A company’s capabilities play a crucial role in its ability to thrive and remain competitive. These capabilities encompass a wide range of internal resources, skills, and competencies that enable a company to achieve its strategic objectives and outperform rivals. There are many reasons why a company’s capabilities are essential in a competitive landscape including competitive advantage, innovation, adaptability, customer focus, and operational efficiency.
As Director of People and Culture, my focus is on our most valuable assets – our people. HR is no longer just about managing payroll and recruiting talent. In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the role of Human Resources (HR) has transcended its traditional administrative functions and has become an indispensable strategic partner for organizations aiming to achieve success.
Here are four key HR capabilities ServingIntel has focused on to drive company capabilities and organizational success:
Talent Acquisition:
Understanding the importance of hiring the right talent, we implemented a standardized recruiting process. The people you bring into your company can significantly impact its success and culture. All hiring teams take part in job targeting for the open position in their department for alignment on the most important tasks of the role. They are also provided with a standardized interview template. Having this tool promotes fairness, consistency, and objectivity while improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of hiring. This document outlines a structured set of questions and evaluation criteria. In addition, we have added an attributes section to our job descriptions. While experience and having the right skills is important, we also look for the personal characteristics most needed for each position.
Employee Onboarding:
Realizing a strong onboarding process sets the stage for an employee’s success, engagement, and long-term commitment to the organization, we start as soon as an offer has been accepted with communication on what to expect, needed documentation, a survey to get to know their likes and interests, an orientation agenda, and send a personalized “swag” box. Upon start, a team member completes a two-week orientation, which includes meeting with each member of the leadership team. The value this adds is more than putting a name with a face, it provides an overview of each department as well as its structure, roles, and goals. Orientation concludes with a final debrief with me to gain insights into both their recruiting and onboarding experience as we are always looking for ways to improve the employee experience. We feel a strong onboarding process that provides a clear understanding of their role, the company’s mission and culture, and how their contributions fit into the bigger picture is a strategic imperative.
Performance Management:
Knowing performance management aligns employees with strategic objectives, enhances productivity and engagement, and fosters continuous improvement, we not only perform yearly evaluations, we also complete a six-month touchpoint following the yearly evaluation. In addition, managers have weekly 1:1s and/or team standup meetings. We understand that performance management plays a significant role in the success and sustainability of any organization.
Employee Engagement:
Working to keep employees engaged, motivated, and satisfied greatly contributes to a company’s success. As a completely virtual company, we do this through weekly All-Company Huddles, book clubs, Kahoots!, virtual team competitions, and a yearly meeting that includes Superhero awards that support our cultural values. We also open meetings with shout outs to recognize those who are representing our cultural values in their daily activities. Additionally, we partner with a third-party for our yearly employee engagement survey as we want transparent thoughts, opinions, and feedback. Looking to gather real-time insights into engagement and satisfaction, we will be beginning quarterly pulse surveys. Engaging team members is crucial as it contributes to a more productive, innovative, committed workplace.
HR is essential for attracting, developing, and retaining the right talent, while also fostering a positive workplace culture, and contributing to a conducive and productive work environment that impacts the organization’s overall capabilities and success.
