The human resource function is evolving beyond its traditional administrative role.
In an interview, Carmel Galvin — CHRO at Glassdoor — remarked: The HR professional today is in part a data analyst, a consultant, a marketer, an international business person, and a workplace designer.”
As the HR manager, your modern role should support the success of your organization. But, as you well know, strategic human resource management isn’t something that just happens overnight.
What exactly is Strategic HR management (SHRM)?
In this article, we’ll discuss what SHRM is and so with its importance. You’ll also learn a few ways you can do right away to improve your HR strategy.
Later on, you’ll discover the single tool that can help your HR department’s strategy run smoothly.
What is Strategic HR management (SHRM)?
Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is about aligning the HR function with a company’s bigger goals. It involves identifying the best ways to synchronize people, processes, and systems to meet these goals.
In SHRM, HR managers sit at the planning table with other executives deciding how to move the company forward. HR department extends beyond a reactive approach and uses data (from internal sources—such as employee surveys—and external sources—such as HR trends) to make informed decisions.
Some of HR’s other strategic tasks include
- workforce planning encompassing recruitment to hiring employees
- managing talents
- building fair and efficient organizational structures.
Why is SHRM important?
Strategic human resource management maximizes the efficiency of your organization. Having a clear understanding of your goals will help you plan how to use human resources effectively.
For instance, let’s say that your company goal this quarter is to increase productivity. HR may devise human resource strategies and policies to support this by recruiting employees with the required skills.
Properly executed, strategic HR management can bring numerous benefits to an organization, such as
- Improved efficiency
SHRM helps companies improve their performance by identifying and addressing critical human resource needs.
- Better employee service
SHRM helps employers attract and retain top talent by creating a positive working environment. This may include professional development and career advancement opportunities.
- Stronger corporate culture
SHRM empowers organizations to communicate their values, mission, and culture to employees. It results in a more cohesive workforce, higher employee engagement, and a healthier organization.
8 small things you can do to improve your HR strategy
The small changes that HR managers like you make to your HR strategy can make a big difference.
Here are 8 small things you can do to improve your HR strategy.
Evaluate your current strategy
Yes, your first step may be to review and update your current HR strategy. Look at your HR records and answer truthfully — where can you improve? You’ll get a better idea of what needs to be changed by answering this simple question.
Create persuasive job descriptions
A good HR strategy starts with effective recruitment. So you hire top-notch candidates. When developing job descriptions, HR should take into account the skills, qualifications, and experience required for different positions in relation to organizational goals and objectives.
Get the most out of modern technology
Use technology to improve your HR strategy. Strategic human resource management includes using HR software. This can help to streamline processes, such as recruitment, onboarding, and performance management — making them more efficient.
Communicate more
This is true for both following up with applicants and keeping in touch with employees. Let it be part of your strategic HR management to foster a positive experience throughout the recruitment process and work environment. Even a small gesture like this can make a huge difference in building trust between employers and employees or potential hires.
Review and update policies and procedures
Check and update your HR policies and procedures regularly to ensure they’re current, effective, and still aligned with your organization’s goals. An employee handbook is a great example that needs regular revisions.
Prioritize development opportunities
Investing in training programs for professional development and career advancement is strategic human resource management. As a matter of fact, a training program can help attract and retain top talent — it increases employee retention by 30–50%.
Set up a regular performance review system
Performance reviews are an important part of any successful HR strategy — they’re a great way to monitor progress, identify areas where employees need improvement, and recognize accomplishments over time. A performance management system helps employees understand their role within the organization and where they stand regarding growth and development.
Become involved in the contract management process
Involving both HR managers and stakeholders in the contract management process can help to ensure that the contract terms align with the company’s overall goals — and that’s strategic human resource management. This includes proper management and ownership of various HR documents like hiring, onboarding, and compliance records.
Note: From this point forward, let’s talk about the role of contract management in strategic human resource management.
Importance of contract management in strategic HR management
HR contract management plays a vital role in strategic HR management, and here are some reasons why.
- First, HR contracts like employee agreements are legally binding documents. Organized system in place for end-to-end contract creation and management, companies can save precious time when creating new deals and contracts with new employees.
- Contract management also lets businesses streamline their hiring to employment processes — and may possibly reduce paperwork if digital HR document management is implemented. You can even use an HR documentation template to accelerate the generation of HR contracts.
- With an organized approach to contract creation and management, you can optimize processes related to negotiation and renewal — an overall better performance measure for employees (and contractors).
- Lastly, contract management offers company transparency to ensure compliance with legal documents and mitigate legal risks.
Hence, contract management can be single-handled by contract lifecycle management (CLM) for HR departments like Avokaado. If you’re interested in how this tool does it, read on to find out.
Avokaado as a tool for HR companies
Here are 5 ways you can use Avokaado as a tool for your HR department.
It lets you draft HR agreements faster while meeting legal requirements.
Avokaado empowers HR managers to draft HR contracts faster without compromising on quality. It offers HR document templates that are easy to complete while meeting all legal requirements. Just select the automated template you need, fill in the generated questionnaire, and get your contracts done.
It lets you add formatting, brand, and style
Did you ever spend way too much time updating and managing the style in every contract, so it matches your brand? It’s a no-no in Avokaado. If your brand has its own theme, you can apply it to a template once and draft based on that template moving forward. The resulting document will automatically have your predefined styles.
It supports collaboration with internal and external collaborators
Avokaado makes collaboration simple — for both internal and external collaborators. HR can assign tasks to internal collaborators (say hiring managers with additional requirements) to edit the draft and then track their task completion easily. With Avokaado, you can also share your documents with external collaborators via a public link.
It automates the collection of approvals and electronic signatures for HR contracts
HR often struggles to collect approvals and signatures from stakeholders in finalizing contracts. However, Avokaado provides a streamlined solution with its automated approval process and signing workflow. You can easily add approvers and signers in a document where the automated alerts will notify them in real-time. No more chasing down from HR.
It allows you to easily store, access, and manage HR documents
Still looking for HR documents in drawers, folders, and filing cabinets? Try Avokaado’s digital HR document management. With its central repository, all your HR records are stored in one place — accessible whenever you need. The best part is that every document is of the latest version.
Enhance business performance with strategic HR management
HR managers shouldn’t stay in the administrative role. To succeed in today’s dynamic business environment, HR must think beyond traditional HR roles — strategic human resource management is now a must.
Here are some ways to start:
- Evaluate your current strategy
- Create persuasive job descriptions
- Get the most out of modern technology
- Communicate more
- Review and update policies and procedures
- Prioritize development opportunities
- Set up a regular performance review system
- Become involved in the contract management process
If you’re still unsure where to go, start easy with contract management. Using a tool like Avokaado, you can streamline how you create and manage your HR documents.
Try Avokaado with your HR team. Book a demo so we can show you how easy to use this modern CLM.