6 Ways to Better Train and Equip Your HR Staff

Workplace training and development is a critical component of how the modern organization aims to create and retain top talent. Training your HR staff and working with them to align your company’s workforce planning efforts is necessary. Another highly beneficial practice to reinforce is to establish talent management systems. These systems, under the leadership of HR, can provided advance training, coaching, and corrective measures for the organization. Implementation and continual evaluation of this system to ensure it benefits all the employees requires the attention of the HR staff and management. In this article, we’ll outline 6 proactive measurements you can take to ensure your HR staff is properly equipped, in both knowledge and resources, to meet current and future challenges.

1. Get New HR Team Members Up to Speed Quickly

HR staff need to understand how your business works, what your culture is like, and how to handle common issues. Having a good training program for new starters is essential. In surveys performed by Go2HR, around 40% of inadequately trained new employees will leave the company within a year. You can follow these initial guidelines to plan an efficient HR training program: 

1. Determine the company’s goals. What do you want to achieve? How can HR help achieve these goals? 

2. Identify the training needs. What do your employees need to know? Do you need a certain skill set? Do you have a lot of gaps? 

3. Consolidate programs into a core program. You can work on your core program’s components, including the following: 

• Scope of training
• Dates
• Appropriate disciplines
• Expected knowledge transfer
• Reflection opportunities
• Repayment periods
• Formal training and testing

A core program can be taught to multiple organizations with different training needs. The core program meets the company’s requests and is strong enough to reduce employee turnover. 

4. Create detailed training plans. Use the HR Scorecard to manage your training programs. HR departments can lose sight of the purpose of training often because HR managers focus on paperwork and compliance. Using HR Scorecards, HR managers can evaluate training programs and ensure they are achieving the goals they are set to achieve. Aim for high quality. The core purpose of an HR training program is education, so you want to make sure the training is as good as possible. Make sure it has the right outcomes. Effective training should be of a high quality and in line with your strategic goals.

2. Create a Strategic HR Plan … and Make Sure Your HR Team is On Board

You should have a strategic HR plan that aligns your HR department with your corporate mission and goals. Get input from your existing HR team if you have one, or an outside consultant if you’re only just setting up an HR team. Start by defining key priorities for HR. Then determine what insights you will gather from external speakers or participants at events, to incentivize your HR team to focus on those priorities that support the company’s profitability, or that help the company develop a positive workplace for employees. Register, and then use these principles to implement a strategic HR plan that brings results.

3. Have Clear Policies About Confidentiality

Make sure your HR staff know how to handle information and know what should be (legally and ethically) kept confidential. If you decide to share information with an external employee or administrator, post your policies firmly. Don’t leave them ambiguous. Also ensure you’re only sharing information that doesn’t violate personal privacy. This should eliminate any conversations involving medical information, political data, or ethically cloudy gossip. You need to be sure personnel records, when relevant, are compliant with nondisclosure agreements. Make sure you have an updated website section detailing what’s and isn’t confidential. And confirm your HR departments are following best practices. Renting a personal assistant as an example of a compliance violation.

4. Give Your HR Team Access to Admin Tools

Your HR team members will need access to common admin tools. Like Office 365 users, all staff members will want to seamlessly collaborate with team members when it comes to schedules, calendars, and documents as the company grows. Your HR team needs access to the tools you’re already using so you can make sure they always have the right information. For instance, they may need to create or edit payrolls, allow employees to leave their work assignments or provide approvals to check in at any location, and establish mandatory leave or sick time. Giving your HR department fast, streamlined access to the key cloud platforms will help efficiently manage all aspects of your business.

5. Consider Specialist HRM or HCM Software

HRM software provides for small to medium businesses’ HR needs. It will usually cover payroll, benefits, attendance tracking, recruitment, and talent management. HCM software goes further, covering a wider range of functions across the employee lifecycle. It can help your HR team by offering advanced analytics, industry benchmark data, and robust reporting. You can read this helpful article from ADP to further compare how HRM and HCM differ on several points. Businesses that want to offer such solutions to employees and clients will often include HRM software in the cost of their software solutions. Smaller businesses will likely choose to purchase HRM software on their own. However, larger businesses that use HRM software will typically have one in-house HR manager. Large companies will often outsource HRM solutions, since their HR teams are necessarily large in number.

6. Develop Your Employee Handbook and Keep it Up to Date

Your employee handbook will outline a lot of HR-related issues, like workplace culture, benefits, and policies. If you don’t already have a handbook, make this a priority. If you do have one, make sure it’s being regularly reviewed and updated.

Conclusion

A good HR team can make a huge difference to your company’s success. They’ll help attract and keep top-quality employees and they’ll be proactive in keeping employees productive and motivated. Invest the time and resources you need to train and equip them to do great work. Many HR managers and senior leadership teams are poorly trained and equipped to teach and educate their workforce. Taking the time to teach your leadership team, for instance, how to motivate your employees to perform their best and how to be more effective leaders for your business can be a huge benefit.