HR Business Partners Help Your Organization Thrive

Op-Ed Article

HR Business Partners Help Your Organization Thrive

We all know that having a talented and engaged workforce is important, but how can business leaders foster a thriving workforce while maintaining focus on the needs of the business?

An HR Business Partner (HRBP) brings both the business acumen and deep, functional human resources expertise organizations need to align human capital strategies with business needs. Traditional human resource functions focus on moving workers through the employment life cycle, and HR Business Partners look for ways to make the necessary transactional work of HR more efficient. An HRBP can focus on the strategies and tactics that empower leaders and employees to be their best.

While HR Business Partners are most often seen in larger organizations, a business of any size can benefit from their valuable skill set. They can tailor solutions that fit your organization’s culture, budget, and appetite for change. These highly skilled individuals can create and refine strategies while employing the tactics to see those strategies turn into results.

Your HRBP should be an integrated member of your team. They do their best work when they are operating side by side with the teams they support. They will join your staff and leadership meetings to learn the inner workings of individual departments and divisions. They will spend time with you to understand your objectives and challenges. The insights they gain through this partnership allow your HRBP to make recommendations that align with your needs.

Let’s take a look at two examples of how this partnership can benefit an organization:

Identifying and Closing Skill Gaps

In a traditional environment, HR may not know that you are implementing a new technology until you have identified a go-live date. With an embedded HRBP, they will be there when you first discuss the need for new technology to help you identify skill gaps and then create a plan to develop internal talent and, if needed, adjust recruiting strategies to bring new talent into your organization.

Addressing Leadership Problems Early

Your HRBP will work with leaders at all levels of your organization to become a trusted partner both to leadership and employees. When employees and leaders alike feel comfortable sharing concerns about workload, processes, and leadership with the HRBP, it gives your partner a chance to suggest ways to address these concerns early. Perhaps a supervisor is not meeting the needs of employees, and you are not sure how best to address the issue. Your HR Business Partner may suggest a 360-degree feedback survey or one-on-one interviews with staff to gather feedback that can be shared with the supervisor and used to create a plan for their development.

HR Business Partners play a critical role in helping companies achieve organizational effectiveness. Whether you have 50 employees or 5,000, having an HRBP can help take your organization from good to great. To find the right HR Business Partner for you, contact Samantha Siebenaller at MRA – The Management Association (800.488.4845).

SOURCE: Samantha Siebenaller, HR Services Manager for MRA