Congratulations on your new position!
Stepping into the role of HR Manager at a new company can be both challenging and exciting. Whether you're experienced or new to the role, it's crucial to take the time to familiarise yourself with the organisation and its people. This will give you a solid understanding of the company's needs and help you prioritise your efforts.
As a provider of Human Capital Management (HCM) systems, our employees meet and collaborate with HR managers across various industries on a daily basis. We've gathered some tips to help ease your transition into your new role. Here are some of the most important things a new HR manager should consider:
1. Understand the company's operations and business strategy
Today, it's increasingly common for HR managers to be part of the executive team, providing greater opportunities to influence and drive HR-related issues within the organisation. Therefore, it's essential to quickly familiarise yourself with the company's operations, goals, and business strategy. This knowledge will help you understand which HR issues are most relevant to the organisation at present and how HR can support and work towards the overall objectives. Take the time to meet with various managers, departments, and even some of the employees. This will help you understand their needs and the challenges they face that your department could potentially address.
2. Identify HR areas that need the most attention
Once you feel you've gained a basic understanding of the company's operations, it's time to start identifying and prioritising HR areas that need the most attention. As an HR manager, you have the overall responsibility to support managers in areas such as talent management, leadership development, recruitment, employment law, union negotiations, rehabilitation, policies, pay equity analysis, and employee insurance and pensions.
It's not feasible to start revising and building processes for everything simultaneously. Having a clear picture of which HR areas need the most attention here and now will help you prioritise your work and focus on the areas that will have the greatest impact on the organisation.
3. Build your HR department
Your team is your most important resource for achieving the goals you set. Take the time to get to know them and their working methods before you start making changes. By identifying what different people work on, how processes look, and what skills they have, you can more easily structure your team in the best way. In addition to mapping your current team, this step may also involve identifying knowledge gaps or the need for new employees. With the right team in place, it becomes easier to work efficiently and purposefully in a way that supports the organisation's overall goals.
4. Create clear goals and measurable results
Having relevant and shared goals makes it clearer for both you and your department which direction you should be working towards. There are likely already established goals and key performance indicators (KPIs); map these out and see if they are still relevant.
Remember that the goals should be linked to the organisation's overall objectives and should include both short-term and long-term goals. The benefit of having measurable KPIs and clear goals is that it helps you continuously identify areas that need improvement and adjustment. If you need inspiration, you can read more about common HR KPIs here.
5. Stay informed about laws and regulations
As an HR manager, you know how important it is for the company to understand and, above all, comply with the laws and regulations that apply to HR issues. When you step into your role as HR manager at a new workplace, it's therefore important that you map out how your processes look and ensure they are correct.
Examples of laws and regulations that affect HR can include employment law, work environment, equality and discrimination, GDPR, and so on. Ensuring that you adhere to these helps the company avoid potential future problems and conflicts.
6. Digitise your processes with HR tech
By this point, you've started to get a clear picture of how HR has been handled previously at your new workplace, and you likely have quite a few thoughts on what needs to be prioritised and improved. It's more common than one might think for HR departments to still work with very manual and time-consuming processes. In addition to costing time, it also means an increased risk of mistakes and unnecessary expenses.
If your new workplace doesn't already have an HCM system, you should spend time building a business case for purchasing one. Digitising HR means a boost for the entire organisation; you can read more about how to get the rest of the management team on board here.
With a modern HCM system in place, you will streamline personnel management, improve decision-making, and be better able to support managers and employees through self-service. A good HR system covers the entire employee lifecycle from recruitment to offboarding, which in turn means that the system collects, manages, and reports on data that your department needs to conduct in-depth analyses or measure your KPIs. By implementing a modern HR system, you can free up time for more strategic work and focus on supporting the organisation's overall goals.
Do you already have an HCM system in place? Make sure to get a good handover and training on how it's configured, so you can ensure the system meets the needs you've identified.
7. Are you an attractive workplace?
HR and employer branding are not only closely associated with each other, but today they both play a crucial role in the company's attractiveness in the job market. Being perceived as an attractive workplace is important because it helps attract and retain competent employees.
An attractive workplace often contributes to a positive work environment, increases employee engagement and productivity, and reduces staff turnover. It also helps build and strengthen the company's brand and competitiveness in the market.
You probably already know this, but investing in employees is not just about being "nice"; it's crucial for the organisation's success that they thrive, are motivated, and spread positive reviews about the company outside the workplace. So make sure your new workplace has a well-thought-out HR strategy to retain employees in the long term.
Summary
Stepping in as an HR manager at a new workplace marks the beginning of a challenging and exciting time. To best take on the new role, it's important to understand the company's operations and identify and prioritise which HR areas support the company's overall goals.
