Importance of being Proactive when Considering your Employees

As an organisation grows and it begins hiring people, sometimes there are things that happen that you can't always plan for, but there are many things that you can do to limit the potential headaches further down the road that may present themselves.

 From a HR and people perspective, many areas involving our teams can often be left down the priority list but sometimes if not prioritised or left unchecked it can be detrimental both financially and potentially reputationally.

 Naturally, organisations have business and liability insurance, but here are other proactive steps that employers can take to minimise disruption.

 Being proactive might mean getting all the systems and policies in place, assessing and meeting training needs or it might be just asking for HR advice and support that supports your organisation strategy and culture now and for the future.

Much of the proactive aspects of HR link back to culture and the systems that are put in place, responding reactively can impact your ability resolve the underlying issues.

 Whether a member of staff has serious complaint and is now raising a grievance but there is no clear process or knowledge on who or how best to deal with it and you need some help. Perhaps it's something that’s been on a horizon for a while but no-one knew how to approach or resolve the issue and now its snowballed and you are now reacting to the situation, likely spending considerable time trying to resolve. Or it might be that there’s a member of staff that has been challenging for a considerable amount of time, the manager is at the end of their tether with it and its now impacting the team morale and productivity is much lower than it’s been before.

Taking a proactive approach means that headaches and issues might be prevented, or they can likely be identified sooner and dealt with, thus are less likely to drag on to consume more of your time.

 The emphasis on taking a more proactive approach is also reflected in the Employment Legislation that became effective in October 2024. This update is also steering businesses towards taking a more proactive approach towards sexual harassment. The legislation has put greater emphasis and responsibility on employers to take a proactive step in to prevent this happening in the workplaces.

 The need for risk assessments now goes further than physical health and safety risks, but now extends to the actions and wellbeing of those within your team. Being mindful to develop this proactive stance and structure will serve organisations well into the future, minimising risks now, but also supporting employees to grow your organisations longer term.