The Essential Processes Your HR Team Needs Today (+60 Free Templates)

The 5+ million people who work in HR in the United States have their work cut out for them.

From hiring great-fitting talent and helping with their onboarding, to monitoring employee performance and even resolving any employee conflicts, there’s a lot of ground for HR teams to cover – and in such a short amount of time.

Imagine if there was a way for HR teams to time-save, cost-save, labor-save, and take control of their recurring tasks like never before…

Wouldn’t that be a dream?

At Process Street, we rather like turning dreams into reality. That’s why we’ve hand-picked our most effective, most useful HR processes from our extensive library and are presenting it in this ultimate HR process pack.

Think of it as your one-stop-shop for all the human resources processes you’ll ever need:

• Why use workflows for HR processes?
• HR processes #1: Pre-hiring processes
• HR processes #2: Hiring processes
• HR processes #3: Onboarding processes
• HR processes #4: Performance processes
• HR processes #5: Workplace processes
• HR processes #6: Diversity processes
• HR processes #7: Aptitude tests
• Create your own HR processes with Process Street today!

Now, let’s stop dilly-dallying and get to it!

Why use workflows for HR processes?

A simple workflow can have a massive impact, despite it not exactly being some new, groundbreaking, awe-inspiring invention.

As Atul Gawande, the author of The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, states:

“We don’t like checklists. They can be painstaking. They’re not much fun. But I don’t think the issue here is mere laziness. There’s something deeper, more visceral, going on when people walk away not only from saving lives but from making money. It somehow feels beneath us to use a checklist, an embarrassment. It runs counter to deeply held beliefs about how the truly great among us — those we aspire to be — handle situations of high stakes and complexity.” – Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

But these checklists (workflows) are powerful things.

In The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, Gawande takes us back to Michiganian hospitals in 2006.

Why?

Because a project called the Keystone Initiative introduced checklists to the doctors and nurses working in I.C.U.s in the state of Michigan.

After only three months of the hospital staff using checklists for each procedure, a dramatic change happened.

“Within the first three months of the project, the infection rate in Michigan’s I.C.U.s decreased by sixty-six percent. The typical I.C.U. — including the ones at Sinai-Grace Hospital — cut its quarterly infection rate to zero. Michigan’s infection rates fell so low that its average I.C.U. outperformed ninety percent of I.C.U.s nationwide. In the Keystone Initiative’s first eighteen months, the hospitals saved an estimated $175,000,000 in costs and more than 1,500 lives. The successes have been sustained for almost four years — all because of a stupid little checklist.” – Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

Although those impressive figures may have caught your eye, this may be the point where you’re thinking, “But I’m not a doctor – I’m an HR manager!”

Sure, you may not be helping people in the operating room, but what you do is extremely human-focused.

After all, you’re a part of your organization’s human resources department.

You’re making sure people are mentally, emotionally, and socially content while at work, and that the human-side of the business is running smoothly.

No matter if you’re hiring new employees, resolving conflict between current employees, or facilitating performance reviews, every single action your department takes impacts somebody else.

So when we said, “people who work in HR have their work cut out for them,” at the beginning of this post, we meant it. A lack of oversight and the risk of human error can severely impact your organization both financially and at a human-level. Your department needs their HR processes and procedures to be professional, efficient, and effective at all times.

If you’re thinking “Is this even possible?” – it is.

It’s 100% possible.

Introducing Process Street’s superpowered workflows.

With Process Street, you can document your integral, recurring processes via templates. You – or others – can then launch an unlimited amount of checklists from those workflows, enabling great work to be done consistently.

Specifically, Process Street’s workflows will help your HR department to:

• Document your processes and procedures quickly (in a matter of seconds!)
• Streamline your workflows so you complete tasks faster.
• Collaborate with teammates, employees from other departments, and guests easily.
• Capture important data, be it a job candidate’s name, email, link to their portfolio, or their CV file.
• Integrate with over 1,000 other apps with process automation thanks to Zapier.
• Ensure important steps in a process are never skipped or missed. Ever.

Now that you’ve learned why you and your team should be using workflows, it’s time to delve into the goldmine that is our collection of HR workflows.

HR processes #1: Pre-hiring processes

Ah, the hiring process.

It’s a staple for all businesses no matter if they’re big or small, working remotely or in an office, a medium-sized restaurant that regularly recruits chefs or the startup SaaS company.

It’s also one of the most critical processes to get right from the get-go. Specifically, this means writing job descriptions that are appropriate, truthful, and clear, so the right talent is attracted.

