An HR manager’s role in the success of any business cannot be understated. They are responsible for building and recruiting a capable and innovative workforce and creating a company culture that encourages success and satisfaction, all while navigating the tricky interpersonal relationships and frictions that are sure to arise among a group of people. A typical day for an HR manager can include anything from enforcing company policies built to make all employees comfortable to implementing systems to encourage and reward work that goes above and beyond. To be truly successful, an HR manager must possess four key guiding traits. They must be:
Engaged
Engagement is one of the biggest ways to retain a productive, happy, and growing workforce. It’s vital to foster engagement in your employees and just as vital to retain it in yourself. A good HR manager must be invested in the workforce. They must be willing to listen and connect with employees. The more engaged an HR manager is with employees, the more successful their attempts at building a retention strategy (complete with a plan for keeping employees invested in their work and the success of the company) will be.
Keep in mind, not everything has to be a grand gesture to make your employees feel appreciated. Little things, like kindness, inclusive language, and showing genuine interest in employees can make a major difference. Your goal should always be the human touch — employees need to feel like the company sees them as people, as opposed to a resource. A truly engaged HR department should guide employees to feeling like they matter, both as people and in the grand scheme of the company’s success. Engagement helps keep those efforts genuine and authentic. It goes miles towards making your company’s culture a place of success.
Aware
HR protects employees from harm, harassment, and anything else that can make the workplace an unfriendly environment for the work that needs to get done. As such, it’s HR’s job to know what can impact the workflow and to be aware of any potential situations as they arise. It is important, then, to stay educated about successful trends in workplace policies; to know what to look out for in your office’s HR policies; and to maintain a good relationship with the workforce so that they feel comfortable coming to you with any issues that might arise. Harassment and discrimination are among the big issues to look out for. Awareness of the kinds of policies that make for a safe, productive workplace for all types of people is a priority, as well as providing multiple resources on discrimination.
Flexible
There is no one management approach that works for every situation. To be effective, you need to find the right style for the right occasion. Employees react differently to challenges, hardships, and even celebrations. For the best effectiveness, tailor your reactions — whether it’s a commendation or a critique — to the employee’s personality. While some employees thrive in a culture of competition, others might find that kind of pressure demotivating.
Incorporating flexibility into running the company can have great results for the workforce as well. Allowing employees to work from home, customize hours, etc., can give them the freedom to do their work when they are most able to focus and work. HR managers should be less concerned with how things are done and more concerned with ways they could be done.
Organized
No matter how skilled you are with flexibility, every HR manager needs to possess a healthy dose of organizational skills. Organizational skills are vital to creating a strategic approach at your company’s HR needs, building on that approach as you learn about your team or experience company growth. Organization helps plan out and tackle new projects, whether you’re experiencing a major benefits shift or simply creating a program (or event) to show appreciation for the hard work of employees.
Organizational skills are rooted in everything you do. They’re in the communication platforms your company uses to keep employees in the loop, and the processes by which you secure sensitive information. Having organized processes in place for your team can prevent mishaps from information leaks to paychecks not getting out in time.
Primarily, good organization is about control. It’s making sure everything happens when it needs to, and preventing missteps. When you, your processes and your team are organized, it helps keep everything working smoothly and spot any situations that our out of step with the company. If something goes wrong, there is a solution readily on hand. Organization makes work simpler, more efficient, and helps you care for your company’s employees in a way that makes them happy, productive, and as invested in the company’s success as you are.