How to develop an HR strategy for a startup company | Talk Business

HR issues, from lack of motivation to inability to hire the right professional for an open position, add to the failure statistics. This means, an HR strategy established right from the beginning is not overrated.

Based on individual goals, challenges and factors, the strategy requires thorough analysis and a good dose of creativity. That said, there are typical difficulties that startup companies are dealing with, and taking them into account is a reasonable way to come up with efficient steps of an HR strategy sooner.

It’s a commonplace to describe startup life as a series of various challenges – and that’s true! HR processes, regardless of their form and intensity, are also influenced by typical difficulties startups are facing. So what are key challenges that affect the HR part of a startup’s life?

HR challenges don’t limit to the common problems listed here: they are individual and depend on industry, region, available funds and resources, founders’ and employees’ professional background, or even team members’ personality match. Identifying your particular challenges and prioritizing them is the prerequisite for formulating an efficient HR strategy.

Knowing the difficulties means being ready to handle them. After you’ve identified what are your key challenges, it’s time to design steps to tackle them. These steps, structured, prioritized, and adapted to your resources, can already work as an HR strategy. Here’s an example of what you can develop a strategy from:

Step 1 – Define your goals and align them with your resources. Among possible goals, the following can be top priorities:

Step 2 – Quantify your goals. Define what exactly you’re aiming at: parameters you need to achieve, or indexes you’re expecting to improve. Document your goals to make them measurable and actionable, and keep track of the progress later on a regular basis.

Such parameters as employee satisfaction can be hard to measure. In that case, think of ways to assess their dynamics – for example, prepare survey forms, and ask your team members to fill them out regularly. Another possible problem is the lack of representative data, for example in the case of retention rate: it’s hard to get actionable results of it when your team is under seven. In this case, consider introducing that specific parameter later, when it can bring you any value.

Step 3 – Develop and document HR processes. Even if the processes are quite obvious, make sure they are clearly documented and available to the employees. Prepare employee handbooks, hand them out during the onboarding process, and encourage employees to use them. The handbook can be issued as a hard copy or published in the company’s intranet system. The following processes are typically worth documenting:

Step 4 – Implement it. Create an actionable plan with timelines and milestones. Define the dates by which you need specific processes to be established and goals to be achieved. Assign a responsible person to put it into effect.

Step 5 – Improve it. Monitor deadlines, track progress, and see what can be improved. Use your team members’ feedback, and process it on a regular basis. Learn more about common practices existing in your field, and find what works for your team.

To sum up, your HR strategy must be goal-oriented, focused on stable growth, and open to changes. Proactive action plans are typically considered preferable, but in real life reactive strategies work better for many startups, as they are better aligned with team’s resources.

Developing an HR strategy for a startup business is a creative process of fitting viable solutions to challenges in existing time and budget limits. There’s no “one size fits all” approach here: tasks, ambitions and challenges are individual – so should be the solution. In short, the following is key for maintaining sustainable growth and achieving future success of your business: