Five Strategies for HR to Implement Right Now

Do HR Managers focus too much on “administravia” and lack vision and strategic insight? This question was posed in the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review within the article, [“Why We Love to Hate HR…and What HR Can Do About It.”](https://hbr.org/2015/07/why-we-love-to-hate-hr-and-what-hr-can-do-about-it) The author, Peter Cappelli, states that now is a moment of “enormous opportunity” for HR. Now’s the time to investigate what works and what doesn’t, and to use these findings to make a powerful impact on the organization. Cappelli offers a few tips on how to do this: + Set the Agenda – “…HR must show why the issues it addresses matter to the business and that it has sensible ways to manage them.” + Focus on issues that matter in the here and now – respond to today’s challenges and what works for your organization. + Acquire business knowledge – use analytics and derive the knowledge from your employee data + Highlight financial benefits – show your ROI + Walk away from time wasters – ensure your programs have impact Although this article is more focused in the talent space, these themes directly translate to managing employee benefits and integrated disability management programs - + Set the Agenda – implement an integrated disability management program + Focus on issues that matter in the here and now – respond to today’s challenges – such as issues surrounding compliance, communication between employees, managers and HR. + Acquire business knowledge – use analytics and reporting to derive knowledge from your employee data. Gain information around employee accommodations, leave of absence details, lost time, absence durations, etc. + Highlight financial benefits – once you get a handle on your people data, you’ll have the information you need to streamline processes and identify opportunities for improvement. Once those improvements are in place, highlight the ROI and float this up to management. + Walk away from time wasters – ensure the programs you are implementing are making a difference. Use the data you have to measure what’s working and what’s not.