In the HR space, there are many opportunities to strive for a more effective, organized, and efficient work life. To support your success in the New Year, we’ve outlined the top 10 HR goals to prioritize in 2024.
1. Start Promoting Work-Life Balance
Today’s employees are all about work-life balance, and for good reason. The American Psychological Association reports that about 550 million working days are lost annually due to employee burnout. In addition, employee burnout can significantly impact production, turnover rate, and processes.
Would your employees boast about your organization’s work-life balance? If not, you still have work to do. Consider improving your PTO offering or providing remote work flexibility as immediate solutions, then focus your efforts on long-term improvements.
2. Schedule Regular 1:1 Meetings with Direct Reports
It’s easy to get caught up in industry-wide best practices and bypass regular check-ins with your employees. However, the reality is that employees often know what they need, and allowing their voices to be heard will boost organizational impact.
As you look at your calendar, schedule regular, recurring meetings with your direct reports. Try to avoid rescheduling or canceling when your schedule gets busy. When you treat these conversations as non-negotiable, you’ll have clear insight into how to support your team members more effectively.
3. Review Your Hiring Process
When was the last time you reviewed your hiring process? Hiring is one of the most essential functions for HR teams, and it impacts the business’s bottom line. Consider setting a goal to audit your hiring process throughout the year, ensuring that the experience is positive and effective for hiring managers, current team members, and applicants.
You can also simplify your recruitment process by implementing HR tech, ensuring that your process complies with federal, state, and local laws. Discover more about how HR tech can streamline compliance here. With a tried-and-true procedure in place, your hiring efforts will run more smoothly year-round.
4. Launch a D&I or Supplier Diversity Initiative
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives are top-of-mind for most businesses. D&I in the workplace means that an organization employs a diverse team of people that reflects the association in which it exists and operates.
However, if you already have solid D&I initiatives, consider making plans to review their efficacy or regularly communicate policies and initiatives to employees. If not, it’s time to devote your attention and resources to D&I. Everyone wins when you genuinely embrace various backgrounds and cultures in the workplace!
In addition to prioritizing diversity within your organization, you can review the companies you’re currently outsourcing to. Ask yourself, “Am I supporting minority-owned businesses through my outsourcing efforts?” If you find the answer is “no,” consider launching a supplier diversity initiative.
5. Revise Your Company Values
Company values set an important tone for your business. They help job candidates understand what you believe in and how they’ll be treated within your organization. However, since company values are often established during the organization’s formation, it’s common for them to feel outdated or irrelevant in today’s business landscape. Use this resolution as the push you need to review and revise your company values. Make sure they feel relevant, inspiring, and applicable to your organization.
6. Update Your Compensation, Perks, and Benefits Packages
Since you’re already reviewing your hiring policies and processes, the new year is a great time to review your compensation and benefits packages while you’re at it. But, how do you know if your compensation package needs an upgrade?
Check your industry’s benchmarks for average compensation. If you’re providing less compelling offers than your competitors, you’re setting yourself up for a challenging hiring market and dissatisfied employees in the new year. To address that possibility now by making the necessary updates and improvements!
Need assistance offering a competitive benefits package on a small business budget? Contact our team to learn how you can provide your employees with the best benefits without breaking the bank.
7. Update Your Employee Handbook
Employee handbooks help onboard your employees effectively and set essential ground rules to guide their daily choices. Employee Handbooks are living resources that should adapt and reflect to your organization as it stands today. But most businesses wait until their handbook collects dust before updating their handbook.
If it’s been more than a year since you last reviewed your handbook, give it a quick inspection and note any outdated areas. If you’ve updated policies, improved benefits, changed your work schedule, or made changes since your last revision, make sure to tackle those changes as soon as possible.
8. Implement Training Programs
Take a moment to think about your employee onboarding procedures. For example, are new hires effectively trained in their roles and your company policies? Are existing hires given opportunities to continue developing their skills?
Improving your training is an excellent resolution for the new year. It helps ease the transition for teams with new hires, lightens the load on hiring managers, and ensures that employees can see a long-term path with your organization.
It’s also important to look into whether or not your employees have undergone required respectful workplace/harassment avoidance training. If you live in a state where this is required, add it to the new year’s schedule to stay compliant.
9. Review HR Policies and Procedures
You might sense a theme among these resolutions: give all your essential policies and procedures a quick review. If any other elements of your HR department could use a refresh, make a note to examine them in the new year.
As you take a bird’s eye view of your HR strategy, you’ll be in the perfect position to schedule an annual planning meeting. During that time, you and your team can set specific goals and discuss other objectives to explore.
10. Outsource Your Needs to an HR Provider
Finally, consider what you could accomplish with a team of HR experts tackling payroll, benefits, compliance, and recruitment on your behalf. While these efforts are critical for your business operations, you don’t have to manage them in-house.
In fact, according to the HR Dive 2021 Identity of HR Survey, 54% of organizations outsource benefits administration, and 53% outsource payroll processing, so they can continue to focus on their core competencies.
Contact us today to learn how we can support your business in the new year and beyond!
