While it may seem that the primary purpose of Human Resources is to handle policy and payroll, that is not the case for company leaders who understand the strategic value that HR contributes.
A recent article posted on the Society for Human Resource Management website discusses the various types of HR tasks—transactional, tactical and strategic—and considerations for staffing HR in-house or outsourcing. (See “Staffing the Human Resource Function” – http://www.shrm.org/TemplatesTools/Toolkits/Pages/StaffingHRFunction.aspx.)
As defined in the article, transactional work consists largely of administrative tasks, tactical work involves problem-solving for groups, and strategic work involves long-term planning that guides an organization toward its goals.
As HR consultants who believe the key to success is strategically aligning business objectives with roles and roles with employees, we agree with the article’s basic premise: Regardless of whether HR is staffed internally or outsourced to a well-qualified service, it is crucial to set up a framework that ensures HR functions are executed consistently, effectively and efficiently.
At a fundamental level, HR is responsible for staffing. That includes functions like compensation, recruitment, development and management. We work with clients to identify how these areas are addressed and how to make them more effective. In some cases, that involves collaborating with internal staff to shore up processes and systems. In some cases, it involves working with third-party HR services that handle payroll or recruitment. In all cases, it involves technology and implementing systems that put HR personnel in a better position to spend the majority of time and energy working strategically.
Shelley Moore is the president of Insight Strategic Concepts® and founder of BLOOM®, a web-based performance management system geared toward small- to mid-sized businesses. “For any business to succeed,” she says, “its leaders must have goals and understand their target market. They must also understand how employees contribute to the organizational vision, and that’s a place where HR can provide the strategic guidance required to align objectives with personnel. The challenge for many companies is getting HR to that level of involvement—to use technology and tools that free HR to serve in that capacity.”
“A strategic performance management system like BLOOM helps make that happen,” she says, “because while such systems store employee data like role and wage scale, they also connect each employee to the organization’s objectives to show the complete picture and the progress toward its achievement.”
This press release was distributed through PR Web by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company listed above.