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The world of work is changing. Big-time change. With an upswing in remote working, and the rise in the gig economy and freelance workers, HR departments have to change to meet these new conditions.
Human resource management professionals need to keep up with the times or risk losing talented employees to their competitors who have kept up.
To help you do that, we’ve put together a list of HR best practices for small businesses that can also be used by any size company to achieve your organizational goals every year.
Here are 6 of the HR best practices and techniques you can use:
HR best practices are overarching human resources techniques and strategies that can be applied to any business, no matter the industry or size.
Saying that, you don’t have to adopt each of the human resource best practices out there, but pay attention to those that align with your business and will lead to your success.
While they may sound like they describe the same thing, HR practices and HR activities are different, and here’s how. HR practices refer to strategic human resources processes, such as creating a staffing plan, ongoing performance evaluations, and implementing workforce analytics.
HR activities refer to day-to-day HR functions, such as payroll, time and attendance, and shift planning.
Here is our list of the six HR best practices that can help you streamline your processes, focus on what’s important, and boost company performance.
It’s impossible to eliminate bias, but aim to stamp this out as much as possible during the talent acquisition process, so you can reap the many benefits of having a diverse workforce.
And don’t believe that bias only emerges during face-to-face interviews. It can creep into every stage of the full-cycle recruiting process, whether it’s creating a job ad, screening candidates, or coming up with questions for assessments.
Tips for eliminating bias in the recruitment process
Assessing whether someone is the right fit for your company is difficult. Here are ways you can run a more fair and inclusive hiring process.
Implement a performance and talent management program that supports development rather than undermines it. You and your employees should get together to collaboratively set goals and performance metrics.
These should be attainable, align with your company’s overall goals, and be in areas that the employee is interested in, so you can encourage them to meet these objectives.
Tips for prioritizing talent and performance management
Talent and performance management helps you retain your best employees, and it also delivers better company performance. These tips can help you implement the best processes.
Many companies still see training as a cost center and don’t recognize the value it adds to their business. Your workers want to learn new things and develop their skills so they can move forward in their careers.
Training will boost employee satisfaction and reduce your turnover rate. It’s also a great way to make sure you have the skills to help your business grow and develop into the future.
Tips for investing heavily in learning and development
It’s much less expensive to train current employees than it is the go through recruiting a new worker, especially for in-demand skills. Here’s what you need to do to make that happen.
It’s difficult to keep up with ever-changing regulations, especially if your business operates across different states and countries, while you juggle with the rest of your responsibilities.
But doing so is one of the most important parts of strategic human resource management. The penalties for not being compliant are severe -- and costly.
.Tips for proactively addressing HR compliance issues
It’s better to get ahead of compliance issues, rather than having to work out what to do when you fail to meet regulations. These tips will help.
The term fairly may be open to interpretation, transparency isn’t. Stop being secretive about compensation and talk about it openly. This creates a much better workplace environment, helps create a relationship of trust, and boosts employee morale.
Tips for compensating workers fairly and transparently
Many businesses run on tight margins, but your people are your number one asset and you need to invest in paying them what they’re worth.
It doesn’t matter why an employee is leaving, always act professionally and compassionately. Their exit may have nothing to do with you, and they are relocating to another state for family reasons. Maybe they hate their manager, or they don’t feel appreciated.
Maybe you’re terminating their employment because they consistently didn’t meet your performance measures. Whatever the reason, try to show empathy.
Tips for conducting offboarding with care
In an ideal scenario, you could resolve any issues and stop your employees from leaving, but that’s not always possible. Here’s what to do when an employee has decided to quit.
These are our picks of the top HR best practices, but you need to make them fit with your organization. Make sure they align with company goals, they’re achievable with your level or resource and experience, and they positively affect every aspect of your business.
Start with one or two, instead of jumping in headfirst and changing everything at once. And make sure you are tracking metrics specific to each HR best practice so you can test if they work for your business.
Our Small Business Expert
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