All around HR – How to analyze your HR structures all around

May 16, 2023

Companies with strategic HR work are verifiably more successful than those without. What stands behind the term HR analysis and what it is all about will be discussed in this post.

An HR strategy is important for companies of all sizes, as it helps to achieve the company’s goals and business targets as well as to ensure its long-term success. It also serves as a guide, ensures competitiveness, reduces personnel costs and much more.

What is an HR analysis?

An HR analysis is the process of collecting, organizing and analyzing data from the HR department and its owned processes and stakeholders. Only when the current state of the company is clear, it can be evaluated and potential actions in the strategy change can be made.

Yet, the urgency of HR analytics for HR strategy and related business success is often underestimated.

When should HR analysis be used?

There are many circumstances in which companies should consider an HR analysis to assess the current situation. This can be, for example, situations like the following:

  • In phases of major company growth and the preparation and prioritization of next  steps and resources
  • When existing HR processes are not aligned with each other
  • In phases with high fluctuation, in which existing knowledge could get lost
  • In order to align an existing HR strategy with the company’s objectives
  • In any situation where it should be evaluated what is going well and what needs to be optimized

How does an HR analysis work?

An HR analysis can be divided into different steps, which are introduced in the following.

Evaluation of the current situation

1. Preparation of the individual HR areas

These vary from company to company and may look like this:

  1. HR Strategy & Planning
  2. Employer Branding
  3. Recruiting
  4. Onboarding
  5. Offboarding
  6. Employee retention & corporate culture
  7. Training & Development
  8. Leadership
  9. internal Communication
  10. HR Administration.

2. Analysis of in-depth structures of HR departments

  • Internal questionnaires provide initial information on the individual areas.
  • Expert interviews are ideal for an explorative generation of knowledge.
  • In the form of open questions, employees can include all relevant aspects in answers and thus contribute to a comprehensive development of the processes to date.

3. Overview of the state of the HR areas

  • Responses should be bundled and structured so that an overview of the state of HR processes is created.
  • An honest analysis is only possible if there is a transparent organizational culture with open feedback.
  • It can be worthwhile to choose experienced confidants to conduct the interviews.

4. Detection of deviations from the target state

  • Alignment of the collected results with the existing HR strategy and the current HR goals.
  • Checking the extent to which the current state corresponds to the target state and what deviations have arisen.
  • Evaluation of the previous target state and adjustment n lessons learned.

5. Development of action plan to achieve the target state

From the comparison between the actual and target state, it is now clear where potential is already being used successfully, where it is only being used to a limited extent, and where it is being used inadequately. The task now is to fill the gaps that have arisen with concrete recommendations for action.

Which measures lead to the desired goal? Which resources are already available to implement the measures and which are still missing?  How can we also achieve a long-term nature of the measures?

In this step, ideas are generated, research is conducted, further departments are consulted, and coordination with leadership is included. In most cases, these are deep decisions that often affect not only HR, but also company strategy. It is also important not to close one’s eyes to the results. A good analysis usually emphasizes things that are already going well, and uncovers often things that can still be improved and need to be revised. The trick is to record these honestly and transparently and invest in change again.

In the end, it is important to plan well and formulate realistic sub-goals. It is also essential to record the action plans in a clear and logically thought-out schedule. Not every idea can be implemented immediately. It is therefore important to prioritize and implement the strategy step by step. Ideally, a target date is also defined by which the steps should be implemented. Then, at the latest, another HR analysis should be conducted to compare the actual and target status and to measure progress. After all, HR is dynamic and must be continuously adapted and improved.

Conclusion

HR analyses are an indispensable tool for structuring, evaluating and continuously improving HR processes and setups. They are possible in any size of company and can be customized. HR analyses lead to a well-founded HR strategy and ensure long-term orientation in the team, competitive advantages on the market and a basis for the company’s business success. With the right planning and a trusting environment, they provide information about previous bottlenecks in the HR area and help to work through these with targeted recommendations for action. A future- and feedback-oriented company can no longer do without this form of analysis in the sense of “all around HR”.

Do you also want to have your HR processes analyzed in detail? Maybe you have already thought about an effective HR strategy and would like to compare it with a professional opinion? Feel free to contact us for a non-obligation consultation to get the best possible support for a professional HR analysis!

The path to modern HR support

Do you want to get a non-binding offer, a first free consultation or do you have any questions about our offers?