In yesterday’s article, we covered the need to define your company’s culture and ways to go about doing so. In today’s article, we’ll cover the second step in finding your way through the current job market, by developing a human capital strategy.
Step 2—Build a Human Capital Strategy
The ability to forecast and design an action plan to meet future staffing needs (6 months, a year, and 2 years out) reduces the stress on your business. This Strategic People Plan (Human Capital Strategy) should be as robust and thorough as your business plan.
Build a Strategic People Plan
How does your business plan translate into people requirements? Start by engaging your CFO to partner with HR to build a Human Capital Strategic (growth) plan. Many companies have business plans organized by geography and product line, containing revenue and operating projections. Create a Strategic People Plan by converting these monetary projections into “people” using labor costs and historical support requirements and factoring in turnover and planned exits.
From there, build an organization chart that contemplates the same horizon as your business plan. Finally, conduct a gap analysis of the present state of your talent pool with your future requirements for reaching your strategic goals.|
The result may not be pleasant, but it will present a complete picture of your people-related growth challenges and show you where you need to invest to achieve your objectives.
Build a People Dashboard
Develop a people dashboard for your entire leadership team. Include metrics for time to hire, retention, internal promotions, planned versus actual hires, level of cross training, and costs versus budget for recruitment.
If appropriate for your organization, add safety metrics, as injuries are costly and result in unplanned labor shortages. Remember, what gets measured gets better. Once the dashboard is in place, assign ownership to ensure the Strategic People Plan is aligned with the business plan and stays on target.
To read the full article, click here.