With that sound foundation in place, companies can depend on their HR departments to drive continuous improvements in the employer value proposition. These improvements may include enhancing employee benefits to be more competitive in the market, providing training and development opportunities, or building a best-in-class talent acquisition function. 

While all of these HR functions directly benefit employee experience, they also benefit the organization as a whole. It is well-documented that an engaged workforce delivers the best results, and the best way for a company to ensure the engagement of its workforce is to support its HR team so that they can lead the way!

Maureen Cawley – SVP, People, Saatva

Investing in Employee Well-being

An effective HR strategy is the only proven way to keep employees included, engaged, and fulfilled within their workplace. With efficient HR tools to effectively report misconduct, harassment, and discrimination, employees will never have to question their safety again. As a result, employee loyalty to their company increases, productivity increases, and both the employee and the employer are satisfied. 

More than benefits and payroll, even if an HR department is a one-person team, it is an essential element to all company operations and processes. By investing in your employee’s well-being, you can build a great company, not just a good company.

Jared Pope – Founder & CEO, Work Shield

Competitive Advantage

A professional HR team creates a competitive advantage for any labor-intensive organization when well-led, constituted, and well-supported. That’s right, competitive advantage. 

First things first, HR must be an amalgam of people who have a deep understanding of and commitment to the organization’s purpose or business. People who “do HR” but don’t understand the business are of little to no use to an organization.

Shortly after graduating from the University of Miami’s school of business, I found myself employed as the HR Manager of Genuine Parts Company’s Miami distribution center. Within a few weeks of starting, I had the occasion to meet briefly with one of the company’s EVPs who had flown in from HQ.

After listening to a summary of my initial priorities, he interrupted me with words to the effect that: You seem like a smart, nice fellow who will likely do well here, but I’m bothered that “you don’t know jacks*&t about this business.” Thud.

He asked for my business cards, and I quickly retrieved one from my shirt pocket. He asked me to produce the full box of cards which I did. He explained that he was taking them from me until such time as I had spent at least a month working the counter in some of our parts stores and done an equal amount of time in the cavernous warehouse, not ten yards from where we were sitting. “Then, and only then, do you get to be known as an HR professional.” That man did me a huge favor at a critical moment in my career, and I’ve never forgotten it.

HR “pros,” a word not taken lightly, helps secure, deploy, and sustain talent, the right talent, when and where needed. They see that the organization’s systems, methods, policies, and procedures support (and incentivize) people doing their best work every day. Frequently calling balls and strikes on people matters, HR pros are neither employee advocates nor manager adversaries or the other way around. They exist to provide tangible value to the business via its human assets because, in today’s economy, competitive advantage means that my people can out-hustle and out-execute yours.

Bill Catlette – Partner, Contented Cow Partners

Protect, Serve, and Support