Dive Brief:
- For the last several years, HR has been changing its focus from policies and compliance plans (though that's still an important part) to an entity that focuses more on culture and engagement, according to an article at the Denver Business Journal.
- Sarah Miller, senior director of People and Culture at Havenly, a Denver startup that offers online interior design assistance, told the Business Journal that HR used to spend time focusing on creating policies, routing paperwork and forms, rules and regulations, disciplinary actions and things to protect the company if something happened.
- Miller offers 5 ways to improve HR's initiatives: Create a company mission and articulate it into words; test the company mission/culture; define goals and measure them monthly; kill the annual performance review and, finally, communicate and evaluate.
Dive Insight:
Today, issues of compliance and regulation are still in play, but HR leaders also have moved to being more strategic and involved in the business. "Great HR people understand how to engage people and drive performance," Miller told the Business Journal.
How can HR leaders, line managers and senior management create a culture of engagement that will boost productivity, happiness and profits — all at the same time?
"To have a great culture, you need to have people who are engaged in what you're doing, people who understand decisions. You need communication and transparency in the organization ... and that ensures everyone is rolling in the same direction," Miller said.
