With the end of financial year looming, it’s that time when budgets are being formulated and plans developed for the new year. Marketing plans, operating budgets and business plans readily come to mind but what about your HR Plan? For many businesses, people costs are their biggest expense but it’s an area that’s often overlooked in planning.

So, what is an HR Plan? A Human Resources Plan is a practical model of the people-related processes and initiatives you need to achieve your business strategy and goals. Its purpose is to align the people side of your business with your strategic direction to move you from where you are today to where you plan to be tomorrow. An HR plan covers everything from recruitment, to employee retention and development, through to compliance.

Here are my 5 tips for what to include in your HR Plan for FY19:

Recruitment. Start by looking at your structure. Will you be able to grow with existing numbers or will you need to boost your team? Look at your organisation. Will you need to re-organise to focus on new areas or shift responsibilities? Is it time to bring in a manager? Finding the right person can take up to 3 months so by planning ahead you will be able to get the right resource when you need it.

 

Salary and Incentive Reviews. When was the last time you reviewed your salary structure? If you have an ad-hoc approach to salary increases then two things might have happened: you may be out of step with the market or internal relativities could be misaligned. Either way this can lead to employee dissatisfaction. Look at ways to reward staff that are not just monetary. Plan a staff conference or workshop to get the team together and schedule it for a time when work is less busy.

 

Performance Reviews. Two things are critical for employee engagement and they are role clarity and feedback. Make sure you schedule in at least 6 monthly performance reviews in the calendar and stick to them. And don’t forget to review Position Descriptions annually. People’s roles can change significantly in a growing business as responsibilities expand to meet demand. Beware of job ‘scope-creep’ and that it doesn’t cause your employees to lose focus from their core purpose.

 

Training and Development. Do you have a training budget? The key to employee retention is to keep developing your people. Have a look at the skill set of your team and assess what new skills or knowledge will be needed to meet your strategic goals. Who in your team has leadership or management potential? How will they be trained? Make a commitment to create a development plan for each employee and factor this into your budget.

Compliance Audit. Effective HR systems and processes underpin the sustainable management of people. Growing your business without proper HR systems is like building a house with shaky foundations, eventually it will fall down. Are your Policies and Procedures compliant and have your staff been adequately trained in them? Have you checked that wages and payments are in line with relevant Industry Awards or EBA’s? Are your employment contracts up to date and meet the FairWork National Employment Standards? Build time into your HR plan to review your Compliance in each of these key areas.

As the saying goes, if you fail to plan you plan to fail. Don’t let lack of a HR plan be the Achilles heel of your strategy. Adopt a disciplined and organised approach to managing people and you will avoid HR headaches and align your most valuable resources to perform in FY19. Use our HR Planning Checklist to get you started.