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Evolving Role Of HR And The Way Forward

While most industries are utilising new and diverse HR practices to enhance their growth trajectory, the healthcare industry is also at par with the rest in adopting these HR strategies.

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The role of HR has been progressing over decades. The constant sequence of changes in HR practices has created a visible impact across the world and has proven to be a game changer for many successful organizations. In the field of HR, talent management is currently playing a prominent role due to its strong connection with business objectives and operations. Most organizations are adapting to this shift towards talent management as employees and processes are keys to scale up businesses. While most industries are utilising new and diverse HR practices to enhance their growth trajectory, the healthcare industry is also at par with the rest in adopting these HR strategies.


There are various methods to create the best HR practices for the growth of the business.


1. Alignment with the business: It is essential for human resource policies to align with the business strategy. The focus needs to be on the requirements of the organization and its employees in order to formulate the most suitable protocols and practices. As a successful organization is an outcome of successful people, HR can play a significant role in growing businesses by empowering employees with success stories.


2. Employee management: While the practices are adopted by the organization, the HR needs to take a step further with a reality check of the awareness among people about the practices through effective communication. Talent management is not the role of HR alone, it’s a joint responsibility with functional heads of the organization as well. Every member in the management needs to work towards building employee connect and engagement constantly.


3. Better employee connect: Most organizations are facing after-effects of the pandemic, the ‘Great Resignation’ and ‘War for Talent’. While this is a daunting task for the HR department, it would be imperative to figure out new ways to ensure people retention. It is crucial for the HR and the leadership team to think and act jointly to create stronger connects with employees while they are in the organization. It is equally pertinent to make some changes in the talent management practices.


4. Recruiting the right candidates: It is essential to hire people who are suitable for the job and add value to the business. The organization needs to be innovative in creating structured and fair selection process. Below are some important criteria considered while recruiting potential candidates:

· Ability: Does the person have the right functional and soft skills to do the job?

· Trainability: Does the person have the aptitude to learn and keep developing?

· Commitment: Will the organization be able to retain and keep this person engaged once he/she is in full speed and fully productive?


5. Fair and unbiased performance evaluation mechanism: The HR department always endeavours to accomplish a fair and unbiased performance appraisal process in any organisation. This is one of the most challenging tasks for the HR department as the process requires a holistic interpretation. Effective communication on the methodology adopted to carry out the appraisal process is crucial. One wrong decision might have a ripple effect, causing dissonance. On many occasions, people tend to take decisions, such as quit a job, in a haste due to errors in the performance appraisal process. Hence, it is essential to undertake a fair evaluation system.


6. Creating collaborative and effective teams: It is well established that milestones can be achieved through effective team work. Hence, creating and nurturing high-performance teams is one of the key responsibilities of HR. Measuring the team’s performance, adopting practices like design thinking to facilitate teamwork, and providing rewards are some of the important methods. HR can also play a key role in encouraging different teams to work together in the organization.


7. Fair and performance-based compensation: When the right candidates are hired, HR compensates them above-average remuneration based on internal parity with the intent to retain them and pay them fairly. More importantly, HR endeavours to provide a couple of individual rewards as per different types of contributions that employees make. These are performance-related rewards that can be provided in the form of variable pay, ESOPs and incentives.


8. Training in relevant skills: Accommodating budgets for training programs and investing in training time for employees can always be fruitful for organizations. This helps employees keep up with evolving job requirements, adapt to the rapid changes in the industry, understand advancements in technology, and match the expectations of the organization. On-the-job learning also plays an important role. There needs to be increased focus on feedback, coaching and peer learning within teams and management.

· 70% of learning is from challenging assignments

· 20% of learning is from developmental relationships

· 10% of learning is from formal coursework and training

While the above measures can boost the quality of work among employees, self-learning is equally important for an individual to learn and deliver.

9. Creating a Flat and Egalitarian Organization: There is a need for the HR department to inculcate a system or principles which clearly define and support equality among people. Every employee is a valuable member of the organization and they should be treated as an equal member. An “egalitarian” culture highlights that everyone deserves equal respect and this concept can help in encouraging every employee to share ideas for the organization. It is a ‘top down’ approach and can be very valuable if done well by the C-suite employees and the leadership teams.


10. Effective communication and making information easily accessible: To foster two-way communication, the organization needs to have the right channels and platforms in place. Open communication about strategy, financials, expansion plans and operations creates a culture in which people feel they are trusted. Communication through periodic town halls at respective levels is an effective and powerful tool.

HR professionals need to think and act progressively keeping the vision of the organisation in mind to stay ahead of the curve.

(The above article has been penned down by Partha Das, Chief People Officer, Manipal Hospitals specially for BW People publication)


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