As an HR professional, you tend to be familiar with the concept of SMART goals. However, you might be confused about how it relates to HR. Is HR about setting a goal? If yes, how? What are the goals for HR professionals?
The reality is that the HR functions, among others, include helping organizations hire the best talent, nurture their workforce in alignment with organizational needs and goals (especially through training and development), and provide well-packaged benefits, all of which are enabling factors for organizational growth.
Though these are supporting roles, HR professionals may get overwhelmed by these roles. In fact, digital innovation has transformed the operational roles and norms of HR professionals. Therefore, the goals for HR professionals who stand in-between employees and organizations should be SMART – specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timely.
Here are 5 SMART goal tips for HR professionals.
Specific #1: Prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
Since the pandemic broke out and caused some permanent changes as far as the modern workforce is concerned, organizations have been exposed to a wider pool of talent from which they can select their preferred employees. Thus, organizations have placed premium importance on DEI as a criterion for hiring employees.
Apart from that, research has indicated how a diverse group of employees can help organizations achieve their goals faster. This is because you’d be able to aggregate opinions and concerns from employees from different backgrounds and experiences.
Measurable #2: Automate processes
In the past, humans had been the only ‘machine’ performing all organizational roles. This also applies to HR professionals. The hiring process, for instance, is a time-consuming one that can take a toll on the capacity of HR professionals. Since it is a repetitive process, it could be automated. By doing so, productivity is increased, employee engagement is increased, operational costs are minimized, and workflows are streamlined.
It is often assumed that automating the hiring process will take away human interaction. However, this isn’t true. By automating the hiring process, HR professionals have more time to ensure that personal networking occurs, though through the use of the software. In the case of payroll automation, the time to be spent on manual preparation of payroll could be channeled towards having more conversations that will lead to success with employees.
Actionable #3: Align employees with core values
If nothing else, core values are what determine an organizational culture. They are one of the criteria for hiring employees, making them one of the long-term goals for HR professionals. In other words, it will be a wrong idea to hire employees whose skills and values do not align with those of the organization. This is because only employees whose skillset is based on an organization’s core values can create work engagement that will yield desired results.
As an HR professional, it is important that you help organizations establish core values with which employees should connect. This will give them the opportunity to be able to appraise them at the end of the month or year.
Relevant #4: Initiate a flexible working environment
The pandemic undoubtedly caused a major reorganization in the work model. It led to the increased adoption of the remote working model. After many organizations were forced to ask their employees to work from home, they discovered that the level of productivity remained at an optimal level. This has made some of them – Facebook, Microsoft, etc. – embrace the work model.
By adopting the remote work model, which comes with increased flexibility, employees can now maintain a healthy work-life balance. When employees are able to maintain a balance between their life and work, they get motivated and have a higher level of productivity.
Timely #5: Keep on improving
Learning, they say, is a lifelong process. The moment one stops learning, then one has initiated one’s dying process. The career goals for HR professionals, irrespective of their experiences, should revolve around keeping their professional skill in shape. This is by getting additional knowledge as well as integrating learning into employees.
The acquired knowledge will be valuable to you, thus making you better at your role. At the same time, organizations, where you work, will also reap the benefits. In fact, it is a good way to prepare yourself for a better – or an advanced – role. As a way of broadening your horizon or improving your knowledge, you can explore podcasts, blogs, online courses, and other professional networking sites such as LinkedIn.
