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How smart businesses are taking a cost-conscious approach to sustainable business growth
People Puzzles Regional Director Mark Eaton discusses how an expert People Director can help to create a cost-conscious culture which can actually drive growth and enhance employee engagement, without breaking the bank.
Working with mid-market businesses across the UK, we support businesses at every stage of their journey. And of course, those journeys are not always smooth. While many of the businesses we’re working with continue to thrive and are experiencing rapid growth, others may be more focused on stabilising or sustaining performance.
Whichever point of the spectrum you’re at, be assured that there is plenty of scope and opportunity for resilient, forward-thinking businesses to thrive, to support their people and to drive commercial success in the longer term. No business wants to waste investment though, and taking a cost-conscious approach to growth has plenty of advantages no matter what sector you’re operating in or what stage of growth you’re at.
How can a strategic HR Director help keep costs down?
It may sound counterintuitive to suggest bringing in additional resource when you’re looking to manage costs, but investment in a people expert can really pay off, as we see with so many of our clients. From immediate, quick wins to longer term performance and productivity gains, there are numerous ways to reduce costs and wasted resources, while improving profitability and productivity to improve results.
Here are 10 ways that our team of strategic HR Directors are helping business leaders to address rising costs in the market and create the best culture for ongoing success.
1. Defining – and delivering – growth targets
It’s impossible to reach a goal if you’re not sure what that goal is. A strategic People Director can help not only define the right goals for your business ambitions, but also put the right plans in place to achieve them. Applying a robust strategic approach ensures goals are achievable and measurable, and gives you a much better chance of achieving them.
This process also involves a comprehensive audit of the current situation to identify inefficiencies and opportunities. Often, resources are being wasted or under-utilised, so knowing exactly where you’re at now is the best place to start.
2. Designing the best lean organisational structure
It’s essential to have the right people in the right seats. When you’re very close to a business and its people it can be almost impossible to take an impartial view of what is needed. At People Puzzles, we use proven methodologies to assess a client business’s needs both now and for the future, and work with them to put the right structures in place.
That can challenging, and may involve restructuring, or reducing headcount. In this instance an experienced People Director can help navigate those difficult decisions and conversations. Often, it’s a case of aligning people with the right roles to help them fulfil their potential and improve performance, which has a big impact on the bottom line.
3. Keeping everyone focused on what’s important to reduce inefficiencies
Defining the vision is one thing: aligning people behind it is another. Having your people all pulling in the same direction is the easiest way to reach your destination – yet it’s surprisingly hard to achieve. It’s so important to start with your leaders, making sure that they are living and breathing your vision, mission and values and setting the example to everyone else.
That does not mean glossing over the truth and painting a falsely positive picture. It may mean adjusting plans and admitting mistakes, sharing vulnerabilities and demonstrating authenticity and human weakness. Often by sharing hard truths, you can create a greater sense of unity and community spirit.
4. Driving personal accountability in cost reduction across the business
Embedding a sense of personal accountability requires excellent communication and engagement across your business. Honesty is important here: however tough the message, people will usually respond better to the truth, and seeing leaders being honest can galvanise people to do their bit. Sometimes, that sense of “blitz spirit” can be extremely motivating and can foster a deep sense of loyalty and commitment which has a positive impact on performance.
Equally, simply making people aware of the commercial picture can be an easy win. The old adage of “if you don’t ask, you don’t get” applies, so making people aware of the need to be cost-conscious can also be a very straightforward place to start. From clarifying the message to using the right platforms, a People Director is well positioned to help you get this right.
5. Talent retention and reducing recruitment costs
Retaining and developing your people is most cost-effective than recruiting externally. Yes, you need the right people in the right seats but that doesn’t always mean looking outside the business. And when you do need to recruit, a trusted people expert will be able to create cost-effective ways to attract, recruit and onboard new people.
This can also apply to recruiting or resourcing internationally, where expert regulatory advice will always be critical.
6. Taking a win:win approach to flexible working and managing overheads
Do you have a hybrid working policy? Is remote working really working? Could a part-time role be the right answer, rather than a full-time hire? Would an external, fractional role work just as well?
Taking a new and objective approach to the real needs of the business and the people in it can be transformational, from both an investment perspective and an engagement and performance angle. A People Director can help assess the resources you really need, whether that’s around recruitment or supplier management, and create efficiencies and metrics to ensure you’re not incurring unnecessary overheads.
7. Tackling employee wellbeing for a positive impact on business prosperity
Every employer has a responsibility to play an active role in supporting the physical and mental health of employees; and there can be a big cost, both literal and figurative, to neglecting it. Unsupported mental and physical health are major causes of absenteeism, lack of productivity and dwindling performance. Whether you are looking at it from a purely commercial perspective or a compassionate, human one, the fact remains that looking after your people is essential to support the future of your business.
A People Director can make sure that there are the right support services and capabilities in place to identify issues and help address them, providing expert guidance to leaders, teams and individuals and conserving resources in the short and longer term. (See more on ways to support employee mental health in this blog)
8. Creating the right reward and recognition structures
Reward is not always about remuneration, though benchmarking salaries and reward schemes is yet another advantage that an HR Director can bring. We have found that choice and flexibility are often the most important factors, and can provide guidance in putting in place reward and recognition schemes which motivate and engage your people without necessarily costing the earth. You can find out more on this subject in this blog.
9. Deploying the right technology to create scalable process efficiencies
When it comes to efficiency and scalability, technology can definitely be an advantage. Make sure you have the right HR systems and platforms in place to help boost productivity, drive regulatory compliance and reduce time wastage in every process. Your HR Director will have access to the most up to date systems and solutions in the market so don’t rely on what has got you to where you are – use their knowledge and expertise to get you to where you want to go.
10. Empowering people to take ownership in making changes happen
Arguably, this is one of the most important things on the list. Encouraging everyone within your business to play their part is one of the most powerful things any leadership team can achieve – and an expert People Director will be a critical ally in helping to deliver it. Whether that’s looking at things like waste reduction or utility usage costs, business travel savings or expenses policies, or taking a step back and considering the bigger picture, when everyone within the business pulls together, seemingly impossible goals can be reached.
“Make your goals in concrete but your plans in sand.”
This expression has always resonated and is so applicable for business owners. It’s vital to define your goals and keep them visible, but particularly when times are tough, it really pays to be flexible in how you get there. Don’t be afraid to question the status quo and do things differently – like taking on a part-time people director to help your business thrive in any commercial climate.
People remain the most valuable asset of any business. By supporting talent development, performance and wellbeing you are investing in the lifeblood of your business. An organisation’s success will always be inextricably linked to its people: so it pays to make sure you have an expert in place to deliver the right people strategies and help make the best commercial decisions.
If you would like to have a chat about how a strategic, part-time HR Director could help you achieve your business goals, please call us on 0345 646 5201, email [email protected] or fill out the contact form and we will be in touch.
