In a fast-paced corporate world where the shareholder of an organization is king, it is easy to forget that it is the values, decisions and behaviour of its people that ultimately dictate how a business performs.
Studies show that a high-performing human resources (HR) department, with effective people management and recruitment, is linked to greater economic performance of the organization and plays a key role in instilling company values throughout the workforce.
ISO’s new range of International Standards for human resources aims to help HR departments improve their performance and, ultimately, improve the performance of the organization in which they work.
ISO 30408, Human resource management – Guidelines on human governance, provides the guidelines to structure an effective human governance system that is able to respond more effectively to organizational and operational needs but also foster increased collaboration across all stakeholders, anticipate and manage human resource risks and develop a company culture that is aligned with its values.
ISO 30405, Human resource management – Guidelines on recruitment, provides guidance on effective recruitment processes and procedures, and can be used by anyone involved in recruiting staff, whether they be HR professionals or not.
ISO 30409, Human resource management – Workforce planning, helps organizations respond more effectively to their current and projected requirements for staff, while ISO 30400, Human resource management – Vocabulary, provides a common understanding of the fundamental terms used in human resource management standards.
The standards were developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 260, Human resource management, whose secretariat is held by ANSI, ISO’s member for the USA. Committee Chair James Lewis said improving HR performance is not just about staffing, but about aligning the values of an organization throughout and taking all stakeholders into account.
“Organizations that put their people at the centre of their decisions tend to perform better as there is a clear company culture and staff are more content.
“The HR function has enormous potential to support the strategic goals of a company by developing talent, aligning organizational values and, ultimately, shaping culture and behaviour.
“These standards can help anyone involved in an HR function – whatever their background and company size – establish, maintain and continually improve effective recruitment and governance processes.”
The ISO 30400 human resource management series of standards can be purchased from your local ISO member or through the ISO Store.