A well-placed human resources plan is just as important as having a great business blueprint and strategic vision. Members of the organization greatly benefit from these plans in order to reach the company’s goal and to further advance their own personal development, while at the same time, the company is prepared as it has the most adequate staff for their positions and plans to fill vacancies with the most qualified personnel.

The high quality of a human resources department is responsible for many of the most vital aspects of the company’s success. Companies are made of people, and those people work with and for other people, so assuring that the right talent is being brought into the company, that newcomers are properly on-boarded and that the concerns of the workforce are deal with in an efficient and timely manner are some of the most important tasks an HR department has to perform with excellence.

There are many ways to go about accomplishing these things we have talked about, but no matter what strategy you have, the right practices are what can make or break the mission. Here we have some of the best practices to consider when projecting your HR mission for success.

Invest in the development of your employees

Investing in the training and professional development of your workforce is not just a great way to use company resources, but also an investment that appreciates with time. These are benefits that can be reaped today and also for many years to come. Training presents a company with a great opportunity to expand the knowledge and skill database of their workforce, while at the same time making the company a place that is much more prepared to meet the goals outline by the mission.

Make and divulge performance expectations clearly

It is impossible to get excellent performance out of your employees if the mission has not been clearly outlined and the performance expectations have not been laid out in a clear and concise manner. Achieving great performance will be reached by having a well-informed workforce of the expectations and also by utilizing these opportunities to identify weaknesses in readiness as well as employees that should be rewarded by the current implementation as well. Key performance indicators are great tools to help you implement such practices.

Appreciate and aim to retain your best people

It is a lot easier and cost-effective to implement solutions to promote the retention of your top talent than to rehire and retrain new additions to the company on the hopes that they become top performers. The development of skills, encouragement of a positive work culture and the careful maintenance of staff member’s happiness, are key to reaching high retention goals. Good benefits, competitive salary and clear opportunities for career advancement are some of the most simple

Make sure you have solid onboard practices

The proper onboarding of new staff members is something that can make all the difference and turn a prospective mediocre employee into a real up-and-comer. The onboard process is crucial since it Is known that the first few days/weeks are the most important time to teach a new hire everything about the company, put him up to speed on this responsibility, and more importantly, assessing if the person is the right fit for the organization.

Maintain good talent on standby

It doesn’t matter if you need them right now or not, but you should maintain an ongoing search for great talent and have their information on hand in case you need to fill an opening with haste. A database is a great addition to an ongoing relationship you should maintain with key individuals that would benefit the company if they became part of it.

Image courtesy of noe** at Flickr.com

Image courtesy of noe** at Flickr.com

Make a sensible assessment of your current workforce

This is not only important but absolutely necessary. How else would you be able to assess the needs and weaknesses of the organization unless you have a detailed picture of the current state of affairs? Understanding and being aware employee’s skills, knowledge, abilities, and additional training or certifications; gives you the opportunity to properly put those tools to use, benefiting not only the organization but the employees as well. Something to remember is that the talents to be considered should also go beyond their job descriptions. You would be surprised to find talents that could apply better to an area different from the place where the staff member currently works.

Create a proper gap analysis

A gap analysis is pretty much the comparison between current performance and desired performance. It is important to be clear on where the company is, where it wants to go, how is it planning to get there, and last but not least, what does it need to make this projection a reality. A proper gap analysis allows you to make on point adjustments to strategy.

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