What is HR?

Human Resources (HR) is about achieving your business objectives through people.

It's about having the right people, with the right skills, capabilities and attitude, in the right place at the right time.

The clearer your employees are about what you expect them to do, how you want them to do it and what good performance looks like, the more likely they are to succeed. And when your people perform well, your business is more likely to perform well too.

Sounds simple? It doesn't need to be complicated.

Good HR starts with a solid foundation: clear expectations, good communication and consistent management.

YourHR.guide helps you put that foundation in place and provides practical guidance and documents to manage the everyday people issues that arise in business.

But what does HR actually mean in practice?

Let's use a football analogy to explain.

HR is like a game of football

Imagine you recruit a rugby player to join your football team.

He's fit, fast, a great team player and has plenty of transferable skills. But there's one problem. He's never played football and doesn't know the rules.

On his first day, he runs onto the pitch, picks up the ball and charges towards the goal.

He's immediately sent off!

Whose fault is that?

Well, you recruited him, put him on the pitch and expected him to play a game without explaining the rules.

And this is exactly what can happen in business.

We recruit people, assume they know what we expect and then become frustrated when they don't do things our way.

What seems like common sense to you may not be obvious to someone new to your business. You know the rules because you've been living and breathing them for years. Your employees haven't.

1. Establish the rules of your game

Every football team needs rules. So does every business.

Your rules explain how you expect people to behave, the standards they must meet and how things should be done.

In HR terms, your rule book includes:

• Contracts of employment

• HR policies and procedures

• Standards of conduct and behaviour

• Working practices and expectations

These documents form an important part of your HR foundation.

But having the rules written down isn't enough. You need to communicate them and make sure people understand them.

You also need to ensure your rules support what you're trying to achieve as a business. Good rules should provide clarity and boundaries without creating unnecessary restrictions.

Just like football, people need to know the rules before they can be expected to play by them.

2. Every team needs a referee

Even when everyone knows the rules, they sometimes get broken.

That's why football has a referee.

Imagine what would happen if the referee ignored every foul. Players would quickly become frustrated, standards would slip and eventually there would be chaos.

The same applies in business.

If someone repeatedly arrives late, ignores instructions or behaves inappropriately, and nothing is done about it, what message does that send to everyone else?

Other employees may begin to question why they should follow the rules when someone else doesn't have to.

Rules and standards only work when they are applied consistently.

This doesn't mean taking formal disciplinary action every time something goes wrong.

Often, a quick conversation, some coaching or an informal improvement note is all that's needed. The important thing is to address issues promptly and proportionately.

Our Disciplinary guidance explains how to manage conduct and performance concerns, including how to prevent situations escalating into formal proceedings.

Managers need to be prepared to act as referees, applying the rules fairly and addressing problems when they arise.

And remember, the referee isn't there to stop everyone playing. The referee helps create an environment where people can play fairly and use their skills.

3. Rules can change

The rules of football have changed over the years, and so will the rules in your business.

As your business grows, technology changes or employment law develops, you may need to introduce new policies or update existing ones.

For example, the increased use of social media has meant businesses need clearer expectations about what employees can say or share online.

There's nothing wrong with changing the rules, provided you do so appropriately and communicate the changes.

Imagine introducing a new offside rule without telling the players, then disallowing a goal because someone broke it!

The same principle applies at work. Employees need to know when expectations change and what those changes mean for them.

YourHR.guide helps you keep your policies and documents up to date.

4. Everyone needs to know their position

Now imagine a football team where everyone knows the rules, but nobody knows what position they're supposed to play.

The goalkeeper decides to become a striker, the defenders all chase the ball and nobody knows who's supposed to score.

It probably wouldn't be a very successful team!

In football, every player has a position, a purpose and a contribution to make.

The same should apply in business.

Your employees need to understand:

• What their job involves and what they're responsible for.

• What they're expected to achieve.

• How their role contributes to the wider business.

• How their performance will be measured.

In HR terms, this means having clear job descriptions, responsibilities, objectives and performance measures.

For a striker, success might be measured by goals scored. For a goalkeeper, it might be goals prevented.

In your business, performance measures will depend on the role, but the principle is the same.

People need to know what good performance looks like.

If you don't explain what's important, employees will often make their own decisions about where to focus their time and effort. Those decisions may not always align with what the business needs.

Clear roles, objectives and regular feedback help everyone work towards the same goals.

5. Build a team that can win

Finally, think about what happens when a football club wants to move into a higher league.

It may need different skills, additional training, new players or a different approach to how the team works.

Businesses are no different.

As your organisation grows and your objectives change, you need to consider whether you have the right people and capabilities to achieve them.

That starts with effective recruitment, but also involves induction, training, development, performance management and good leadership.

A successful team isn't simply a collection of talented individuals. It's a group of people who understand their roles, work together and know what they're trying to achieve.