There is no doubt that the competitiveness and productivity of companies is directly related to human talent. In a highly competitive business environment, such as the one we live in today, differentiating oneself is vital but very difficult.
Perhaps the only thing the competition cannot copy is the people who are part of our work teams and that is why it is of the utmost importance to have a strategy to attract the best talent and to be able to keep it over time.
In this article we want to talk about five topics that we believe are important for human resources to work towards having a sustainable, responsible and competitive company.
1. Promote the reconciliation of work, personal and family life.
One of the best ways to maintain a productive, motivated workforce with less turnover, attrition and absenteeism is to prevent work from becoming the only aspect of people's lives.
In order to achieve this, companies must implement work-life balance plans. Although this is an aspect that has improved in Spain, it is still a challenge. According to the InfoJobs and Esade study, only 58% of companies have some kind of policy in this regard.
What are the minimum aspects to take into account in a work-life balance plan?
- Regulation of Telework (today more than necessary).
- Think about flexible hours.
- Implement objective-based evaluation systems.
- Establish variable remuneration and reward systems according to the performance of the staff.
- Keep a rigorous control of staff hours and workloads.
2. Knowing and caring about the welfare of the staff.
You only need to do a small Google search to find thousands of studies that show that when a person feels happy at work, they are more productive. But how can you motivate them and get them to give their best if you don't know them?
How well do you know your staff? Do you know what they like? Do you know what motivates them? Do you know their needs? The basis of any successful decision making process lies in the data..
Today, it is no longer enough to have three folders of employee information in a filing cabinet. Companies that want to attract and retain talent manage human resources with data and with systems that allow them to manage them quickly and strategically.
Do you use systems to manage large volumes of data and better manage human resources?
3. Promote the training and professional development of people.
Probably many of the things you learned when you were studying today are no longer as they were explained to you at the time. Knowledge is constantly updated and technology forces you to learn faster and with much more regularity.
Keeping the workforce up to date is vital to be able to compete. It helps to improve competitiveness, to have a lower rate of accidents and sick leave, to keep people motivated, to have more independence and less supervision, among many other things.
Companies must implement training and qualification plans permanently. What minimum aspects must you take into account in order to have a plan aligned with your organization?
- Know the weaknesses and strengths of your work team.
- Develop relevant content and courses that correct weaknesses and enhance strengths.
- Promote mentoring.
4. Promote equal opportunities and inclusion.
Companies should be a reflection of the society in which we live. Not only for ethical and co-responsibility reasons, but also because it is strategically important. As we told in a previous post - see here - companies that have diverse workforces have 25% more profits than those that do not.
It must be understood that diversification is a gradual process and can take time. But in order to achieve it, it is important to have a diversification and inclusion plan.
Rather than making you a list of recommendations that you can find in other publications that we have done on Apambu we invite you to think:
- How do you ensure that the selection processes you carry out reach a wider and more diverse number of people?
- What do you do to make people who join the organization feel part of it and integrate them into their work teams?
- Do you have mechanisms and procedures in place for conflict resolution?
- Have you established ZERO tolerance policies for discrimination?
5. Ensuring safety, health and well-being at work.
Surely you have a safety, health and well-being plan in your company because you are legally obliged to do so. Have you adjusted it to the new reality in which we live? How do you guarantee that the people who are part of your staff have a safe and healthy workplace if many of them do not work in the office today?
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