In the previous installment, we focused on getting your business ready to handle growth as the economy starts to rebound by investing time and resources with your strategic partners.
In this installment, we’re going to focus on the most important resource you have: your own employees.
A Growing Future
If you are like most businesses these days, you are demanding more and more of your employees when their numbers are lower than experienced almost a decade ago. While many businesses trimmed staff due to the decrease in demand for goods and services, those cutbacks may or may not have been scheduled with eyes on the future. A growing future.
Take time now to determine where you are likely to have the greatest need for staff if an economic upswing occurs.
- Is your product or service human resource intensive to produce? If so, take the downturn time now to re-develop on-boarding plans for new employees.
- Focus on the functional areas of your business that will be most impacted by an upturn in business.
- Review your Human Resources processes and just as you would focus on winning the best overall deal in a negotiation for your business.
- Hone your hiring and employee orientation processes and remove waste/inefficiencies while focusing on the critical information needed to make those new-hires contributors to your business as quickly as possible.
The general “learning curve” for new employees is long enough without having to deal with lacking educational materials or programs.
Next installment: Infrastructure
