HR strategic planning

In this article we will provide you the information about HR strategic planning process advantages and steps in HR strategic planning.

Whenever a new year begins, it is common for the company to create its strategic plan, tracing goals and objectives for different sectors and defining what steps will need to be taken to achieve them .

This type of planning is familiar in departments such as sales, marketing, and customer service, but it’s also essential for HR.

HR strategic planning defines the company’s needs with regard to human capital, anticipating changes, trends and bringing new opportunities for action.

In addition, it proposes improvements in people management based on its main objectives:

• low turnover rate ;
• attraction and retention of talents;
• development of intellectual capital;
• high productivity;
• employee satisfaction;
• good organizational climate;
• strengthening of team spirit.

Still, it’s important to emphasize that strategic planning is not something HR can do just once and put it aside.

This type of tool is essential for monitoring internal processes and allows the company to grow in an organized and sustained manner.

Furthermore, there is no set date to develop the strategic planning, ideally, organizations that do not use the tool start implementing it as soon as possible.

In cases where planning is a habit, it is ideal for it to be renewed annually in the fourth quarter.

Why should HR participate in the company’s strategic planning?

First of all, it is important to understand that any action taken in a company is an investment , whether in human, financial or time resources.

Thus, in order not to waste any of the aspects, it is essential that all steps are taken with caution, planning and integration.

When we think about strategic HR management , we mostly see data.

In this sense, the Human Resources department, when equipped with the right tools, can provide extremely relevant information for the development of the business .

Thus, the sector’s participation in the company’s annual strategic planning is essential.

This is because with the data available, it is possible to support decision-making in different areas , optimizing processes and ensuring more productivity and results. In addition, the presence of HR in this process helps to ensure that the eyes of the planned actions are focused on people.

It is also worth noting that all decisions made at the company must respect the organizational culture.

In this way, HR acts as an important assistant, ensuring aligned goals and reconciling, as much as possible, all business perspectives.

What are the advantages of carrying out strategic HR planning?

HR strategic planning brings advantages in several aspects of people management, contributing to corporate development and success as a whole.

Below, we list some of the main benefits.

1-Talent Attraction

When HR has a well-planned management and acts with care , thinking about developing its talents, this directly impacts the reputation of the employer brand.

Thus, the best professionals in the market now have the human language. The objective of joining the company.

In addition, strategic planning also streamlines the recruitment and selection processes , making them smarter.

In this way, HR is able to identify the patterns it is looking for and analyze all data referring to past recruitments, ensuring greater assertiveness in attracting talent.

2-Employee Retention

In addition to impacting attraction, strategic planning is also relevant for retaining professionals, that is, reducing the turnover rate .

This is due to the fact that good planning helps to set realistic goals and ensure the development of employees, always providing a positive experience.

Also, it is important to keep in mind that engaged, motivated and happy employees tend to wear the company’s shirt.

This not only contributes to the retention of talent, but also increases productivity and ensures better results for the business .

3-Employee Development and Performance

According to experts, only about 39% of the working day is actually productive. All the rest of the time is devoted to procrastination and side conversations.

This type of proportion can be overcome with good planning , which involves and motivates employees.

A management of challenging but attainable goals, for example, can bring more focus to professionals , contributing to an increase in performance.

Furthermore, with a good job of training and development , it is possible to resolve gaps and weaknesses, ensuring even more positive results.

4-Cost reduction

Strategic planning is also the perfect tool to minimize waste and losses.

This is because all expenses involved in managing people will be properly planned and defined in advance.

In addition, the HR People Analytics tools allow you to understand all possible bottlenecks and create projections , keeping costs under control and helping the organization to achieve the established goals.

5-Improvement in Internal Communication

Finally, with good HR strategic planning, it is possible to improve internal communication and align the expectations and objectives of the company and employees , enabling a more transparent people management.

With this open channel, it will be possible to generate a collaborative and aware environment, in addition to bringing more security to professionals.

This contributes to the engagement and retention of talent.

