As a human resources professional, I am oftentimes enlisted by my clients to bring forward recommendations and advice based on current HR best practices. Companies want confirmation that they are competitive in today’s market and that they are ahead of the 8-ball with respect to their organizational practices. However, the challenge is that best practices are constantly evolving. Does HR look the same as it did 50, 20 or even 10 years ago? Absolutely not! In order to attract and retain a workforce that enables organizations to meet their strategic objectives, the human resources field has had to be innovative and adapt to the fast pace of today’s business. Traditional HR practices were reactive and slow to respond to business needs. Today’s ideal HR model is proactive and partners with the business units to leverage people resources and help organizations achieve their goals.
Innovation can be a tricky thing if you don’t have the capital to invest in changes. In today’s economy, where capital budgets and staffing levels have been significantly cut, human resources departments are being tasked with doing more with less. Challenge your HR employees to come up with simple and cost effective ways to increase human resources measures including engagement and retention. You are probably looking at your operations departments with the expectation of them to delivering new, interesting and exciting products and services. Why shouldn’t you be expecting the same from your human resources staff?
Current best practices are a good starting point for establishing framework and remaining competitive, but don’t get too stuck on them. By strictly limiting your programs to current best practices, you could be stifling your human resources department from creating and implementing new techniques on the cutting edge of the industry. Who knows? By allowing your human resources department the freedom to think outside of the box, companies could soon be following your organization as the emerging best practice leader.