How Important is a Flexible HR/People & Culture Team?

When the business which HR/P&C teams support grow then so do our own teams. Albeit often at a reduced rate than the actual business itself being supported.

The Business we support can grow in many different ways such as overall employee size, different skill sets, geographical spread, entering new market places and the HR/P&C team needs to be designed in a way to meet these changing needs.

The team also needs to meet the growing specialised HR/P&C needs of the business. This means adding specialist roles in areas such as Compensation & Benefits, Talent Acquisition, Organisational Development, Diversity and Inclusion, Employee Relations, Workforce Management Systems, and Workforce Planning & Data.

Then there are the HR/P&C Business Partners who hold the internal direct customer facing responsibility for delivering the HR strategy and operations directly across their assigned groups.

So how is it possible to build a flexible HR/P&C team?

The answer can depend on the background experience of new hires bought into the HR/P&C team or the active career rotation of the team between specialities or HR/P&C Business Partner roles.

HR/P&C team members who have experience across at least two specialities are valuable not only because of their potential flexibility but also their reach of knowledge. Those who have rotated between being a HR/P&C Business Partner and a speciality such as TA or OD can bring tremendous value in identifying, designing and rolling out key initiatives across the organisation. Different industry backgrounds can also be valuable.

Buying in flexibility through the hiring of broad HR/P&C experience can build capability and flexibility quicker than the longer and slower approach of team rotations. However it comes with a higher upfront cost but depending on your industry and rate of business growth can have significant payback for the business being supported.

Once that flexibility has been achieved, remember retention of your team becomes paramount so clearly communicated individual career and development plans are essential.