It’s taken weeks to find the right HR talent. Finally, they are starting. It’s now just a matter of time before that two-year old stack of training attendee reporting data is entered. Yep, life is good. In this article I want to present an alternate idea – one that is a Best Practices process and proven to pay long term dividends. That is, embed HR people that serve a client group as quickly as possible.
Presenting your new HR talent with substantive work up front is a tried and true way of getting them inspired. Through observation and exposure, they learn processes, develop relationships, and in general become more useful as HR professionals. I have used this for acclimation to manufacturing, but it can be used for other groups as well. In manufacturing, consider initially assigning your shiny new HR talent to function as any other employee: starting work with the shift, receiving on-the-job training, executing tasks, taking breaks and meals at the same time, and ending the day as with others on that line. HR duties should be limited to learning how things work and relationship building.
Here are some suggestions:
- Work with the client group in advance to ensure mutually agreed goals.
- Work should be relevant to the education or exposure of the HR professional.
- Determine a defined length of time (2-3 weeks may be about right).
- Set up a monitoring process to ensure base goals are being achieved.
- Make it known to all parties what the goal is. Remove any mystery.
- Rotation through different jobs should be a key goal.
- Once completed, have the individual assigned provide an assessment.
A couple of KeystoneHR policies immediately available to you for this effort:
- Annual Employee Relations Plan (SKU DK23)
- Leadership Development Program (SKU DK46)
KeystoneHR offers Best Practices’ focused HR and related policies and documents, training, consultation, and project work. With over 40 years of progressive HR experience in Fortune 500 companies and upper-end LLC’s, our team is poised to help. See our website – KeystoneHR.info. KeystoneHR – Best-in-Class helping Best-in-Class.
