How Useful are Company Values for HR?
Company values are the core set of beliefs that an organisation is built on. They define the company culture, the organisation’s approach to employee experience and the experience of their customers.
However, it is one thing claiming these beliefs and another thing for HR to see the value in them and practise them.
To demonstrate how organisational values can be useful to human resource departments, we will look at four companies that practise common company values and how HR utilise them to redesign organisational processes.
What are Company Values?
Company values are the set of beliefs and principles that define your organisation’s mission and company culture. These values are the core of the business, and are the foundation that support all business decisions.
Company core values guide employees to work towards a common goal and mission statement, which often centre around employee engagement and customer relationships.
Why are Company Values Important?
A company’s core values are what bind team members together in the workplace. Companies that develop a strong set of core values demonstrate a sense of integrity, and that they care about their employees and value their customers.
These values are what makes your company culture and brand what it is and provide a unifying set of beliefs for your workforce.
You may also be interested in: 5 ways company culture remotely.
How Useful are Organisational Values for HR?
Company values allow human resources to better manage their HR processes. By outlining clear core values in an organisation, HR can build their strategies to execute a brand vision. HR processes such as recruitment, onboarding and performance management all start with the core values of your company.
HR’s role is to ensure that a company’s principles run through the organisation from end-to-end. It is important that employees who have just started and employees who have been with you for many years align with these core values all the same.
Using Organisational Values During Onboarding
Onboarding is one of the most important HR processes. For HR, it is all about instilling core values right from the start. The onboarding process is essential to help new employees hit the ground running. It is an opportunity for HR leaders to inspire new employees with purpose through organisational values as they introduce them to the work environment.
Using Adidas’ core values as an example, we will show how core values can be used in onboarding.
Adidas: integrity & diversity.
We will be focusing on Adidas’ key core value: diversity. To instil the right mindset in employees from the very start of the employee lifecycle, Adidas ensures that employees are aware that they are joining a purpose-driven company that values diversity.
Focusing on a core value like diversity in your onboarding process helps HR to make the new staff member feel valued, and also demonstrates their dedication to develop an inclusive work culture. HR can utilise company values to ensure that your new employee’s personal values align with that of your organisation.
With XCD onboarding software, you can communicate your values to your new employees with ease and employees can track their onboarding learning any time, anywhere.
You may be interested in our blog: tips for effective employee onboarding.
Using core values to Improve Employee Engagement
Keeping employees motivated and productive is useful for HR as it ensures that human capital value is maximised. HR can utilise company core values to improve employee engagement and ensure consistent productivity. PANDORA’s company values are a great example.
PANDORA: Pride, performance
Employee engagement is, at its core, about the employee’s emotional connection to their work. The more they care, the more engaged and motivated they will be.
Human resource departments can take inspiration from Pandora’s ‘pride’ and ‘passion’ company values. Their company values are designed to improve employee engagement, as they want employees to find purpose in their work, and take pride in what they do on a day-to-day basis.
A company is often defined by its integrity when its workplace is filled with team members who are passionate about their work. The more passionate and proud an employee is, the more likely they are to strive for innovation and go the extra mile.
XCD’s HR software can help to monitor employee engagement using a range of customisable reports to track important biometrics and performance.
Core company values and performance management
Performance management is an ongoing process that focuses on maximising each employee’s creativity and potential. You can use a core value such as this to demonstrate to your employees that you are committed to defining a culture that prioritises innovation and growth.
Google: “Great just isn’t good enough”
Google uses its company values to motivate and drive its employees. They strive to set ‘goals they can’t reach yet’ which means that their employees are always being pushed to do better than yesterday.
This company value can also be used by HR to inspire a more collaborative workplace, and highlight how your company views team members interacting and sharing ideas. HR systems can support instilling these company values, allowing for employees to connect with each other at any time, anywhere using cloud based HR software.
A company value such as this also demonstrates your company’s commitment to growth and transparency, with a clear focus on helping your employees improve.
You might also enjoy our blog on how to make performance management perform.
Training and development as a core company value
As we know, training and development is one of the most key functions of the human resource department for any company. Looking at one of H&M’s core values, we can see how they create a sense of development throughout their organisation.
H&M: Constant Improvement, we are one team
A value that revolves around the idea of development and learning helps HR to create a culture that encourages growth, both individually and as a company. You can use a company value such as this to help instil a culture of learning, helping employees to hone their skills and knowledge of the job.
Employees want to grow with a company, being content often doesn’t inspire learning. With a company value such as this, it allows HR to develop strategies to implement training and develop programs.
How HR software can support your organisation’s core values
A company’s culture and business strategies are built upon the principles and core values that define their company. HR software supports the strategies and processes that human resources develop, and different HR solutions can lend themselves to different core values.
HR systems (whether it’s a HRIS or HRMS) give managers access to tools to utilise employee data, enabling managers to accurately track the performances of their employees among other biometrics. Whether you want to track performance, learning and development or even timeliness as an indicator of your employee’s engagement with company values, HR software makes this process simple.
XCD’s intuitive HR software provides HR managers with access to in-depth data reporting and analytics enables HR to understand and utilise employee data to effectively develop their strategies and company-wide training to support company values.
XCD’s HR software also encourages collaboration from employees and HR, as its self-service, cloud based software enables all parties to access company information at all times. Using our mobile app, employees are encouraged to take their progress into their own hands, as they are able to view training and development programs available to them anywhere, any time.
Establish and utilise your company values
Establishing company core values are essential for HR managers. They are the building blocks for all HR processes, and provide the purpose and values for employees. Engraining a sense of trust and transparency throughout your company culture starts with your values. HR software can bolster your HR departments ability to instil and encourage company values in each of your employees.
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