A simple guide to the Human Resources life cycle
Posted on Mar 16, 2022 at 09:03 PM
As an HR manager, itâs essential to be familiar with the Human Resources life cycle, from onboarding to payroll processing to offboarding and everything in between. A thorough understanding of this cycle will make your workflow run smoother and ensure that you are fully compliant with all of your legal and organizational responsibilities as an HR professional.
So what does the Human Resources life cycle look like? The following guide will walk you through each phase in detail and help you get the most out of your HR process.
What's the Human Resources life cycle?
The human resources life cycle, or human resources cycle, is the ongoing process of integrated human resources activities. The human resources life cycle integrates both the creation and implementation of the human resources strategy with the life cycle of the staff member.
Phases of the human resources life cycle
1- Corporate business strategy
Corporate business strategy must be the main starting point for any human resources activity.
A well-known and commonly used framework for defining a business strategy is a SWOT analysis that refers to several strategic priorities, which are then translated into a human resources strategy.
2- Human resources strategy
At this stage, the action strategy is shifted from the previous phase to the strategy of personnel or human resources. A human resources strategy may use similar tools to the previous phase to identify strategic human resources priorities.
The human resources strategy needs to be aligned with the business strategy. In other words, the successful implementation of the human resources strategy, that is, the staff member's activity will enhance the objectives of the work.
3- Training
The company starts the training process when the employees begin their new positions. They must know their role in the company and the expectations and responsibilities of the employer.
During this phase of the human resources life cycle, it is essential for human resources managers to:
- Train and educate new staff to fully understand the duties and responsibilities of their job, for example, by attending human resources training courses in Istanbul.
- Moving your company's culture and values.
- Hiring a co-worker to support their transition and guidance to feel more connected to the company.
- Introduce new staff to the rest of the team, and make sure they have everything they need to start their work.
4- Work-team design
Job design is creating jobs that help achieve the organizational function while being a source of motivation for its staff. This process includes job analysis, efficiency analysis, team analysis, and job redesign.
After that, there's a team design. A team is a group of high-performing staff. The team can be analyzed and well designed from different functions as defined in organizational design to work well. This is due to the successful completion of the human resources strategy.
5- Human resources planning
Human resources planning revolves around forecasting demand and supply. Demand will be affected by the organizational strategy, investments in technology, and the quantity and composition of employment required in the future.
Similarly, supply is influenced by internal and external supply, retention capacity, and typical characteristics of existing staff.
An action plan for individuals will be set based on supply and demand, including polarization, internal movements, refinement, push for automation, or suspension of recruitment, retirement packages, and early termination.
6- Guidance and career planning
Some life-cycle models treat "serving staff needs" as a next phase. Others treat guidance and career planning as the following stages.
Mentoring is when an employee becomes a member of the company's workforce by learning their new duties and responsibilities, establishing relationships with co-workers and supervisors, and developing a specialized position.
Career planning is when employees and supervisors work to achieve their long-term professional goals with the company.
7- Evaluation and assessment
At this point in the human resources life cycle, performance management comes. Staff members are assessed and given notes to improve their performance.
The performance and behaviour management cycle of staff often focus on setting targets and monitoring progress towards these goals.
When goals are not reached, or new skills are needed, staff will be developed, and when goals are reached, the staff member will be rewarded for good performance.
8- Training and development
This phase of the human resources cycle revolves around staff development, which can improve their current skills and teach them the skills they need to qualify for the promotion.
9- Career Path Management
Professional management and career guidance are great ways to help staff grow professionally. If an employee has the ambition to become a sales manager, he has to go through multiple business jobs to get there.
Planning their career path will help them stay motivated, learn faster, and perform better to get their dream job.
10- Termination or transition
After a long and successful career, some loyal employees will leave the company after retirement.
Others may choose to move to other career opportunities or dispense with their jobs. Whatever the reason, all the employees will eventually leave the company at some point.
The role of human resources in this process is to manage the transition by ensuring that all policies and procedures are strictly followed from the end-of-service interview.
In Conclusion
Like any cycle, the human resources life cycle continues, which means that the composition of the workforce (flow of staff, advanced skills, current performance) and the formation of the company (culture, organizational and functional structure, and team) feeds into the business strategy to maintain its effective functioning.
