In every business organization’s lifecycle, there comes a stage when growth rate starts plunging, employee productivity dwindles and stagnation starts setting in. Then it’s time to introspect and evaluate the causes, the outcome of which might suggest some kind of restructuring within the organization. This could mean a change in how people are hired, how do they work and communicate internally as well as with external stakeholders—as advised by the existing HR framework. This could be termed as HR process restructuring or HR services restructuring.
The process of HR process restructuring entails a study of legacy HR framework in the organization or the absence of it, suggesting changes or upgrading the framework and seeing through the implementation of the new framework. Ideally, this must be done by a specialist HR agency, well-versed and experienced in business process reengineering focused on Human Resource Management.
What Does HR Process Restructuring Bring Forth?
First and foremost, the goals of the HR process restructuring initiative must be clear whether it to enhance employee productivity, ensure cost optimization, eliminate waste, manage interpersonal and inter-departmental conflicts, or increase customer engagement.
For the HR framework revamp to work, it is pertinent to implement it with employee support and participation. The best way is to start with a team of change agents, selected from various ranks and levels of employees and ensure smooth change management process. All the steps and actions to be taken in the restructuring must be clearly communicated through official and formal channels to avoid any chaos caused by grapevine or any kind of informal chains of communication.
Elaborating upon the changes to expect, employees must be informed that they might get to see change in reporting structures or hierarchies—from a pyramidal structure to a flat one or vice versa and may be from functional organization to a projectized one. The job roles might see a change too, implying a change in pay structures or emolumentary benefits.
An important aspect is to inform all key stakeholders such as customers and vendors about the internal change and how it will affect them too. One of the most predictable outcomes could be extended turnaround times in case the concerned team or department is engaged with the Change Management team while undergoing the restructuring process.
Role Of HR Agency
The role of the HR agency entrusted with the task of executing the process revamp is highly critical. It must have access to all the information needed to assess the legacy process and the human capital. An employee-skillset mapping is prepared to understand the current capabilities and learning gaps that must be fulfilled through learning and training initiatives. If there is a need for RIF (Reduction in force), the agency may come up with a plan to communicate with the employees who might be laid off and a plan to deal with legalities involved with labor rights and related laws. The project team must also be free to speak to employees at all levels and gather information on pain areas in their respective task workflows. Only then would they be able to make effective changes to the HR framework and propel the organization on its path of growth and increased profitability.
Gretis India is one such reliable and accomplished HR agency that has executed several HR process restructuring projects in the past. Get in touch to know more about experiences in the past projects and the learnings therein.
