A new research snapshot from McLean & Company, one of the world’s leading HR research and advisory firms, spotlights that HR will play a critical and strategic role in the ever-changing future of work. The firm’s research notes that a well-aligned HR strategy improves overall performance and the ability to adapt to future challenges.
As the pace and volume of change in today’s business environment continues to accelerate, HR is increasingly tasked with enabling and driving organizational success as a strategic partner. Findings from McLean & Company‘s HR Trends Report 2025 Preview indicate that economic uncertainty puts immense pressure on the workforce, with legislative and political shifts adding complexities to supporting employee wellbeing and, by extension, overall organizational performance. Since research indicates that HR’s effectiveness drives organizational performance, the global HR research and advisory firm advises that it is increasingly critical to have a well-aligned HR strategy in place to enhance departmental performance and adaptability to future changes, such as sociopolitical, economic, technological, and environmental shifts. To support HR leaders in developing an effective HR strategy for 2025 and beyond, McLean & Company has released its new Create an HR Strategy research snapshot, an easily consumable summary of the firm’s full HR strategy resource.
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“An impactful HR strategy is fundamentally aligned with the broader organizational strategy,” says Amani Gharib, PhD and director of HR Research & Advisory Services at McLean & Company. “In strategic HR organizations, priorities are driven not just by HR’s own agenda, but by the objectives of the entire organization. This alignment ensures that HR initiatives support and enhance the broader organizational strategy, enabling HR to contribute meaningfully and adapt to evolving business needs in an unpredictable and ever-evolving future.”
Research from McLean & Company has found that when HR’s priorities are well-aligned with the broader organizational strategy, HR is 2.8 times more likely to be highly effective at providing a great employee experience, and 3.3 times more likely to be highly effective at shaping a strong organizational culture. Additionally, when HR teams are highly effective, their organizations are 2.2 times more likely to be high performing in workforce productivity and innovation and 2.0 times more likely to be high performing at the ability to change.
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McLean & Company has created a four-step process that HR leaders can use to create an HR strategy, included in the snapshot and outlined below.
- Step 1: Assess the current state by conducting a scan of the external environment and an internal assessment of HR practices and their alignment with the organization.
- Step 2: Establish strategic pillars and HR outcomes by articulating and defining what HR will work to accomplish.
- Step 3: Identify HR initiatives through evaluating current initiatives and identifying gaps, then assessing HR’s capability to implement initiatives effectively.
- Step 4: Create an action plan, then communicate the strategy to key players.
Additional McLean & Company tools to support HR leaders implementing the firm’s four-step process to create an HR strategy include:
- HR Management & Governance Diagnostic
- HR Organizational Alignment Diagnostic
- HR Strategy Current-State Assessment Working Document
- HR Strategy Presentation Template
- HR Strategy Summary Templates
- HR Strategy Workbook
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Source – PR Newswire
