To succeed, a firm must determine its strategy and follow its plans to fruition. Part of that strategy must define how the firm proposes to deal with the people it employs. Decisions in pursuit of strategy must describe the sort of people it intends to employ, the jobs it intends them to do, how it intends that they are led and managed and how the firm and its people will develop. Strategic human resource management is all about decisions.

TimelessTime consultants understand business and operations. They always seek to optimise the contribution people make to business outcomes. Here are some of the issues they engage with.

Scope

Human resource management policies, practices and procedures embellish the employment contract between management and staff. This contract is framed by documents but made real by management action. It forms the foundation of the psychological contract describing the unwritten expectations of management and staff. HR policies, practices and procedures are underpinned by employment law.

Best Practice HR

Simply, there is no such thing as ‘best practice HR’. Every firm is different. Management has different expectations, strategy is different and the environment in which every firm exists is different. Practice must be ‘appropriate’ and evidence-based. Management must work with HR consultants to determine the strategic HR framework that will meet the firm’s vision, values and mission.

Contracts and Handbooks

Foundations are essential to any relationship. There is a minimum document set that, by law, needs to be put in place but this is completely inadequate if the firm is going to build and achieve competitive advantage through its staff. A written contract of employment with a handbook containing policies and procedures starts to give line managers the support they need. With additional training and ad hoc support managers can bring HR to life.

TimelessTime can put this foundation in place for your firm.

Psychological Contract

The contract that exists between employer and employee is, for the most part, unwritten – it’s called the psychological contract. It comes from the trust and confidence that the one has in the other. There are many things that the employer can do to strengthen this relationship. And it’s not about giving extra employment benefits, though that may be part of an overall approach. The prize for growing a strong psychological contract is enhanced employee commitment and one could write a book on how this benefits the firm!

Managing Contracts

Managers must give all employees, within eight weeks of their joining, a minimum document set defining the employment relationship. This minimum legal requirement sets out the relationship in just 16 simple clauses. But these are inadequate for a complete and healthy employer-employee relationship going forward. As a basic minimum, all employers should offer a comprehensive employment contract, a detailed employment handbook and a comprehensive set of policies and procedures defining how management and employees will behave throughout the employment relationship.

HR Support

People are the lifeblood of any firm. They join, they leave, and in between they have to be managed. Everyone who manages or supervises people has to double as an HR generalist. Line managers need specialist HR support to facilitate the day-to-day management of staff. TimelessTime provides that support helping the manager to achieve business outcomes, operational results and performing staff.