What Is an HR Strategy Plan?

An HR strategy plan or a strategic HR plan is a valuable tool for businesses to align their organizational goals with the HR department and its capabilities. Every company must create a plan for deployment to support the growth and development of the department that is within the strategic plan. The document helps different organizations to align human resources to corporate strategies. The strategic plan must incorporate the vision statement, mission statement, company values, and organizational goals. It provides the necessary information about HR functions and their role in supporting objectives and strategies in the organization while guaranteeing that all human resources planning and techniques are consistent. An ideal HR strategy plan outlines to fill in the gaps of present and future capabilities of the human resources department to enable organizations to function effectively and efficiently to accomplish objectives. Creating an HR strategy plan allows personnel to interpret and implement policy and procedure as necessary in the organization.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics, human resources managers have a 2020 median pay of 58.28 US dollars per hour, amounting to 121,220 thousand US dollars in a year. The data also shows a projection of a nine percent increase in the employment of human resources managers over ten years from 2020, with over 14,800 job openings a year.

Types of HR Strategies

When it comes to implementing the HR strategy, there are multiple targets and factors that the human resource department considers. As there are sub-departments in the human resources department, the respective personnel and staff have their roles and responsibilities to fulfill. As such, various HR strategies focus on different tasks and activities to form the HR strategic plan. Below are the types of HR strategies that companies utilize.

Training and Development Strategies: This type of strategy focuses on providing staff with sufficient training to match new roles and provides current employees with various development opportunities to prepare them for prospects in the organization. Accomplishing and satisfying training and development needs go in different directions. One of the widely used approaches is for management to pay employees to enhance their skills. Organizations can send their personnel to attend on-the-job training opportunities or sign them up for certification courses. These techniques for training and development programs utilize cost-effective methods.Recruitment Strategies: The strategies for recruitment involve recruiting new employees with the corresponding skills and abilities for the organization to achieve its goals and considering all available options when planning for strategic job promotions and opportunities, encouraging viable candidates to apply. In every recruitment process, personnel must always look at the job description and requirements from a strategic standpoint. If the company needs more supervisory roles, the enforce recruitment strategies that focus on finding suitable candidates with supervisory and leadership skills.Outsourcing Strategies: Outsourcing strategies refer to using third-party individuals, groups, or companies to perform company tasks and activities. Plenty of organizations looks beyond their internal staff to contract for expert skillsets. Outsourcing is especially valuable when completing specialized activities that do not require full-time workers to complete. In which case, organizations choose to outsource human resource exercises, projects, and bookkeeping tasks. In deciding when to outsource individuals, never mistake a consultant for an employee, and vice versa. It is illegal, and the company can suffer serious financial complications. It is best to understand the difference between regular employees and consultants when planning to outsource.Collaboration Strategies: In terms of strategic human resource planning, there are instances that internal processes can lead to the creation of indirect strategies beyond company abilities. Through collaborating with different organizations and industries, the company can have better room for success when dealing with the absence of particular skills. Collaboration strategies include working together with other individuals to influence courses in educational programs. Collaboration also allows two companies to prepare leaders or knowledge by communicating advancements and developments of promising employees. Organizations can also share the costs of training similar groups or individuals that share identical responsibilities and skillsets. Collaboration strategies also allow employees to visit another company to strengthen and gain skills, knowledge, and insights.Restructuring Strategies: If regular or annual assessments show an oversupply of employee skills, restructuring strategies suggest various options to help and assist organizational adjustments. It includes the termination or attrition of employees, regrouping responsibilities to tailor well-designed job positions, and reorganization of departments for efficiency. Termination presents immediate results. However, there are costs to consider depending on employee agreements. Management must also take note of notice periods. The conditions for termination are under the rule of law, and organizations must consult with lawyers to determine the best approaches. It is also necessary to consider market and labor trends to prevent understaffing and other long-term consequences due to staff shortage. The key is to ensure that employees gain satisfaction with prior arrangements and that they confirm it through a written agreement, meeting the needs of the employer. Further data analysis can present information regarding the lack of employee resources at a department. The company can enforce redeployment procedures and provide transferred employees with the training they need to function effectively and efficiently.

Components of an HR Strategy Plan

The human resources department has its respective roles and responsibilities. As such, the HR strategy plan must cover areas that correlate with their tasks and duties, helping them to perform to their best abilities. The following elements are essential in the creation of the HR strategy plan. Continue reading to gain insight about them.

