An effective people strategy is instrumental in your company’s ability to engage, develop and attract top talent. After all, having the right people can have a huge impact on the success of your business.

The first layer – What is a people strategy?

At its core, a robust people strategy underpins your overall business strategy and plays a crucial role in supporting and advancing your company’s broader goals. In a nutshell, it provides a structured approach to aligning human resources practices with overall business goals, ensuring that your workforce is effectively recruited, developed, motivated, and retained.

Your people strategy should include clearly defined KPIs that align with your overall business objectives, such as employee engagement, retention, employee satisfaction and productivity. We’ll talk more about this below.

Without an effective people strategy, your company may face a range of challenges that may hinder organisational performance, employee satisfaction, and overall competitiveness.

The second layer – Keeping a focus on people pillars

Within any people strategy are the key people pillars – or focus areas – that are relevant and meaningful to your business. Common people pillars within a people strategy include:

1. Culture and Values
2. Employee Engagement
3. Leadership Development
4. Professional Development
5. Talent Acquisition
6. Performance
7. Remuneration
8. HR Operational Support

These people pillars should be used as the “guiding posts” to fundamentally shape your people strategy, initiatives and focus areas, enabling the business and your employees to thrive.

The third layer – Your people strategy in action

Each initiative that you implement across the year should be closely linked back to the key people pillars you have picked – and support your overall people strategy.

The number of initiatives that you choose to implement, under each people pillar, will depend on a range of factors including your company’s size, maturity and business objectives.

Your initiatives should be very specific and focused – for example: A culture people pillar might have initiatives such as:

• A focus on employee engagement and satisfaction – Keeping your employees engaged, satisfied and motivated will lead to higher productivity and retention levels. Conduct regular pulse surveys to assess employee engagement levels and investigate initiatives (such as flexible work arrangements or employee benefits) that will boost employee satisfaction and loyalty.
• Promoting a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion – Implement initiatives that support diversity and inclusion, empowering all of your employees to feel comfortable and welcomed in the workplace, and be supported to perform to the best of their abilities.
• Employee Recognition and Rewards – Implement programs to recognise and reward employees for their contributions and achievements. This could include employee of the month/year awards, peer recognition programs, and incentives for outstanding performance.
• Wellness and Work-Life Balance: Promote employee well-being and work-life balance through wellness programs and flexible work arrangements. This could include initiatives such as wellness challenges, mental health resources, and remote work options.

It is important to have a measure of success against each of these initiatives – so that you can track your progress towards the overall people strategy and goals.

And finally, the measurement – How do you know if it’s working?

Creating a people strategy and implementing associated initiatives is just the beginning. Once you’ve implemented your people strategy, people pillars and associated initiatives, you need to assess and analyse your primary data points and results to make sure you’re meeting your goals.

Go back to those clearly defined KPIs that align with your overall business objectives, such as employee engagement, retention, employee satisfaction and productivity mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Regularly collect data on these KPIs through a variety of methods – such as

• employee surveys,
• feedback sessions and round tables,
• performance reviews and performance metrics,
• new starter surveys,
• exit interviews,
• attendance records,
• training and development records, or
• interviews,

to gauge the effectiveness of your people strategy.

Review over time – A people strategy should be a living document

Be prepared to adjust your strategy based on its effectiveness and your current business goals. A people strategy should never be static. As your organisation matures and changes, it’s important to revisit it regularly and improve and adjust it.

Need help with your people strategy?

If you’d like to learn more about how to implement an effective people strategy or adjust it to align with your 2024 business objectives, give us a call. You can reach Director Nikki Jenkinson on 0472 545 584.