Develop and share your plan
In addition to identifying and targeting your high-performance and high-potential employees to prepare for a future of healthy economics, you should develop a plan to address possible human resources challenges and plot the path you want your business to follow during the next couple of years.
Chief among your objectives for that plan should be the development of a balance between continued cost reduction and simultaneously positioning for growth. During the last year, many companies have aimed to manage and contain all costs related to human resources and human capital because they have been trying to do little more than survive. Survival is important, but it is also important to not damage the viability of your business in the big picture, well beyond these few years and even beyond this new decade.
Once you develop your plan, share it with your employees, especially your key employees. That advice might sound obvious, but experts say that too many business owners fail to relay information to their managers and their employees. And even in a good environment, employees who only hear about meetings behind closed doors and have no idea what is happening — and what is about to happen — will often speculate incorrectly, either causing additional stress or inadvertently spreading incorrect information. In short, you can still have those meetings behind closed doors, just be sure to share what is said on the other side of the oak.
“Communication is big, particularly from the senior executives,” says Josh Sorkin, senior vice president of enterprise services, Hudson. “It’s about what they’re doing to invest in not only the people but in the business overall, in making the employee base feel the company is investing in the longer term.”
Communication is a key to developing a successful human resources department, either internally or by bringing in an outside firm. You want your employees aware of what is happening in your business, and you want them to be engaged.
“With all of the changes going on in the economy and all of the uncertainty, it’s important to remain engaged with your employee base, to have them stay focused on the business at hand and not be distracted by news in the marketplace or internal chatter within their own companies,” Sorkin says. “It’s important for them to be focused on the tasks at hand and make sure you keep your business profitable and looking forward.”