Staffing: Staffing includes developing the human resources strategic plan to determine the number of individuals that the company needs to hire. The human resource management department uses the strategy plan as a basis for the hiring process to recruit and select individuals with the necessary skills to satisfy the job requirements and position. Basic workplace policies: Policy development is an essential role of the human resource department. It is necessary as it helps reach the company goals and objectives. After developing the relevant workplace policies, it is crucial to communicate them to employees. These guidelines include information about company and employee safety and security, employee schedules, vacation periods, and flextime schedules. HR managers work with supervisors and team leaders when developing the policies. These policies must also be available in employee handbooks.Compensation and benefits: Aside from employee paychecks, 401 plans, health insurances and benefits, and other work perks, human resources handle the inclusive compensation and benefits plan for employees. Compensation packages are necessary for the strategy plan since most of the company budget focuses on employee compensation. The goal of considering pay is to attract individuals to work for the company and retain employees who are already in the organization.Retention: Employee assessment is crucial to employee retention as it classifies workers that perform best in their tasks and responsibilities. HR managers oversee the process of assessing individuals while other managers and supervisors provide employee feedback. There are various methods to ensure employee retention, from employee training to assessments.Training and development: The human resource department is responsible for helping new hires to develop the necessary skills to perform their tasks and assist current employees to enhance their abilities for better performance. Determining the training and development needs and implementing training programs falls on human resources personnel. Information on succession planning is also an essential part of the training and development section as it details the process of handling employee and managerial departure, with employees taking over the roles and responsibilities upon their leave.Regulatory issues and worker safety: The human resource department holds the responsibility for researching, developing, and implementing new regulations regarding employment practices, health care, safety, and welfare.

How To Create an HR Strategy Plan

Writing the HR strategic plan stems from other organizational and departmental strategic plans. Only when the HR department has a clear picture of organization objectives can they write down the HR strategy plan. It aligns the corporate mission and vision statements with the business plan to deliver the necessary strategies according to organizational goals. Below are the steps in creating the plan for your company.

  • 1. Determine the Human Resource Needs

    The first step to planning a strategic HR plan is to determine the number of individuals the company needs. In this step, HR managers prepare a comprehensive employee list, including their educational levels, skills, and abilities. It provides the managers with a detailed description of their workers. It serves as a helpful tool in developing employee skills and competencies. The gap analysis also stems from taking the employee inventory, addressing these problems later on. The HR manager conducts a needs assessment to know specifics regarding numbers, significance, and timeframe.

  • 2. Determine the Recruiting Strategy

    Recruitment is one of the most essential roles of human resources. Knowing the hiring numbers, necessary skills, and timeframe are components of the recruitment process. One of the biggest challenges in recruitment is finding the right candidate to hire for a job opening. There are different mediums of communicating job openings in the company, including traditional advertisement on the web or through social media platforms and networking sites. Keep in mind that the recruitment process must be fair and equitable. Depending on the time and availability, companies can choose their recruiting strategy. Assign head hunters to recruit people locally and internationally.

  • 3. Selection of Employees

    After reviewing employee resumes, the next step is to hire workers. There are hiring expenses to consider, including time to review resumes, interview candidates, relocation options, bookkeeping, new employee payroll, government record-keeping, and unemployment insurance costs. Many companies undertake phone interviews first to reduce the number of applicants, setting up interview schedules after. After the interviews, the HR managers conduct reference checks and background checks on potential candidates. If the applicant passes all the requirements, the HR personnel negotiates possible salaries, benefits, and vacation time.

  • 4. Determine Compensation

    Construct pay systems to motivate employees and ensure fairness to every organizational employee. The process of determining pay according to the job position has many variables. An organization’s life cycle defines the pay strategy of an organization. The supply and demand for particular skills, economy, and company location are factors that determine compensation strategies. HR managers guarantee that pay is equal and of market value.

  • 5. Develop Training Programs

    After planning for staffing techniques, recruiting and selecting employees, and establishing compensation packages, construct training programs. The structure must take into account the company culture, required skills for the job, and human relation skills.

  • 6. Perform the Performance Apprisal

    A performance appraisal is a method that measures employee performance in their respective positions. Performance appraisals are also called employee appraisals, performance reviews, 360 reviews, and career development reviews. The document is beneficial when motivating and rewarding employees and serves as the measurement metric for performance. HR managers develop different types of rating systems and employee evaluation forms.

FAQs

What are examples of HR strategies?

There are different examples of HR strategies that are present in various industries and companies. Examples include purposeful hiring, growth opportunities for employees, positive onboarding experiences, positive communication relationships, competitive salaries and benefits packages, social responsibility, and management transparency.

What makes a good HR strategic plan?

An  HR strategy plays a significant role in filling and identifying gaps in the workforce and establishing a just and comfortable work environment for employees through implementing workshop programs and accessibility training. A successful HR strategy plan sets the tone of company operations and influences consumer and client views.

What are the key ingredients of a strategic HR plan?

Strategic HR planning consists of many elements but the three key elements include forecasting labor demands, identifying current labor supplies, and projecting a balance in demand and supply of labor.

Employees are essential to driving the company towards achieving organizational goals. The HR department does its best to supply the company with qualified employees. As such, the HR strategic plan is a business document that guarantees the operation of the organization. HR employees, especially managers, must be knowledgeable of different trends and techniques to improve employee selection and retention. Create your HR strategy plan by downloading the samples available to achieve all your goals and objectives for the company.