How the HR department is becoming modern HR
Anyone complaining about a shortage of skilled workers needs to start with their management culture, says Michael Hampel. With more than 30 years of experience as a manager and consultant, the Bayreuth native has focused on this topic - and has also written a book on the subject entitled "Fachkräftemangel haben die anderen". It is peppered with examples, checklists and quick tests, because Hampel knows: "What counts in the end is implementation."
This is precisely why the author, speaker and business consultant has set his sights on the HR department, among other things. It is essential to develop it into a modern HR (Human Resources) department. If this succeeds, the company will have a very effective tool to drive the transformation towards leadership excellence. And this, in turn, is the means to be attractive as an employer, to perfect pre- and onboarding, to inspire new employees and, above all, to retain existing employees for as long as possible.
Traditionally, HR departments are responsible for recruiting and personnel administration. Sometimes their tasks also include personnel marketing or supporting the development of managers. However, Hampel sees much more in modern HR: it should also take over personnel requirements planning and make a significant contribution to building the employer brand and employer branding, promote the implementation of the corporate culture, identify needs in management development and develop employee retention measures and implement these together with the employer and managers.
HR also has an important role to play in pre- and onboarding. "Both should be the focus of every company today," says Hampel. "Once recruited, it is essential to retain skilled workers, and the weeks between signing the contract and the first day of work as well as the first few months in the company are often crucial for this." Employers who do more here than others will be able to assert themselves against the competition. "And this competition has long been between companies and not employees."
Valuable analyses
However, according to Hampel, HR is not yet really up to date. To do this, it needs to carry out analyses and provide valuable figures and data. Hampel is thinking, among other things, of the development of the number of terminations and the sickness rate, which is highly informative in terms of employee satisfaction. "The trend is particularly exciting. If the figures go up, there is an urgent need for action," says Hampel. HR can thus become an early warning system that initiates immediate action. The expert advises that attention should also be paid to resignations during the probationary period, as "they say a lot about the quality of onboarding or about management errors and the need for development in the respective manager".
In addition, a modern HR system has statistics on the recruitment process. How long does it take in which department and in which team? Where are there fewer applicants, where does it look better? All this information reveals a lot about where change should be made. The same applies to the results of employee surveys and exit interviews with departing staff. "We are dealing with revealing information here that is very helpful in developing leadership excellence," emphasizes Hampel and adds: "If it is systematically collected, evaluated and also communicated."
More manpower needed
Logically, the manpower of old HR departments is usually not sufficient for such a broad range of tasks - and the corresponding skills are often lacking. Hampel refers to a rule of thumb according to which at least one additional HR position must be created for every 100 employees. However, this only applies to larger companies. For those with up to 250 employees, the requirement per 100 employees is greater.
In individual cases, things may look different. Hampel advises his customers to check what HR already does for them - apart from the traditional tasks. They should then discuss with the team who could take on which tasks and then calculate how many additional positions need to be created. In any case, strong HR is essential for the development of excellent leadership quality. "Without figures, data and facts, you are usually just poking around in the fog," says Hampel to every entrepreneur and managing director. With well-equipped HR, on the other hand, the causes of deficits can be found and permanently eliminated - and that is the prerequisite for eliminating them.
Source: www.michael-hampel.com
