In a new industry resource, global HR research and advisory
firm McLean & Company provides a guided approach to effectively
managing HR's work as human resources professionals experience
increased job-related stress and expanding strategic demands from
the organization. The firm indicates that the uptick is associated
with numerous undesirable impacts to HR and the broader
organization if left unaddressed.
TORONTO, May 2, 2024
/CNW/ - According to research from McLean &
Company, the HR research and advisory division of Info-Tech
Research Group, HR's involvement as a partner in planning and
executing the organizational strategy has increased from 36% in
2021 to 50% in 2024. The global HR firm explains in a new industry
guide, Effectively Manage HR's Work, that HR
organizations increasingly support critical strategic initiatives
alongside their standard transactional tasks.
"HR is dedicating more time to strategic responsibilities as
its involvement as a partner in planning and executing
organizational strategy has steadily increased," says
Amani Gharib, PhD and
director of HR Research & Advisory Services at McLean &
Company. "While this is a positive direction for HR overall, HR
organizations are still managing the same volume of administrative
and transactional tasks on top of strategic priorities without an
increase in resource allocation. This has led to decreased
effectiveness alongside elevated rates of workplace stress and
burnout. To enable effective teams, HR leaders must proactively
optimize and prioritize their work."
Elevated levels of stress and burnout among HR teams can be
accompanied by negative outcomes, such as decreased engagement,
reduced performance, and increased turnover. These detrimental
impacts come with significant costs to organizations, with the
average cost to replace an employee equivalent to six to nine
months' worth of that employee's salary. McLean & Company's
resource will help HR leaders effectively manage HR's work and
mitigate the risks of increased stress and burnout.
In addition to workload concerns and their associated impacts on
HR teams, the firm's research-backed guide points to systemic
barriers that hinder HR's ability to effectively manage their work,
such as a history of negative stereotypes surrounding human
resources. For example, HR leaders often fight the common
misconceptions that HR lacks business and data acumen or that it
has little responsibility beyond administration and bureaucracy,
resulting in difficulty generating buy-in from key players for
important strategic HR initiatives.
As part of its commitment to enable HR organizations to create
workplaces where everyone thrives, McLean & Company has
organized the resource into three easy-to-follow sections for human
resources leaders and their teams. Each section includes
research-backed recommendations that will help HR leaders make the
prioritization of HR's work an ongoing practice, ensure their teams
undertake work that supports the organization's strategy and goals,
and enable other senior HR leaders to leverage various methods for
managing HR's work. The firm's recommended best practices are
outlined below:
- Evaluate the HR organization's goals and
work. Review organizational and HR strategies, then
document HR's work for the current and following year. Next,
determine the impact and urgency of that work and evaluate HR's
current capacity to carry it out.
- Review methods for managing HR's work. Evaluate the
eight methods of managing HR's work to determine which methods are
feasible for the organization's unique context. The eight methods,
as included in McLean & Company's guide, are distribute,
descope, postpone, develop, eliminate,
automate, outsource, and hire. A full
explanation of each method is available in the resource.
- Initiate the change management process. Gain buy-in for
HR's methods for managing work, outline guidelines for handling ad
hoc requests, and use the decision tree in the resource to evaluate
ad hoc requests. Then communicate changes to HR's work to affected
individuals. Continue to evaluate HR's work and effectiveness to
remain agile moving forward.
McLean & Company's guide further explains that HR leaders
are often hindered from effectively managing HR's work by biases
and mindset barriers, such as the sunk cost fallacy, the fear of
saying no, and the desire to accomplish all work for all
departments, even when the work may be out of scope. Because of
these obstacles, the firm advises HR leaders that success requires
a mindset shift when selecting and implementing the methods to
manage HR's work.
To access the full guide or to view McLean & Company's
on-demand webinar on the topic, please visit Effectively
Manage HR's Work. The complete resource also includes the
Manage HR's Work Workbook tool, which HR leaders
can use to document key insights about HR's work and select the
method(s) that will be used to manage it.
To attend upcoming free webinars on a variety of topics or
explore the publicly available archive of recorded sessions, please
visit McLean & Company's webinars page.
Please note that a selection of McLean & Company's
research-based webinars are now offering professional
development credits for recertification with SHRM, HRCI, and
HRPA.
Media interested in connecting with McLean & Company
analysts for exclusive, research-backed insights and commentary on
psychological safety in the workplace, DEI, generative AI in
HR, HR trends in 2024, the future of
work, and more can contact Senior Communications Manager
Kelsey King at
kking@mcleanco.com.
About McLean &
Company
Through data-driven insights and proven best-practice
methodologies, McLean & Company offers comprehensive
resources and full-service assessments, action plans, and training
to position organizations to meet today's needs and prepare for the
future.
McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research
Group.
Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to
research across IT, HR, and software and hundreds of industry
analysts through the firm's Media Insiders program. To gain access,
contact kking@mcleanco.com.
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SOURCE McLean & Company