Aren’t we all creatures of habit – forced by the law of nature. Yet, how do we prove we have the right habits that thrive us as human resource professionals? With the advancement in the business landscape, the HR department undergoes a paradigm shift.
- Habit No.1 – Take charge
There may be several times you’ve heard of conversations stating, “I’m just doing what my manager tells me to do.” Sadly, this phrase has been uttered too many times by HR professionals just to appease senior management.
But when personnel situations such as layoffs, culture, engagement or recruiting these would be the people who would toe the line, wait for direction rather than offer their suggestions. Thus, human resource professionals have the stamp of being tactical rather than strategical.
Being a human resource professional you’re an expert in personnel matters, and you’re the one who is supposed to be giving the CEO strategic counsel when required.
- Habit No.2 – Weigh an equal balance between transparency and discretion
Human resource professionals generally deal with sensitive information. The discretional situation is where often HR professionals face daily.
But the importance of discretion has led to a tendency where HR professionals have made certain HR departments into black holes of information. But why should they embrace transparency? Well, to be honest, they’re left with no choice. In the current era, millennials are said to make the largest segment of the workforce, hence, transparency has become a norm now.
Companies and HR departments should no longer stay secretive. They need to create positivity and maintain credibility to attract and retain talent.
- Habit No.3 – Employees are not a resource but an asset
Human capital or human resources like common habits of successful persons? Though both these terms are interchangeable, they both denote different ideas.
Perhaps it is just a matter of semantics.
Human resources denote that the talent is fixed and is an exhaustible commodity and is likely to be allocated by any other resource in businesses.
Whereas, human capital denotes that talent is something in which you’ll need to invest and which can be grown.
With continuous growth and development taking place in the HR department, it is evident for companies to focus both on human capital and human resource.
- Habit No.4 – Importance of culture and engagement
Great HR professionals know that culture is crucial to driving the workforce into the right business goals. Thus, they ensure they have the right culture fit for their organization. The reason being culture doesn’t happen by accident. It takes a whole lot of strategy and execution. And human resource professionals are the ones who are in charge of creating an engaging and fun work culture.
If the company does not have employee engagement, it can be difficult for the organization to retain talent which may further cause a turnover.
It has become evident that while recruiting HR jobs, HR certification is quickly moving from being preferred to being required. It is a telltale sign stating that potential employers are viewing professional certifications with an increased level of respect.
Getting certified assures employers that human resource professionals’ knowledge is current and up-to-date.
Additionally, a survey by the HR Certification Institute stated that 95% of the professionals believed professional certification to be crucial for the present job market.
