Human resources involves a lot more than hiring, firing or resolving of disciplinary disputes. In fact, without a human resources strategy, it could be difficult to align your employees and their functions to the overall mission and ultimate success of your dealership.
The core purpose of human resources is to maximize a beneficial employee experience and ensure their fulfilment while working toward accomplishing the overall strategic goals of your business. So it serves you well to have a strong, effective human resources strategy in place.
Regardless of the size of your business, you need an HR strategy that covers all the key gaps, and more. An effective HR strategy needs to account for the following six key functions.
1. Recruitment and Onboarding
Recruitment and onboarding of new staff is not only an obvious function of human resources, it is arguably its most important function. HR has to ensure the hiring of the best talent.
As part of the onboarding process, the human resources department has to ensure that new team members have a smooth adjustment to the culture and performance expectations of their new positions in your dealership. Even if this process takes a few months, it’s crucial that it is not overlooked or taken for granted.
2. Training and development
Training serves to equip your people (new and old) with the right skills for their performance expectations and plays a fundamental role in helping them feel valued and ready to add to your dealership. Remember, this part of the journey is not only about upskilling, but it is also an appropriate place to reinforce your dealership culture. The provision of essential information about the company and key personnel is part of the onboarding process, but can operate as a refresher too.
For talent cultivation and long term development, it is beneficial to have programs that include career development plans and succession planning.
3. Compensation and benefits
Attracting and retaining new talent also has to do with how competitive your compensation and benefits packages are. This is vital in the journey of new hires in your company. HR managers do this well by working to create competitive pay bands, and negotiating the best benefits possible which are also in line with industry trends and offerings – but – you can be creative here and provide benefits that are unique to your team.
4. Corporate policy
HR‘s work focuses beyond the training of soft skills. Enforcing corporate policy on things like workplace conduct, dress code or safety guidelines, is another important function of human resources.
For their benefit, as well as for the smooth running of the business, it is important to make sure employees understand your corporate policy. Therefore, you need to make sure about communication to employees when there is any change or update to the corporate policy.
5. Employee relations
As human resources are responsible for the management of the entire organization, there also needs to be a fully fleshed out employee relations strategy. This helps to strengthen the employer-employee relationship through identifying and resolving workplace issues, so as to increase employee morale and satisfaction.
For the effectiveness of your employee relations strategy, staff need to know they can come to the human resources department with their problems. This way resentment and frustration get nipped in the bud and open communication and transformative resolution is promoted.
6. Risk management
Every decision you make for your employees will need to be risk assessed before being implemented. This is to prevent potential legal action against your company in case of any unprecedented injury to employees or labour law violations.
This includes decisions you make around corporate policy, team-building activities, employee benefit policies as well as disciplinary penalties for theft or embezzlement. A risk management strategy also creates a mindset of prevention and a culture of safety that influences the actions of employees.
This can also be good for the image of your dealership as your risk management policy can become public and speaks to the value you place in protecting your staff whilst they’re under ‘your roof’.
The work of your human resources department is not limited to these functions but these are some key responsibilities that are sometimes overlooked when you’re operating under pressure and are tempted to take short cuts.