What is strategic HR? should strategic HR be based on employment law or ethics?

Question

What is strategic HR? should strategic HR be based on employment law or ethics?

Answer 1

i am not aware of a specific definition of this term. I believe it is related to the balanced scorcard or similar concept wherby each area of an organization has specific goals directly related to corporate strategy. For HR this would entail more than filling positions and would include a focused effort to strengthen the knowlegde base of the work force through recruiting, hiring, training and retention.

both ethics and  employment law are factors and in my opinion don't alter the functions or strategy-they are assumed parameters under which HR functions.  Strategic HR would be based on aligning activities with corporate objectives and strategy.

Answer 2

strategic= a business plan adopted or selected by companies to deal with human resources who they employ,,

ie if an employee acts in a certain manner(offensive)he/she will be dealt with in a certain way,all sorts of things apply,racist/sexist/overbearing/threaten... behaviour and harrasment in the workplace,they deal with complaints from staff about other members of staff when a complaint has been made and they must deal with the complaint,in line with company policy.

Answer 3

Strategic HR is when an HR department is included in the strategic planning for a companies goals & obejectives or short term long term business planning.

The HR department would then structure plans on how to best support the objectives. This would include, hiring and retention, compensation and benefits, employee needs analysis and developing a gap analysis and then prioritizing and establishing training programs. Perhaps conducting employee opinion surveys and establishing action plans to resolve outstanding issues. Maintaining a union free status and the action plans to maintain that status.

These objectives are "SMAC" Specific, Measurable,Achieveable & Communicated to the organization.

The objectives are monitored and periodically reviewed and adjusted based on business conditions. The HR deprtment becomes a contributing enterprise to the success of the company.

All these activities are "pro- active" as opposed to some HR departments that simlply "react" when something goes wrong.

HR is one of the most crucial functions within a company if it is allowed to manage effectively and not just seen as overhead.