Spring has approached, which always seems like the time of year I like to get organized and get rid of unnecessary clutter. It is also the perfect time for your HR department to do some of their own spring cleaning for better order in the workplace. As an HR consultant serving as the HR leader for my clients, I typically have a lot going on in Q4 and Q1. We may be managing open enrollments, setting budgets, hiring new employees, finalizing payroll, and conducting performance reviews. Come spring, I like to take advantage to ensure my HR function is up to date with the latest compliance obligations as well as purge files to create less unnecessary clutter. If you are ready to reset for Q2 and the months ahead, here are 10 tasks I tackle each spring to get the HR Department better organized for the year.

The idea of employees having an unlimited amount of paid time off (PTO) is a more complicated proposition than it sounds. There’s already a great article on our site that discusses the pros and cons of unlimited PTO plans, and this particular article focuses specifically on the suitability of unlimited PTO plans for certain organizations and types of workers.

Over the course of my career and consulting with clients, it is not very often I come across professionals that actually like job descriptions. In fact the mere mention of job description development makes most Human Resource professionals cringe and find reason to change the subject. I, on the other hand, get excited during engagements where clients are seeking our expertise on job description development and documentation. Knowing that my services will have an immediate and positive impact on business operations by simply documenting the company’s jobs provides me with a great deal of satisfaction. While I do not expect everyone to share in my love for job documentation, I do have some good reasons to consider liking them a tad bit more than you currently do.

Organizational growth can be based on a number of different strategies, including growing capacity, expanding or changing customer base, or offering new or upgraded products or services. Further, strategies may be executed using different tools, including organic or acquisition based growth. Regardless of strategy, there are common lessons learned about what works, and what does not work, in successfully driving and supporting organizational growth.

As an HR consultant, almost every leader I have worked for immediately understands the critical importance of recruiting. Yet, throughout these interactions, I’ve been puzzled why a function like recruiting, which is so universally accepted as being essential is generally given such little focus and not nearly leveraged like other key business functions. It's been my experience that initiatives within the recruiting function are almost always reactive. General enhancements, surge support, and third-party recruitment assessments are typically conducted to address deficiencies as opposed to seizing opportunities. Having effective recruiting capabilities and processes can do three major things simultaneously: It can reduce the time to hire; It can generate more business revenue (depending upon the business, of course); and It can be the key business differentiator when it comes to finding qualified candidates in a hot market. Reducing the time to hire metric is important not only to get qualified talent in the door quicker but with an effective team and process in place, it can greatly reduce the amount of time your hiring managers and recruiters spend as well. To the same point, if these open reqs are positions that directly impact your revenue, you want to get them hired and onboarded in a timely manner. In today's market, employers must move fast and they must be intentional about creating a memorable experience to attract and hire key talent. And I think we can all agree that talent is so often what sets a company apart from its competitors.