Measuring Your Organization's HR Maturity Level

Often seen as an irritant, as a layer of bureaucracy, and as a means to "CYA" (cover your ---), HR has become the epitome of the necessary evil!

What a bad rap Human Resource Management has received over the years. If it is understood that it is through our people we are able to achieve our organizational objectives, then our human resources become a key asset for our businesses and should be handled as such.

This implies that we need to manage our human resources so that the organization's needs are met, through the empowering, enabling, and energizing of our people.

The empowering, enabling, and energizing of human resources involves a concerted effort of:

 sharing a vision

 creating a strategy to achieve it

 managing people's performance outcomes

 having policies, processes, and quality procedures, and systems in place

 ensuring the safety, and positively impacting the well-being, of employees

 imbedding equitable practices.

With the execution of the above, having legally compliant HR practices is not out of reach for any organization no matter in which part of the globe the operation is in, or the size of the organization.

Sometimes knowing where to start with Human Resources Management is difficult. Take a moment to complete the short HR Maturity Level 1 Score Questionnaire (geared towards small to mid-size companies) to obtain an overview of how well your HR management efforts are positioned.
 

Question		Response Options	Points	Score
	Do you have standardized HR procedures for 1. Recruitment? 2. Performance management? 3. Employee relations? 4. Compensation and benefits?	Select those that apply: If no to all If yes to 1 or 2 out of 4 If yes to 3 out of 4 If yes to 4 out of 4	0 1 2 3
	Do you have an Employee Handbook (manual or guide book) for every employee to keep and read, with all HR policies included?	Select one response: NO To some extent To a great extent Yes	0 1 2 3
	How integrated is your HR strategy with your organization's strategy?	Select one response: Not integrated Not very integrated Somewhat integrated Very integrated	0 1 2 3
	Do you have fully documented personnel files on every employee?	Select one response: NO A little Somewhat Yes	0 1 2 3
	Do you provide training and development opportunities for employees that are directed to meet the organization's, the job's and the individual employee's needs?	Select one response: NO Not much Somewhat Yes	0 1 2 3
	Is the right information available and visible to all employees?	Select one response: NO A little Somewhat Yes	0 1 2 3
	Do performance planning, development, and review discussions play a part in managing performance?	Select one response: Not at all To some extent To a great extent Yes, completely	0 1 2 3
	Does ensuring regulatory compliance influence the HR management actions in the organization?	Select one response: NO Not much Somewhat Yes	0 1 2 3
Total Score  (click "Add Numbers" to calculate)

Having a broad view of your HR maturity level is a start. A more detailed perspective may be necessary with an easily and quickly applied HR audit (see HR Solutions for the online resource). This allows you to establish the performance parameters for your human resource management and provides you with practical steps to take. 

Ultimately, you want to be managing all aspects of human resources to affect the achievement of organizational goals through performance excellence. You also need to ensure legal compliance through ethical practices. The aim is to make everyone's pathway easier and more pleasurable to achieve the organization's goals.

It may seem labor intensive to set the foundations for HR policies, practices, processes and procedures in any organization. However, the ease of operations, the sustainability of management practices, and the results achieved down the line will make your efforts more than worth your while.

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