Our HR Process
Every engagement we take on starts with an evaluation of the overall business goals. We start here because everything we do is in support of those goals. There is absolutely no point in developing HR processes, policies, or activities in a vacuum.
Our proprietary methodology for managing change focuses on blending sales behaviors with highly intentional communication planning to drive changes in business processes, organizations, and individuals. We understand the change curve, but we don’t try to manage individuals through the stages of grief. We focus on creating an environment where people understand what’s happening and why and have the opportunity to bring the best of themselves to the job, every day. We give them ownership over their role in the change and hold them accountable for the results. We do all this while also staying uniquely attuned to the company culture you’ve worked to build.
HR Support
For our small and mid-sized clients with ongoing HR support needs, we start with a goal setting meeting where our leadership team meets with the owners to discuss where they would like to be in 12-18 months. We discuss the impact that people have on those goals and what changes we can make over the year to support the overall business changes. We also hold quarterly engagement meetings to review the goals for the organization and identify key processes to develop and implement over a 12-week period. Typically, we will step through the sequential HR processes in the employee life-cycle, starting with recruiting and onboarding and working our way through employee engagement, development, compensation, performance, and exit. For some companies, we may pick up somewhere in the middle depending on business priorities and overall financial and operational goals.
How Red Clover Supports Your Business
We review the P&L and look specifically at people-related or people driven line items. What happened over the last quarter and what do year over year comparisons look like. Specifically, we look at headcount and fully loaded payroll costs, key expenses that can be influenced through behavior change, and revenue numbers as they pertain to sales employees.
Next, we focus on goals for the upcoming quarter with a view on how they impact the workforce plan and people-related processes and policies. Will recruiting be a key focus? Has something changed in the marketplace for talent? Maybe we need to review performance development or compensation processes this quarter to support a new product line for the business. Or, maybe there’s been a significant change in legislation that means we need to change a number of company policies to ensure we are compliant.
Once we understand our goals for the quarter, we prepare a workplan for the next 12 weeks with key objectives and deliverables. This includes communication planning for employees. We monitor progress internally and communicate outcomes at the next quarterly meeting.
Execution
Once the plan is developed, we work with you on an ongoing part-time basis. Our work is scheduled weekly, rotating between onsite and remote, to drive change. We assign one lead consultant to work with you and your employees, with a backup to cover planned and unplanned absences.
Interim engagements
For larger engagements, instead of an annual goal setting meeting, we start with a Week Zero evaluation and report. Essentially, this is a 1 or 2 day site visit to your location with structured interviews and data gathering. We analyze the current state of your organization, identify opportunities and present the results to you in a simple, easy to understand report that highlights what’s working and what’s not. You have the option to take the report and implement the changes on your own or engage with us for implementation. If we move forward and work with you to design and implement the changes through an interim engagement, then we credit the fees for the evaluation.
Execution
Work plans for Interim engagements are fully customized to your needs and will range from anywhere from 3 days of one consultant onsite per week, up to 3 consultants working a total of 8 or 9 days per week if your organization is larger or the project scope is complex. Interim engagements range from 3-6 months in duration, wrapping up with the hiring and onboarding of the permanent resources to manage your HR function on an ongoing basis.
Rapid Response
Sometimes we are engaged to work with an organization to resolve an emergent issue or mitigate risk and they need effective strategic HR support. Here again, we will start the working relationship with a conversation with you to understand goals, however, we focus first on how to resolve the immediate crisis. Once we’ve taken care of the issue, we will pick up the conversation and shift you to our onboarding process, either through an interim engagement or fractional HR support model.