Human Resources is one of the most undervalued teams in many start-ups. They arrive after the other initial wave of talent, who get used to working together, making their own rules and being flexible in order to give their passion to this business. HR is established later, as more staff join, and can look like an impediment, with a focus on procedures and compliance rather than simply getting on with running the business.
This is an extremely short sighted point of view, and if you don’t value and work with your HR team you’ll find yourself shedding staff, with the ones that are left fragmenting off into insular groups and not working together to do the best for the business.
One of the most important functions of a Human Resources team is HRD (Human Resource Development) and today we’re going to take a look at why it’s important for your company, so hopefully you can begin to see the value in your HR Team.
Development
HRD is a programme of development for your employees. Making the most of the ‘human resources’ in your company is just good sense. You wouldn’t assign computers randomly, and without reference to the needs of the teams using them, so you should take just as much care with the actual people in your employ.
The first step in an employee development programme is to actually recognise the skills you have in your workforce. Regular appraisals allow both employees and their managers to rate their performance in different areas, and as well allowing them to improve in basic ways (like punctuality and efficiency), it identifies ways for them to develop their skills and grow their career.
This could be seeking some management experience, developing technical skills with the tools your business uses, or even looking to work with another department. Either way, it’s important to identify targets the employee can sensibly attain.
A good development programme doesn’t just get you better staff – though that’s an important aspect of it. It also helps you retain the staff you have, and use the experience they’ve gained in your company. This is the sort of invisible experience that it takes new hires a long time to acquire and work at full efficiency: how best to use your systems, who to talk to when they need to get things done, the right way to approach a tricky team member.
Employees who don’t see a future at your company are liable to quit, and a good HRD programme means they can always see a future at your company.
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