|
|||
|
|
|
||||||
|
Barriers to Becoming More Strategic
Day-to-day challenges, including an inadequate HR IT environment, are hampering the ability of federal HR offices from focusing on strategic responsibilities. Survey respondents interpreted "strategic HR" as being a leader in total talent management and promoting organizational efficiencies.
There is a growing awareness that federal HR offices must become strategic partners in their agencies, but a variety of barriers must be overcome to make this a reality.
That's the conclusion of a study by consulting firm EquaTerra and Human Resources Executive® magazine.
"HR practitioners have long been told they deserve a seat at the table," says Glenn Davidson, managing director of the public sector division of Houston-based outsourcing advisory firm EquaTerra.
But many are still struggling to get there.
The survey responses show federal HR offices are unable to adequately focus on strategic responsibilities because of competing demands and insufficient resources. And despite all the talk about "strategic HR," the term has not been clearly defined.
"There are concerns that the term 'strategic HR' has become overused and in the process lost meaning and clarity," Davidson says.
Davidson says every agency is required to have a clear strategic plan, but few HR offices have one.
"How do you know where you need to be if you don't have a strategy that outlines what you need to achieve?" he asked.
But there is some common ground.
"Strategic HR is aligning your HR practices to ensure they are directly linked to the business imperatives of the agency's mission and the objectives of your organization's leaders," Davidson says.
Overall, the majority of respondents -- 79 percent -- said becoming strategic meant being a leader in "total talent management," which encompasses recruiting, performance management, learning and succession planning.
Respondents also agreed that HR must move away from being a "rules enforcer" to promoting organizational effectiveness (74 percent). Being a strategic HR leader also means serving in an executive advisory position (62 percent), and strategically utilizing learning/training (30 percent), compensation (29 percent) and benefits (18 percent).
When asked what impeded their ability to achieve these goals, respondents overwhelming said inadequate resources, the current HR IT environment, and that top executives did not see HR transformation as critical.
EquaTerra noted that only 22 percent of respondents said a lack of HR skills was the issue. "Public sector [government] HR professionals feel they know how to transform HR operations, but do not have the resources and support to do the job," according to the report.
In addition, the "HR group is so bogged down and has difficulties finding the time and resources" to build a compelling business case for change.
John Palguta of The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to revitalize the federal government, says, "Federal agencies are slowly improving their strategic human capital plans and capabilities, but for many, it's a slow process.
"The lack of resources is a big reason that HR offices don't do more in the way of strategic planning and execution," he says. "Some are so busy simply taking care of the day-to-day operational needs of the HR function that there is little time or resources available for the 'big picture' planning and strategizing."
See the big picture
Tackling these barriers will take a concerted effort by HR, Davidson says.
The first step is to master the basics. Even though HR is moving away from transactional activities, it will still be judged based on how these activities are handled.
The second is to understand the agency.
"Every agency has a whole set of terms and acronyms that are critical to how it operates," he says. And HR must be able to talk the talk.
HR should also develop a strategic plan with measurable performance metrics to demonstrate how their work contributes to the agency's mission.
Potential metrics, Davidson says, include:
* Cost and time per hire.
* Number of employees who have attended diversity training.
* Number of employees who were hired from a specific target group -- veterans with disabilities, for example.
Budget problems are more difficult to address, but agencies should examine how services are being performed.
"If the process is too cumbersome and there are too many touch points," that function could probably be done more efficiently, Davidson says, noting that business-process outsourcing can be useful.
"Outsourcing is not an end in itself, but it is one of the myriad of tools," he says.
Davidson cautions that outsourcing should be carefully considered, noting "it's not for everyone." Transactional duties such as payroll and benefits administration may be good candidates. Certain elements of primary functions may also be appropriate.
"When it comes to hiring, agencies may want to maintain vetting and decision-making responsibilities, but could potentially outsource job posting, application collection and screening responsibilities," he says.
Palguta agrees that many federal HR activities can be outsourced, especially transactional activities such as recruiting and assessing candidates and security clearances. The activities that should remain in-house, he says, are those "involving HR policy development; strategic HR planning and advice to agency leadership."
Davidson says the HR line-of-business initiative is also a helpful tool, and is "the single most unheralded accomplishment of the Bush administration."
"It makes complete sense," he says. "There may be nuances from department to department, but federal HR processes are similar across government. Each agency does not need the technology, platform and people to do them."
The problem with the initiative, he says, is that there was not enough "hand-holding and sage advice" to help agencies understand it. He says the administration must also assure agencies they can maintain some staffing and funding if they do use alternative providers.
The future
The key, Palguta says, is developing a new generation of HR professionals.
"Current federal HR professionals who are assigned something other than straight transactional work need to develop the full range of HR competencies if they don't already have them so they can work effectively as respected advisors and internal consultants to federal managers," he says.
"Federal managers, for their part, need to accept the fact that good HR management is their responsibility. The HR staffs are there to advise and assist, but managers need to be fully involved."
Investing in HR is also critical, he says, because "good HR management cannot be done 'on the cheap.'"
August 6, 2008 Copyright 2008© LRP Publications |
||||||
Print
Email
Write to the Editor
Reprints
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
© Copyright 2010 LRP Publications. All rights reserved.
|
||||