If employee issues distract you from your organization’s goals, then your Human Resources (“HR”) practices are working against you.
Sound basic HR practices are essential to effective employment relationships and are so powerful when applied consistently and well that most companies don’t need anything else.
Basic HR practices are also not complicated or expensive:
¨       Written employment policies. “Game Rules” of the employment relationship.
¨       Established compensation and benefits practices promote fairness.
¨       Proper recruitment processes to get the right person into the right job correctly.
¨       Performance management tracks business and employees performance.
¨       Trained people managers. Poor managers are the main reason for employee problems and turnover. “People quit their bosses not their jobs”.
¨       Communication to ensure the success of HR practices.
Poor / lack of basic HR practices causes constant, recurring and costly problems in:
¨       Business underperformance
¨       Absenteeism, injuries, turnover
¨       Internal conflicts / lawsuits / grievances
¨       Customer dissatisfaction
¨       Productivity loss, overtime, theft
¨       Unionization
Organizations’ HR practices range from:

1. Little exists in writing and inconsistently applied.  Assumption that employees know the company goals and their job.  Forever dealing with the same issues and getting nowhere.

1. Solid HR practices in writing, communicated well, consistently applied.

1. Cumbersome, painstaking practices, executed to paralysis.  Suffocating bureaucracy.

Category 2 employers have the right balance, enjoy a strong, engaged workforce, minimal “HR firefighting”, resulting in strong productivity and business results.
Which category of employer are you?  Like anything of quality, the initial set-up of sound HR practices may take a little longer but the upkeep and maintenance are minimal so the investment pays for itself.
Irene Lis has 25 years of extensive human resources experience focussed on helping organisations ensure that their people practices support their business.