(un)healthy HR foster... (un)healthy employees

On 3 October 2019, Dr Serena Barberis exchanged with me and an audience of 50 during the Geneva-based Salon RH. The theme was: how do organizations ensure that their HR Departments are healthy, in order for staff to thrive? Here are some highlights.

How do you spot staff's health issues?

Dr Barberis gave 6 clear "sentinel indicators" of health issues with staff:

1.  Absenteism - increases in illness in teams or overall;
2.  Presenteism - people working despite feeling unwell or tired;
3.  Engagement drops - measurable by staff engagement surveys or polls;
4.  High fluctuation - compared with external market and also between teams;
5.  Low internal mobility - people don't want to (or cannot) move;
6.  Increased conflicts - within teams and between managers.

How do you spot HR / Management deficiencies?

We thereto gave 6 clear "sentinel indicators" of issues where Organizations - and especially their HR Departments - might also need some doctoring:

1. Strategy is not understood - just information is not as good as two-way communication;
2.  Culture & Values are blurred - very often there are contradictions;
3.  Unclear career paths - not showing how people can develop within the company;
4.  Low employability - people get stuck in their jobs, and in their company;
5.  Wrong people get promoted - not basing promotions on healthy application of values is bad for your organization;
6.  People managers are untrained - management is often seen as a side activity, but it is a central activity!

What to do with it?

As an individual, we can all assess the above 6 + 6 "sentinel indicators", make a rapid assessment of our company’s health status, identify which causes to issues are internal, and which are probably external. This will help to define which situations can be influenced by you, and if not by whom they can be addressed.

Recommendations to HR

HR plays the main role in the health both of staff and of the organization itself. Some companies and HR Departments might need some "HR Doctoring". Here's an initial list of possible solutions, to get the conversation going with your HR Department:

• Can we please connect Strategy and Culture?
• Create parallel career paths & favour mobility
•  Promote talent based on best behaviour & values
•  Keep training your managers on leading people
•  Foster empathy and “the right to make mistakes”
•  Make managers be courageous – and you too, be a hero to your team!

Happy if you have feedback or questions, and wishing you a healthy, proactive and positively influential HR in your companies :)

#HealthyHR #HRDoctoring #SalonRH #HRGuides #AreYouReady

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Frode Hvaring is a Leadership, Culture and HR Advisor and Mentor, who held various COO and global Head of HR roles.

Co-Founder of HR Guides, he teaches Business Strategy, Leadership and HR in International Business Schools.

Frode "HR doctors", advises and coaches companies and leaders in areas such as Organizational Agility, Digital Transformation, Cultural effectiveness and HR.