HR, a strategic business partner

Things HR should do more of:

1. Focus on productivity: Their focus should drift towards productivity, in order to gain respect from the business leader.

2. Talent enhancement: They should identify the right kind of talent sources and be able to do talent profiling based on the exact requirements.

3. Build knowledge warehouse: There should be a knowledge warehouse, which should be created, consisting of the best learning practices. This will minimize the effect of attrition in an organization, since attrition is an integral aspect that every organization needs to cope with.

4. Connecting the workforce: They should create platforms to engage the workforce in such a way that they are connected throughout – employees with employees/management/customers/ social causes. For example, creating a facebook account for the company, etc.

5. Business planning: They should be involved in business planning, like planning for 5-7 years from now.

Things HR should do less of:

1. HR transactions/processes: They should not be involved in HR processes like payrolls, accounts, attendance, employee query, etc. They could do a centralized program management role for these processes and have the technology outsourced for all these processes.

2. Lot of on-ground activities: They should not be involved in on-ground activities, like events and celebrations. These should be managed by third party or the internal communication/marketing team of the organization.

3. HR audits/process mapping: The mapping of processes and audits should be done by the third party and not by HR. This will help in giving the organization a broader picture rather than a biased view.

HR’s focus should drift towards productivity. They should identify the right talent sources and be able structure talent profiling basis the exact business requirements. HR should create platforms to engage the workforce in such a way that they are connected throughout.