The landscape of business is changing, which, since everything is always changing, might not come as much of a surprise. But how it’s changing is where the real importance lies. Thanks to the digital transformation that is sweeping every aspect of our lives, the entire infrastructure of businesses, right down to their skeletal systems, is needing to be re-thought and re-built.
Marketing, for example, which was once a high-level, slow-moving, profit-consuming sector of companies, is now transitioning to becoming the exact opposite, putting old ways of thinking to bed and welcoming the advent of on-the-fly, constant-contact marketing strategies that use social media as their core foundation.
In fact, there is rarely an aspect of a business that doesn’t need to get updated to today’s tech-based environment.
And human relations is no exception.
HR is in place to enhance the human experience within companies and, because the inner-workings of companies are more and more transparent today, these experiences can make or break a brand, catapulting them towards incredible success or plummeting them towards imminent failure. In order for HR to keep up with the changes, it needs to keep one key thing in mind:
Employees need to be treated like customers.
Responsible for attracting and keeping the best and brightest through the company’s doors, HR needs to be mindful of how important digital media and tools are, while simultaneously implementing them themselves.
Just like marketing, the best HR departments will be those that are fast to adapt, focused on the customer, and digitally-savvy.
The following three points are essential to keeping your business’s HR at the top of its game.
1. Craft an Experience for Employees. Because employees are essentially consumers of the business (few businesses can get by without them!), HR needs to be focused on developing an experience that not only makes employees happy, but that also keeps them motivated, positive, and a champion of the brand. In a 2017 study, nearly 83% of all HR leaders said that employee experience is “very important” to their organization’s success, causing them to invest more money in this area than any other.
2. Find Work Spaces that Promote Culture. The old adage, “Location, location, location,” is as important today in HR as it is in any other industry. In order to create that special experience talked about above, the work itself needs to take place in an environment that is conducive to the culture the company is working to create.
3. Take Employee Feedback (Super) Seriously. Employees today are armed with the power of instantly talking, posting, and reviewing their place of work, which means it’s oh-so important to keep them happy. When employees love their job, word gets out and the culture that HR has developed creates the cult every business wants. But, when negative reviews and gossip begin to corrode the brand’s appeal, customers find out and will look for new brands to do business with.
Just like other areas of business, HR needs to be able to adapt quickly to the changing needs and demands of employees in order to give their organization an advantage. When HR teams work with their employees being top priority, the culture naturally develops, and business booms.