What are the steps in HR strategic planning?

So far, you’ve already understood that strategic planning is extremely important to keep people management updated and optimized .

But after all, how to develop an HR plan and put this idea into practice?

Now, we’ve listed some steps that can be followed when preparing the plan. Follow up!

1-Survey of company goals

The first step in structuring people management strategic planning is to get to know the company and its organizational objectives in depth .

It is worth noting that the purpose of HR’s strategic planning is precisely to develop actions aligned with the organization’s strategic plan.

To do so, gather the necessary data about vision, mission, values ​​and deeply understand the company’s organizational culture. Only with this data will HR be able to adopt goals that make sense.

2-Survey of HR objectives

In addition to the company’s objectives, the HR objectives also need to be considered.

Remember that the idea is to unite the goals, benefiting all sides and outlining a path for the sectors to advance towards the same purpose.

To do this, consider what the company’s needs are in relation to human capital , for example:

• reduce turnover rates;
• ensure a better recruitment and selection process;
• improve productivity;
• strengthen team spirit;
• bring more quality of life.

But it is important that HR is always aware of trends and the business context as a whole , so as not to be left behind in relation to the competition.

Thus, when setting goals, it is worth thinking about how to differentiate yourself, bringing empowering experiences for employees and making the company more attractive.

3-Preparation of managers

After raising the main objectives, the next step is to talk to managers from all sectors.

This alignment is extremely important to ensure that everyone is acting for the same purpose.

In addition, the meeting with managers is an interesting channel to raise new insights and ideas , in addition to offering training and guidance so that leaders are within the established dynamics.

Leaders need to be aligned with the HR plan. Therefore, it is important to involve everyone in the preparation of projects, in addition to training managers so that they know how to work with emotions and how to recognize the efforts of employees.

4-Organizational climate analysis

The organizational climate works as a thermometer to measure the perceptions of professionals and understand the general well-being of the company.

Therefore, measuring this indicator is extremely important to guide decision-making and the goals that will be set.

As an example, consider that you have determined that the main objective of HR is to improve the recruitment and selection processes.

However, the climate survey showed that employees are unmotivated and have no prospects for growth in the company.

In this case, it is more important to create goals around this problem , seeking strategies for engaging and valuing employees, rather than spending time and resources on secondary actions.

5-SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a tool that has been used for a long time to help companies identify business opportunities, strengths and bottlenecks .

In this sense, it can be used as an aid to understand the needs and support the definition of goals.

The SWOT matrix works based on 4 concepts:

• forces;
• weaknesses;
• opportunities;
• threats.

Thus, HR must identify all these points in management so that they guide the actions that will be taken next. These data are important to ensure the practical application of everything that has been put on paper so far.

6-Goal setting

With all the data collected, it’s time to define the goals that will be part of the HR strategic planning.

In this way, establish short, medium and long term goals .

The goals will represent the direction to be followed in the action plan and must be closely linked to the company’s and HR objectives.

Remember to set goals that are achievable and measurable so that you can track them and make adjustments if necessary.

7-Action plans

With the goals defined, it is time to build the action plan, which will allow the strategic planning to leave the paper and become reality.

So, think about everything that has been discussed so far and how the goals can be turned into practical actions .

For this, it is important to identify the solutions to the problems achieved and the metrics that need to be monitored to monitor the results.

Still, it is essential that HR has in mind the budget for the implementation and maintenance of the developed strategies.

Finally, the action plan must be presented to the leaders, ensuring that the managers are aligned and that they are able to transmit the proposed ideas to the teams.

It is noteworthy that the engagement of leaders at this time is very valuable to ensure a committed team.

8-Monitoring and control of metrics

After putting the action plan into practice, it is up to HR to closely monitor the indicators and metrics to understand the progress of the process.

Here, we are talking about strategic planning, so it is not enough to put the plan into practice, it is necessary to monitor everything closely and be prepared to take strategic decisions when necessary , making adjustments and adaptations.