HR Systems

Overview

People are the foundation of any business. Hiring the right people makes all the difference in terms of how your business will evolve. Will it be fun and exciting to show up everyday and build the company with a group of people who are all on the same page, or will it be challenging and frustrating to get everyone aligned and to convince them of the work that needs to get done?

Your team needs clarity and guidance to perform their best work. Create an employee life-cycle map from hiring —> onboarding —> training —> management —> promotions —> exits and build process around each portion. If you’re not clear on how each portion will function, your team will suffer as a result of poor preparation as will your business.

Hiring starts long before posting a job ad. First define the role you’re hiring for based on your forecasting and capacity planning. Use existing job postings online to build a job description that aligns with candidate expectations as well as your hiring needs. You can use available templates online by hiring sites to build a cohesive job description to attract the right candidates; make sure to infuse the job description with your company’s spirit so it stands out and reflects your organizational personality.

Another prerequisite for posting a job is to create a clear performance management plan (PMP) for this role. The PMP outlines the key objectives for this role and the measurements for success; this document will be shared and reviewed with your new hire when they first start to set clear expectations for performance.

Next define the appropriate hiring channels for this role. Common hiring platforms include LinkedIn, Indeed, and Ziprecruiter among many others. You’ll also want to seek out industry-specific hiring platforms. Once you’ve posted your job, you’ll want to create a clearly defined process to review, select, and interview candidates, including a standardized evaluation form. This process takes time, so make time in your calendar for hiring to give it the attention it deserves.

Once you’ve selected a candidate, you’ll need to get the paperwork and onboarding process started. Developing a clear training plan and reporting line will ensure your new hire is setup for success. Over-communication and day by day or week by week training objectives and pre-scheduled checkins are critical in the first 3 months.

Managing your team will require setting clear expectations, having a career plan or trajectory mapped out, salary bands per level, advancement criteria, review cycles and so on. There are many tools available to help with these activities, use them and make your life easier and ensure your team is setup for success and rewarded for their accomplishments.

There is a lot to unpack here, so start with the employee life cycle map, identify priorities, and focus on building one area at a time to improve your team experience.

Recommended tools

• Asana project management tool for process management (link)

• Rippling full service HR management (link)

• Gusto payroll managemet (link)