Over 63% of New Year’s resolutions weren’t kept last year, with about half of them going out of the window before January had even finished. We Brits sure are great at making resolutions, but sticking to them… not so much! Did you make any of your own resolutions this year, can you still remember them?
What about for your business? For many SMEs, the New Year is a great time to reflect on the past business year, and plan for the one ahead. Looking ahead isn’t only a healthy way to direct your efforts, it’s also – as every business coach will surely tell you – integral to business success. So if your business’s New Year’s resolutions are starting to fade from memory amongst the day-to-day jobs, it may be time to refocus!
When strategising how you’re going to get your business where you want it to be, you may start to realise the interdependence of various elements. Without a control on your finances, marketing can be inefficient. Without good operations, whatever service or product you provide won’t reach the customer efficiently. It’s the same with HR, without a winning team, you won’t have a winning business. So why not take your HR a step further, and use it to help fulfil your goals for the year?
Bare minimum resolutions for your list are to make sure you’re adopting the changes to employment law – keeping your company legally compliant. The National Living Wage will become mandatory in April: check whether any of your staff qualify to receive it. Auto enrolment also, depending on the size of your business, could be on its way to you this year and you will have to take action here. If you don’t comply with these changes, prepare to face penalties. Give The HR Dept a call to discuss implementing them in your business.
If you’re looking to take your business to new heights in 2017, use your HR to get you there. You achieve things through your people but to do so you have to take them with you. Set each of them individual objectives to support the New Year’s resolution and train them up to hit their targets. Use your one-to-one meetings to support them and see how they’re getting on. For some, simply having an objective in place can act as motivation, others may need more. Our HR Dept benefits options are worth exploring here.
Has a key member of your staff had any New Year’s resolutions of their own, perhaps to get a new job? When the time is right, it’s natural to lose members of staff as they move on to the next stage of their career. But the sting is especially painful when they leave to join a competitor, or maybe worse, set up in competition. It’s a rare case, but it does happen. To protect yourself, make sure you have those restrictive covenants in place! The HR Dept can help with this.
Making your HR add real value to your business is what The HR Dept does. So get in touch today and see what we can do for you.
