Human Resources may seem like a department of “no’s”. The function might bother you with endless emails, policies, maybe even messages about the mess in the staffroom, and hassle people for tax details. It’s all done because this function cares.
This is the department with its hand firmly on the tiller, ensuring that staff is treated fairly and while achieving organizational objectives.
But it’s also a job that’s sorely lacking the personal touch.
Besieged by paperwork, bureaucracy and technological automation, the work of the HR department has lost its personable nature. Now, these HR officials are hidden behind their computers, with mass emails acting as their only form of communication with other departments.
According to finance publication Forbes, one of the greatest challenges for HR officials is to create a culture of collaboration within the workforce. Only within a team-based environment can profits sustain themselves.
With that in mind, we’ve come up with a few strategies to ease that heavy HR load, freeing up time to foster morale and, in turn, creating an upturn in your business cash flow.
The right software
At one time, HR software was little more than a glorified spreadsheet. You booted it up in the morning, spent the day inputting data, and then headed home with eyes blurry.
Thankfully software has improved over the years. In the modern day, the cream of the HR software crop can monitor employee performance levels, cover wage payments automatically and allow employees to update their details automatically.
Essentially, an update to your software will reduce your time behind a screen and let you hit the workplace floor and increase hands-on motivation and drive results.
An emotional boot camp
Beyond the admin and the meetings, empathy is the key to effective Human Resources Management. Staff will approach you with problems, divulge secrets and expect support for personal issues. If you’re hidden behind a computer monitor, engagement engaging with people isn’t likely.
But emotional intelligence doesn’t come easily to everybody. For those struggling to push through their emotional boundaries, set up development exercises for all members of your staff.
Every member of your workplace shouldn’t be treated like they were a block on a spreadsheet. But so many employees fall into an almost obscurity, caving into the pressures of deadlines, poor interoffice relations and the iniquity of the nine-to-five grind.
Without understanding, staff morale won’t be able to sustain itself. And that’s where the human touch can make all the difference.
I think that we are at a point in the business world where we can either take all the humanity out of work, or revamp and put it all back in. We have enough software to do all the management for us, Now we need to focus on inspiring and helping people LOVE what they do. What are your thoughts on how do best do that?