizations, the HR department rarely gets the deserved slice of the budget, with organizations often giving excuses such as the need to invest more in bottom-line areas. But, should that be a reason to overlook HR?
No. Finding, acquiring, and retaining the best talent is perhaps the most important thing a company can do, especially in the current environment. If the organization fails in this area, it becomes very difficult to remain competitive.
HR will, therefore, need to fight hard to get a more significant share of the budget cake. Working closely with management/c-level, as discussed above, would be a great starting point.
Start Early
Don’t be left behind. HRs that prioritize these five points in 2020 are guaranteed significant success throughout the year.
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