How ‘mature’ is your HR?
Many HR measures today come to nothing because there is no honest analysis of the status quo. In this issue, I will show you how you can sustainably improve the success of your HR work through a targeted maturity analysis in five steps.
Author: Christina Haury
Table of contents
- Definition: Global HR maturity analysis
- Step 1: Clearly define goals
- Step 2: Select relevant HR areas
- Step 3: Assess the status quo
- Step 4: Identify areas for improvement
- Step 5: Implement and monitor action plan
- Summary
Definition
A global HR maturity assessment is a systematic process for evaluating the maturity and performance of HR processes, technologies, and competencies across different locations or regions of an organization. The aim is to determine how advanced the HR departments in other countries or regions are regarding best practices, efficiency, and strategic alignment. This analysis identifies weaknesses, improvement measures prioritized, and HR processes standardized globally to support the company’s goals optimally.
Step 1: Clearly define goals
Definition: The first and perhaps most crucial step is to define clear HR objectives. Objectives set the direction and are necessary for measuring success.
Purpose and importance: Without clear objectives, no one knows where the journey is heading. A lack of clear objectives often means that measures fail and success cannot be monitored. Goals provide structure and focus.
Examples: One goal could be to increase recruiting efficiency by 20 % or to improve employee retention through targeted development measures. Progress cannot be evaluated without a specific, measurable goal like this.
Danger: The most significant risk is pursuing too many goals simultaneously. This often leads to prioritization becoming unclear and measures becoming diluted. It is essential to focus on one clear goal and pursue it consistently before adding new goals. Otherwise, you will lose the overview, and no measure will be implemented correctly.
Step 2: Select relevant HR areas
Definition: HR covers a large number of areas, but not all areas need to be analyzed at the same time. The focus should be on the HR areas that are most important for the current company objective.
Purpose and importance: Choosing the relevant HR areas makes deploying resources in a targeted manner possible. You will quickly lose track and efficiency if you try to assess and improve all HR areas simultaneously. Clear prioritization is crucial here.
Examples: If the main goal is employee retention, personnel development, and talent management should be prioritized instead of analyzing recruiting.
Danger: Analyzing and evaluating too many HR areas simultaneously can be dangerous. It can make the analysis confusing, and important details may be overlooked. This can lead to information overload and make it difficult to set clear priorities.
Step 3: Assess the status quo
Definition: The status quo is assessed using a maturity analysis that shows how advanced the company’s HR processes, technologies, and competencies are.
Purpose and importance: An honest assessment of the current status is essential to determining where improvement is needed. A maturity analysis uncovers weaknesses and provides an overview of which HR areas are well-positioned and urgently need optimization.
Examples: Perhaps the recruiting processes are efficient, but the technology is outdated. HR development is going well, but onboarding is patchy. A maturity level analysis helps to identify these discrepancies.
Danger: A superficial analysis of the status quo can lead to overlooked essential problems. The current status is often not analyzed sufficiently, ignoring unused potential or hidden weaknesses, leading to costly mistakes later.
Step 4: Identify areas for improvement
Definition: Based on the status quo analysis, clear priorities must be set for improvement measures. A distinction should be made between short-term achievable goals and long-term strategic measures.
Purpose and importance: After the analysis, the aim is to prioritize areas for improvement. While quick-implementation measures are essential, long-term strategies must not be neglected. This ensures a sustainable improvement in HR processes.
Examples: One example is that you can achieve quick wins in recruiting, but without a comprehensive improvement in the onboarding process, employee retention becomes a problem. Long-term measures, such as strategic HR development, are crucial for long-term success.
Danger: Focusing too much on short-term success can lead to losing sight of the long-term strategy. Many companies focus on quick results and miss significant strategic improvements necessary for the future.
Step 5: Implement and monitor the action plan
Definition: The centerpiece of implementation is a well-structured action plan that contains clear actions, responsibilities, and timeframes.
Purpose and importance: The best plan is useless if it is not consistently monitored and implemented. It is essential to have regular updates and ensure that all responsibilities are assigned. Only then can the plan be successfully implemented.
Examples: Progress on the action plan must be regularly reviewed. Without clear milestones and monitoring, the plan can quickly disappear into a drawer, and none of the measures are implemented.
Danger: The most significant threat is creating an action plan and not monitoring it. The plan quickly becomes ineffective without regular checks, updates, and adjustments—a plan without tracking leads to the defined goals not being achieved and the measures failing.
Summary:
A well-founded HR maturity analysis helps to set specific goals, analyze relevant areas, implement measures efficiently, and ensure long-term success. It enables HR to align with the company’s objectives and sustainably improve strategically. By identifying weaknesses and consistently monitoring the measures implemented, the HR department can make a real contribution to the company’s success.
Ready to analyze the maturity level of your HR department and take it to the next level?
Interested in further insights into HR transformation projects and process optimization?
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If you would like to know how you can easily carry out this process independently and digitally, we would be happy to show you our software solution, TraSy
Haury Solutions GmbH
December 2024
