Vigen Construction, Inc.

Kailey Wilson

Kailey Wilson, SHRM-CP, is a Human Resources Manager with experience in employee relations, recruitment, compliance, benefits, and performance management. She currently supports a multi-state workforce and is passionate about building practical HR strategies that help employees and organizations succeed.

Understanding the Business before Changing It

Human resources are an integral part of every organization. As human resource professionals, we want to see our businesses succeed, our employees continue to learn, and our organizations grow. Supporting that growth comes in many shapes and sizes.

An effective HR strategy is rooted in understanding the needs of the business and determining how HR can help the organization accomplish its goals.

Staying Ahead of Compliance Risk

One area where I have seen this firsthand is supporting a workforce that operates across multiple states. Moving operations into a new state can create significant opportunities for a business, but it can also create significant risk. Employment laws can vary considerably from state to state, and understanding those requirements is an important part of my position.

HR needs to understand how moving operations into a new state may affect wage and hour requirements, leave programs, required notices and postings, and other important employment practices. Compliance should be addressed prior to the organization moving operations into the new states. By being involved early, HR can identify potential risks, update handbooks, and help the business prepare for its operations before problems arise. HR needs to stay ahead and stay prepared.

Learning Before Making Major Changes

Compliance isn’t the only piece that helps create an effective HR strategy. Before HR can make meaningful changes, we first have to understand how the business operates. When I started in my current position, I did not walk in with an agenda. I also did not expect to throw the current HR processes in the trash and start from scratch. I focused on learning how the business operates, understanding the why behind these operations, and making notes of what could be improved.

I started small. Maybe a form needed to be updated, a process could be simplified, or there was a better way to complete a task. Those particular changes allowed me to understand why current processes were in place while also helping me understand the organization as a whole.

“The ability to be okay with change, be okay with not everyone loving your ideas, and be willing to work with your people and meet in a happy medium is an essential part of being an HR professional.”

Over time, that understanding becomes incredibly valuable. A process that may not make sense from an HR perspective may exist because of an operational need that is not immediately obvious. Before making a major change, HR professionals should understand how that decision will affect the employees and leaders who will actually have to carry it out.

Asking questions, listening to employees and managers, and learning how different areas of the organization work allow HR to develop solutions that support the business rather than unintentionally creating additional obstacles.

Guiding Change without Forcing It

Change doesn’t happen overnight, especially when you’re dealing with supervisors and managers who have been doing things the same way for 30 years. I’ve learned to prioritize my list of changes and work down the list one by one, only changing things so often that it gives management time to adjust without feeling overwhelmed by all of the changes. Change is inevitable. As businesses grow and operations expand, the ability to be okay with change is a skill that managers must learn. And honestly, it is one of the most essential ones.

The ability to be okay with change, be okay with not everyone loving your ideas, and be willing to work with your people and meet in a happy medium is an essential part of being an HR professional. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that you cannot walk into a room and demand that things be done your way. I’ve seen this with many HR professionals.

However, HR is not the king of the castle. HR is there to support the business and support your organization. HR is not there to demand that things be done a certain way. HR is there to guide leadership in the right direction while making sure that it is also being done in a legal and compliant way.

Unfortunately, there are some hard “no” areas in HR. However, you can always help leadership understand the why and help them reach a better solution.

Making HR Strategy Consistent in Practice

Consistency across leadership is another important part of turning HR strategy into practice. A policy can be well written, but it will only be effective if leaders understand it and apply it consistently. An attendance policy is useless if it is only applied when leadership wants to fire someone. In order for a policy to be effective and hold up in court, it needs to be properly implemented and applied consistently to all employees. There should be no exceptions and no favoritism. Employees notice that, and they will mention it if they feel they’ve been wrongfully terminated for something other employees get away with.

When different managers handle similar situations differently, it creates confusion for employees and creates additional risk. HR has an important role in providing leaders with clear expectations, resources, and support so that policies are not simply documents that have no real value. HR also has a responsibility to make sure leaders follow those expectations.

Ultimately, creating an HR strategy that supports business growth requires HR professionals to look beyond the HR department. We need to understand where the organization is going, the risks that come with that growth, and what employees and leaders need to be successful along the way. Sometimes supporting business growth means introducing a new program or making a significant change. Other times, it means slowing down, asking questions, and understanding the business before deciding what needs to change.

HR does not need to change everything to be strategic. The most effective HR strategy is one that grows alongside the business, anticipates its needs, and helps create the foundation that allows the organization and its employees to succeed.