HR Planning for the Year Ahead

Successful businesses rely on having the right number of people with the right skills to bring in the business, do the work and make money. At the same time, employing people also means ticking all those employment law boxes. Combining your legal obligations with where your business is heading is the key to great HR planning. As we reveal in this blog.

Factor in Legal, Tax and Fiscal Changes in Your HR Planning

When planning ahead you need to be clear about the immovable objects – the legal changes you must tackle and include in your planning. Employment law, tax and statutory payment changes tend to be introduced around April at the start of the new tax year. 
Rates – like statutory maternity pay, tax thresholds, national minimum wage and statutory sick pay – are amended and will need to be factored into your budgets and processes. You can find this information on the government’s website which is updated each year.
It’s also worth being in the know about employment law changes in advance so you have plenty of time to prepare. Typically, updates will have a long lead-in time so you have plenty of time to prepare. Keep an eye on HR industry blogs, like this one, for details about new rules your company will need to abide by. Then factor them into your HR plans.

Be Clear on Where the Business is Heading 

With your legal obligations clearly mapped out, it’s time to turn your attention to your business’ goals. They will provide the context for your HR plans. For example:

• Business growth – could mean new roles, redistributing work between individuals, increasing people’s hours, upping overtime or taking on additional headcount
• Business slow down – stagnant GDP growth might mean your business needs to tighten its belt. Perhaps you need to reduce headcount or ask your staff to increase productivity. However you decide to do more with less it will impact your HR strategy.
• Business stasis – if your business is neither growing or shrinking, there’s still a lot you can do. Tightening up on people processes, developing your team to ensure you future-proof your business and finding ways to positively impact the bottom line are all possible with good HR planning.  

Anticipating your future HR needs should also look beyond your immediate situation and be based around economic and technological changes as well as what your customers will need in one, three and five years’ time. 
With your legal and business priorities clear, you can now identify your HR priorities. You might decide to go for some quick wins first or tackle those issues that are causing you the most pain. 
Alternatively, complete tasks that will add to the bottom line: this should create additional revenue that could be fed back into the business. Reinvesting in your people is one option that frequently drives even better business results.

Choose the Right HR Strategies, Systems and Providers

With a solid understanding of your current and future people needs, you can start choosing which areas of HR to dedicate the most time and resources to. If you anticipate significant talent gaps, training, recruitment and performance management strategies should help. Or, if your business is facing a tough time, a restructuring programme could be the key.
Getting this right is critical to the health of your business so if you don’t have sufficient HR support, it’s worth investing in an experienced HR consultant to provide expert advice and practical help. 
Part of your HR planning should include a review of the systems you have in place to support your plans. There’s a wide range of HR technology available that: 

• Makes it more efficient to administer your human resources
• Provides options for employees and managers to process standard requests like holidays
• Keeps track of employee data and gives you insight into your workforce with online reports

So, if spreadsheets aren’t cutting it any more, it could be time to consider going digital with your workforce administration.

Communicate Your HR Planning

Once you’ve firmed up your plans and put timescales, resource and budget to your changes, it’s time to communicate with your team. Start with leaders first to get their feedback and input if you’ve not already done this. Then roll out your plans to staff. Be prepared to answer questions like:

• What’s in it for me?
• Is my job at risk?
• Is the business stable?
• Where is the business heading?
• Will you provide training to help me adapt?

If your planned changes are significant you might want to hold face-to-face town hall meetings backed up by written communications including FAQs. Where changes are more incremental, cascading communications through line managers is a good approach.
With your HR plans in place, you might think you’re done for the next twelve months. But my experience tells me you’ll need to keep on top of any changes that the business and your people face. Combining annual planning with this level of flexibility will mean you’re ready to take care of any human resource issues that come your way.
Get your HR plans squared away with pragmatic, adaptable HR support from Crosse HR. Get in touch on 0330 555 1139 or at hello@crossehr.co.uk.