Time For A Review Of Your Resources?

Here’s how to go through a step by step review

In the news, we hear of companies’ plans to lay off parts of their workforce in an effort to cut costs and maintain profitability. It becomes almost inevitable that each of us wonders if the company we work for or the department we are in is next to be hit. Other cost-cutting measures that we have seen include postponing or decreasing the amount of the merit increases and bonuses, and cuts on training and other areas that seem to be ”nice to have”. The decisions to eliminate certain parts of the business or groups seem like short-term solutions. 
 

Companies can stay lean and keep costs down by going through an exercise of thoroughly reassessing the current resources that they have and effectively utilizing their resources. This would result in synergies within the company and would be sustainable in the long run. By doing so, companies would run more efficiently and effectively, and employees would have the opportunity to work to their full potential. How can this be achieved? By going through a step by step review of your resources: 

1) Align Objectives with the Strategy of the Organization  

Vision and goals may have changed; these need to be reflected in the objectives and fully understood at all levels in the company. 

2) Discuss and Review Objectives, Look for Operational Efficiencies 

All who are involved in objective-setting discussions can play a role by looking for areas where operational efficiencies and synergies can be found. These can include simple process improvements across departments, allocating optimal resources for projects or centralizing essential functions. These discussions should also occur at the levels below the leadership team.
 
As an example, a drug discovery company that was cutting costs across the board was given the objective of delivering more but with no headcount growth. The Disease Area head sat down with his direct reports, and discussed and agreed on the objectives for his department and each of the units within his department. During these discussions, it became clear that there were overlaps in what each unit was working on and that changes in how activities were being resourced had to be made.  It was surprising how revealing these conversations were. 
 
As the discussions went deeper within the department, the more opportunities we identified for process improvements and re-assignment of responsibilities. As a result, the group became leaner and more focused. 

3) Reassess Responsibilities and Assignments

It’s simple - get the right people on the right projects and give them full organizational support. During your discussions, you’re bound to find areas of redundancy (overlap in responsibilities). You may also discover that an employee’s skill set is not fully utilized or an employee has more bandwidth in a specific area.  Discuss the areas where there are potential gaps and decide on how you can create optimal workflow by reassigning responsibilities, while still aligning these with overall objectives.  In this process, try to assign work to employees that play to their strengths.
 
Think about the impact that you would have by fully tapping into your current talent pool. This involves rearranging the way in which work is done and that makes business sense. 

This is also an opportunity to reinforce the messages to your employees that they and their contributions are valued in these challenging times. Not surprisingly, this generally results in an increase in employee morale and retention. 

4) Communicate in a Timely and Honest Manner 

To avoid rumors from taking a life of their own, ensure that communication is transparent, genuine, and timely and reaches a broad audience. The content should focus on aligning objectives and ensuring that resources are used effectively. This helps manage the “personal” aspect of change and results in employees rallying behind the company’s goals. 
 
This sounds like a huge undertaking, given the daily challenges and work that businesses face in order to function from one day to the next. It is a huge undertaking and it can seem almost daunting because it requires rigor and time, especially when quick and shortsighted fixes seem to be prevalent nowadays. If you are focused on long-term strategies that help the company grow, what better way than to address the most important asset of any company – its employees. 

Shu Yeung is the CEO of GetHRSmart LLC, an HR consulting firm. She has over 20 years of experience as an HR leader.   Connect Shu Yeung