Turning Lean HR Teams Into Company Strengths

Small and medium-sized businesses (across all industries) tend to be lean. You won’t necessarily have the resources to invest in big, shiny departments, and you’ve built your company on cost-conscious decision-making. It also may mean that you have lean HR teams right now.

Modern HR teams are getting leaner across the board. But it doesn’t have to mean a compromise in employee support effectiveness. In fact, lean HR teams are proving to be more agile, responsive, and productive, especially when companies have the best HR tech and support.

Today, we’ll highlight just how powerful lean HR teams can be. And with the right processes and HR software solutions, your company’s HR can become a company strength. Explore just how many advantages you have with your lean HR now and learn how to transform how you engage your staff in a way that proves bigger isn’t always better. Leaner is how today’s businesses are doing more with less in their HR departments.

What does it mean to have a lean HR team?

You might define your lean HR team based on how few HR staff you have to wrangle all-things human resources for your company. While that might be part of it, your lean HR can also become the overseer of streamlined HR processes, eliminator of unnecessary steps, and adopter of great continuous improvement efforts. Your one (or few) HR staff can also prioritize the respect and empowerment of all your employees. And when you can turn your lean HR team of a few into a streamlined HR engine, you can really make human resources a company strength.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all number for defining a lean HR team, SHRM does suggest a “sweet spot” for most employers. Companies can aim for 1.5 to 4.5 HR staff members per every 100 employees.

Read more about Essential HR Policies

Advantages and strengths of lean HR

Regardless of your industry or business model, there are several advantages to adopting a lean HR approach. Lean processes will make the “housekeeping” of employment a breeze, freeing up your HR teams’ time and empowering every staff member you support.

Lean HR teams have unique advantages, and these key benefits can help you develop company strengths:

• Faster, more agile processes
• Improved employee experiences
• Reduced costs
• Higher organizational alignment
• A focus on continuous improvement
• Simplicity in HR flows
• Employee empowerment
• Enhanced company culture

Steps for transforming your HR into a lean HR team

Start with a focus on the value (and non-value) activities and processes within your HR. Core principles should prioritize decisions that streamline processes, empower employees, and foster an environment of continuous improvement.

Understanding the basics of lean HR team objectives

• Identify waste: Pinpoint inefficient processes, unnecessary tasks, and administrative burdens that slow down HR operations.
• Recognize value: Focus on HR activities that directly contribute to employee satisfaction, retention, and business success.
• Continuous improvement: Regularly assess and refine HR processes to enhance efficiency and effectiveness over time.

Think about centralized instead of decentralized HR functions, meaning make your HR a “Jack” or “Jill” of all trades in training, onboarding, payroll, time-off, benefits, and employee satisfaction.

Streamline one process at a time

• Onboarding: Digitize paperwork, provide pre-boarding resources, and automate orientation to get new hires up to speed faster.
• Training: Use online learning platforms and self-paced modules to deliver continuous employee development efficiently.
• Time-off requests: Implement self-service portals that allow employees to request and track leave without manual HR intervention.
• Payroll: Automate payroll processing with integrated time tracking and compliance tools to ensure accuracy and reduce errors.

Bring in the technology solutions that help bridge the gaps. Find useful software that automates tasks, allows for employee self-service, and provides real-time data to make informed decisions.

Map out your process changes

• Find the bottlenecks: Identify slow or problematic areas in workflows that cause delays or frustration for employees and HR staff.
• Reduce redundancies: Eliminate duplicate tasks and automate repetitive processes to save time and resources.
• Visualize each step in the workflow: Break down HR processes into clear steps to identify areas for improvement and create a more streamlined approach.

Read more about How Technology Makes HR Reporting & Analytics Easier

If you’re not sure which areas of your HR functions to prioritize, talk with your staff. They’ll tell you exactly where the bottlenecks are and help you identify process problems that need a better solution.

Talk to your teams

• What processes do they find most frustrating?
• Which steps feel unnecessary to them?
• Where do they frequently encounter delays?

Ultimately, you’ll need your lean HR teams to align with your business’ goals. You can track specific improvements ongoing and make adjustments as your employees’ needs change.

Set goals and track your progress

• Reduce onboarding time from 10 days to five.
• Reduce payroll errors from 4% to 2%.
• Reduce hiring timelines by a specific percentage.

How Netchex supports your lean HR teams

Lean HR teams can become pivotal company strengths by leveraging comprehensive HR solutions like Netchex. Netchex offers an all-in-one, cloud-based platform that streamlines payroll, tax compliance, time and attendance tracking, and benefits administration, effectively reducing manual workloads and enhancing efficiency.

Read more about Switching to Netchex.

Netchex’s talent management tools, including recruiting, onboarding, learning, and performance management, empower lean HR teams to operate more strategically and contribute significantly to organizational success.