As Startups scale and mature -it has couple of points of inflection in Human Resource
- When hiring goes beyond references and alumni
- When you get your first funding and suddenly there are people who discover that you are their alumni and friend.
- When you get big enough to have a HR team and the founders do not know everyone by name or function!
- And when you are growing exponentially; 2 things start happening- folks you thought were engaged / happy might leave the company and more importantly – you start noticing a large percentage of hiring mistakes and this when holistic HR comes into focus- rather than just the hiring function.
Demand the following from your CHRO/ HR Function
Data + Evidence Based Decision Making for Talent
The right time to set up a data infrastructure that enables evidence based decision making in HR was yesterday and the next best time is today.
- Selection Assessment – hese will be the most critical decisions you take . And everyone makes mistakes – the organisations which run it on science and run it well- would still end up still making 20-30% hiring “mistakes” – but they are so big it does not effect them as much as it will effect you . There are simple fixes to nudge your selection mistakes down-
- Panel Interviews
- Structured Interviews
- Skill based tests
- Getting outside experts in areas which you do not understand
- Recruitment Source Assessment-As you grow – references will remain important but reduce in percentage of hiring- that is when you need reliable sources -( and shameless self promotion – AceProHR)
- Assessment for Development or Succession-Performance management systems are just one input into a succession and development system- which should include peer reviews, development centres and assessment of a non-direct manager.
- Performance Measurement – Keep it simple and short. Complexity will kill any Performance measurement – especially in startups
- Exit Analysis-Find out what is going wrong, get hands on it , involve independent / external advisors and do a structured interview.
Increase Productivity
The first step to increase productivity is to measure it Revenue per Employee Revenue per Salary Dollar Subscribers / Employee or Salary Dollar Even support function teams like - Recruitment can be measured in terms of time to hire and , diversity percentages and campus access compared to competition. In technology firms - diagnosis is a multi-factor analysis of variables which are not easily measurable - team quality, manager capability and skill development.
How can Human Resource assist in increasing productivity , apart from finding the right talent:
- Better tools for Performance tracking
- Improving managerial skills
- Enabling managers to take take exit decisions quicker ( in a Startup- this is a Superpower)
- Investing in people development and
- Creating space for development
Enhance Engagement
There are more theories on Employee Engagement than the stars in the visible universe- but typically it should mean the following -
- People are driven by a purpose , rather than just numbers.
- Nike- We lead, We Invent, We Deliver. We use the power of sports to move the world.
- We are Shopify- Our Mission is to create commerce better for everyone BUT we are not the workplace for everyone . We thrive on change, operate on trust and leverage the diverse perspectives of people in our team on everything we do ! ( I run a firm on Shopify and I can tell from first hand experience- they are fantastic- when the pandemic hit , they moved very early to create a service where folks can temporarily shut their stores to customers but still work on them to improve them
- People identify with the organisation – and it startups this means- they know and trust the leaders because they walk the talk. In a startup; Values= Founder Behaviour + communication + intent.
- Work environment is positive and the work energizes people .HR should take the lead in weeding out- toxic managers and toxic people.
- Over a period of time- people see growth opportunities in terms of level s well as skill development
Clarify and Institutionalise Values
The "loudest " communication of values are silent, they happens when- People decisions are made, compensation philosophy is executed and Policy is framed ; Employer Branding and Internal Communication are a by - product of the above , not the lead.
- People Decisions are made– the proverbial walking the talk! .
- Dozens of Google employees say they were retaliated against for reporting harassment
- How Google Protected Andy Rubin , the father of Android
- A client had a Finance leader who was responsible for the exit of 3 very good managers because he was toxic, did not share information and apart from doing very good “finance” work had time to play politics . The company leadership keeps on finding excuses to keep the person.
- Compensation -very few things clarify values better than money here are 2 extreme examples
- Policy – HR Policy can be built on trust or built on fear . One of the many insights from the Book Rework by Hansen and Fried is – HR Policies are the Organizational Scab tissues – over reaction to situations that are unlikely to happen again. While I do not recommend having no HR policy – here are some pointers
- If trust is important for you- then why would your HR policy require sign off from 2 different people for someone to get reimbursement on client visits/ entertainment
- You value employee family time then why is your Sales head calling his/her team after 6 pm – There should be a HR policy against this
- Communication & Branding– Values in organisations are clarified more by the unspoken than the spoken but that does not mean you do not focus on communication and branding and making sure new employees understand what is important and why
Nudge for Health
Businesses thrive when their employees lead happier, healthier and more productive lives , The amount of time employees spend for the firm- makes it imperative that the firm takes some responsibility for their health and nudge them into healthier habits
- Eating healthy
- Providing time to heal- mentally and physically
- Creating whistle-blower programs on bullying, sexual harassment and being consistent in following them- whether the perpetrator is a delivery person or the COO of the company
- If you can afford it – have counsellors on tap for the associates to access
- Over invest on Medical Insurance for your team- the delta investment is not too much but the payout is immense
- Seek out leaders with Empathy, Gratitude and folks who will listen
Create Future Capacity
Creating future capacity in an organisation already stretched to service current scale may seem moot but there are certain basics you need to do put in place immediately
- Have a campus internship and hiring plan- do not stretch yourself too thin- start with couple of institutions you want to build a long term relationship with
- Focus on your core competence & Have a talent cloud – i.e. outside experts who can assist you on an assignment basis or handle the peaks – whether its Human Resources, Technology or analytics
- Create time and have development programmes going for middle management
- Identify internal trainers and mentors
- Leisure & Time off- builds resilience & develops people. if your top team does not get time for reflection, development and questioning assumptions- then you run an Enterprise risk– of lacking creativity , not making timely course corrections and repeating mistakes