Tips for a more productive, efficient, and enjoyable HR team

Every HR manager will agree: HR work is never boring. As soon as there are developments within the organization or with an employee, you are always at the front of the line in the HR field to take action or put out fires. No two workdays are the same.

That might sound like a dream job. But it is also hard work. It means rearranging your schedule at a moment's notice with the flexibility of a contortionist. It means pulling super-specialized knowledge out of your hat to solve an urgent issue. And it often means cleaning up messes that other departments have left behind.

That asks quite a lot of your HR team. With these tips, you can lay an important foundation to start working not harder, but smarter.

1. Digitize

‍Calculating a transition payment, retirement age, or vacation balance? Strictly monitoring deadlines for the Gatekeeper Improvement Act? Make it easy for everyone and purchase handy HR apps or tools. Put them on a shared knowledge platform so you don't have to look them up every time. That saves everyone a lot of time and reduces the chance of errors.

2. Stay up to date automatically

‍HR is linked to various other disciplines and is always in motion itself. Yet, the managers who come to HR rely on answers that make sense. How can you ensure that everyone is aware of the latest developments?

Fortunately, it is no longer necessary to keep an eye on newspapers, trade journals, or the news all the time. Others are already doing that for you! Subscribe to (often free) knowledge sites and make good use of alerts and newsletters.

Extra tip from us: don't forget to critically sweep through your subscriptions every now and then, otherwise your mailbox will be buried.

3. Share your knowledge

‍Agree with your colleagues that you will keep each other informed when you discover something new. This keeps you sharp and maintains the quality of the team. Are you proud of the result of a project, have you written a fantastic letter, or created a legally watertight employment contract? Put the best practices on the HR knowledge platform.

Hold regular intervision meetings where you discuss difficult cases with each other. This not only has a learning effect, but you will also find that it strengthens the bond between you when you share what you are working on and receive help from your colleagues.

4. Standardize

‍Working according to fixed procedures and using the same formats not only saves time, but it also projects professionalism and creates more clarity for both your team and the rest of the organization.

Put fixed formats and templates for letters and agreements on the HR knowledge platform. Then you can be sure that HR always speaks with the same tone of voice and that everything is legally sound. With the online academy from Pluvo, you have one place where employees, students, or clients can find everything.

Also, take a critical look at the various processes and workflows regularly. Do all colleagues work according to the same pattern? Is the work sequence still logical and does everything align with the current collective labor agreement and legislation? Agree on one uniform method and roll it out to the rest of the organization. And yes, sometimes it is necessary to be strict: if someone does not follow the agreements, it will not be processed.

5. Let go where possible

‍More and more employees are used to managing their private affairs online themselves. This trend can easily be continued at work.

Implement a self-service system in the HR environment. It leaves a degree of autonomy with the employee, and you have to spend less time on administrative red tape.

Take a critical look at the division of roles between management and HR. Is HR's role within your organization advisory or decisive? Do managers take sufficient responsibility for their own departments, or is there still a traditional tendency to wait for HR to step in?

It may go without saying, but it is crucial for buy-in: if you want to change the division of roles, don't forget to discuss it with the management team first and communicate it clearly to other departments. Also, remember to evaluate how the change is working out both within and outside the team after a while. After all, extra tips and fresh ideas help you do your HR work even better!

Need more inspiration?
There are many online options to make your work easier and more efficient. Can't see the wood for the trees, or just looking for a fresh perspective?Feel free to contact us, we're happy to help!

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