How your HR team can double your bottom line quicker than your sales staff

Shield, Work, Setting, Workplace, Invitation, EnterThe bottom line of any business is the spend that it needs to make to remaining functioning as a business. The more this bottom line is controlled and the smaller these overheads, the more profit a business makes. Profit means a healthy business with plenty of cash to investment back in the business itself.

There are many factors and variable that impact on a business’s bottom line and there are some that affect it that, until now, you may have assumed had no bearing at all. We often assume, for example, that it is the sales staff closing deals that keep a business buoyant but the human resources department also impact this bottom line.

But why? And why are online human resources courses part of the solution?

The impact that HR has on a business

A poor HR department could be costing your business money.

An excellent HR department makes a business money because:

• Staff are happier and perform better
• Staff are motivated thus productivity is higher, as is the quality of work in many cases
• Happier staff also means a reduced turnover

For this reason, HR should be viewed as an investment rather than an expense and the development of staff-friendly policies is key to making your business a success. Training is an integral part of this process as any member of HR personnel will tell you but how is this state of affairs achieved? How can a HR department turn a high turnover of staff rate around?

1. Make HR important
From training to policy development, from staff appraisals and reviews to improving staff benefit packages, making human resources important within a business is key to looking after your bottom line.

All too often, although a company say they ‘look after’ and develop their employees, the truth is there is little training and scant investment in developing their most important assets: their people.

From an induction process for new starters, to developing people to work in other roles, promotions and so on, making HR a driving force in your business will bring nothing by benefits and advantages, as well as protecting your bottom line.

2. Training is key
These has been mentioned a few times in passing but training is incredibly important in protecting your bottom line.

Frankly, investing thousands of pounds in training so that people have the skills and abilities to do things right is better than potentially losing thousands, if not millions, in sales because customers never seem to get the right thing from you.

Poor service, wrong order, shoddy products and so on all create a negative reputation of your business, which can take years to claw back.

Streamlined processing, from ordering to delivery, and all the other factors involved in making your business stand out from competitors also means that you have the reputation you want. Essentially, at the root of all this is the HR department.

Training no longer has to mean taking employees out of the business for days, or even weeks online. A well-honed HR department will understand that micro-teaching session, online methods and so on can all provide high quality, interactive training without a massive impact on productivity levels and production.

3. Employee retention should be a priority
A big and expensive impact on any business’ bottom line is retention. Every time an employee leaves, the processing of advertising, interviewing and putting people in place is an expensive one.

Frankly, the less times you do this the better. With a vibrant and skilled HR department and personnel providing your staff team with everything they need, a business will find retaining staff far easier.

4.  They identify value-added initiatives
Take a leaf out of the books of some of the biggest and most successful companies and you will see that they not only have a high retention rate of staff but that they stay relevant in their marketplace.

A HR department should always be looking for activities and initiatives that add value to the company. Spending a pound on an initiative that saves ten pounds is clearly a winner.

5. Learn from business examples
A global company with one of the lowest turnover rates of staff is Costco. Although many think that being a Costco employee is low skilled, they are paid double what their counterparts are in other similar businesses.

They are highly trained, with the company heavily investing in employees. They nurture the high morale amongst its staff, reaping the rewards of investing in people with training and other initiatives. All this is coordinated by a forward thinking HR department, both locally in store and across the company as a whole.

In summary

Confidence in HR means confidence in people. Investing in people is key in protecting the bottom line of a company, generating not only healthy profits but a business that is sector-leading now and adaptable in the future.

NCC Home Learning provides a range of online courses, including diplomas and other qualifications in human resources and related fields. Taking control of learning empowers an individual and can often be the catalyst to achieving goals and career objectives.