Interestingly, 72% of hiring managers believe they provide clear job descriptions when putting out an ad. But candidates say otherwise. Only 36% of candidates believe that job descriptions are clear.

Suffice to say, there’s a discrepancy. To solve this discrepancy and attract top-tier talent who’ll be a good fit, use Process Street’s extensive collection of stellar job description workflows.

From writing job descriptions for graphic designers to fellow HR managers, IT managers to software developers, these workflows will guide you every step of the way.

Job description workflows

• Diversity hiring process workflow
• Ray Dalio’s hiring process with questions workflow
• Click here to get Ari Meisel’s how to streamline the hiring process guide
• The ultimate guide to hiring an intern workflow
• HR interview process with questions workflow
• Customer service interview process with questions workflow
• Sales interview process with questions workflow
• Project manager interview process with questions workflow
• Web developer interview process with questions workflow
• Employee background checklist
• Human resources pre-employment screening workflow
• Job application form workflow

HR processes #3: Onboarding processes

Considering that a good onboarding experience makes a new hire 69% more likely to remain at the company for 3 years, you want to execute the onboarding process efficiently.

It helps employees understand the ins and outs of their new company, introduces them to their role and their new teammates, and provides essential training for the role itself.

Here’s how you can achieve this success:

Employee onboarding checklist

• New hire onboarding process workflow
• Call center employee onboarding checklist
• Retail employee onboarding checklist
• Restaurant employee onboarding checklist
• Developer onboarding checklist for startups
• Salesperson onboarding checklist for startups

HR processes #4: Performance processes

No matter if your company calls them performance appraisals, performance reviews, or employee reviews, facilitating performance appraisals is a staple for HR teams everywhere.

After all, performance appraisals and reviews provide insight into how an employee is benefiting the company they work for, while simultaneously informing the employee of what they’re excelling at, what they could do better in the future, and where they should focus their energies next.

Do bear in mind that, to coincide with contemporary performance appraisal best practices, the workflows below have been built for frequent use.

By “frequent use,” we mean not annually. This is for good reason. Officevibe’s research tells us that 96% of employees believe that regular feedback is a good thing.

82% appreciate constant feedback, no matter whether it’s negative or positive feedback. The feeling regarding consistent feedback is mutual, too.

Employee performance review

• Self-evaluation performance review workflow
• Performance review workflow
• Customer service performance review
• Performance management review workflow

HR processes #5: Workplace processes

When talking about the workplace we’re referring to a physical location – the office.

The office is where teams do great work day in, day out, but it’s also where the average person spends 1/3 of their life – that’s over 90,000 hours in total.

Considering that humans are complicated creatures, it’s safe to assume, at some point during those 90,000 hours, our emotions will get the better of us.

After all, work can be stressful, trying, and taxing at times. That’s why one of HR’s main responsibilities is to resolve any conflicts, disagreements, feuds, and complaints that crop up on a human-level. But as all HR team members know, this is easier said than done.

We understand those pain-points.

That’s why we created the following 8 workflows – to help HR teams of all sizes reduce friction, resolve problems, and establish harmony efficiently and effectively. If issues can’t be worked out, there’s an employee discipline checklist and an employee termination checklist, ensuring you and your team go about handling these situations appropriately.

Additionally, you’ll also find workflows that’ll keep your office building’s well-being in check, too! Here’s to having a happy, healthy workplace. In all senses of the word.

Workplace process workflows

• Office safety inspection checklist
• Office risk assessment checklist
• Office conflict resolution checklist
• Employee relations checklist
• Employee complaint procedure workflow
• Employee discipline checklist
• Employee termination checklist
• Records disposal checklist

HR processes #6: Diversity processes

Blue-sky thinking. Disruption. Touch base. These are all business buzzwords. What isn’t a buzzword, however, is diversity.

Diversity has been at the forefront of many HR teams’ efforts, from establishing ERGs to making sure there’s fair representation across the board.

But just because HR teams are aware of diversity, diversity-related initiatives, and are trying to make changes, that doesn’t mean they’re going about it successfully.

Many HR teams find D&I (diversity and inclusion) a rather tricky thing to facilitate. It doesn’t need to be.

That’s why we’ve created 5 solid D&I workflows for your HR team to make immediate use of – 2 of which can be found in the hiring processes section and the workplace processes section respectively, and 3 more you’ll find below.

These workflows include a diversity-minded hiring process, a guide to start eliminating your unconscious biases, a diversity training workflow, a diversity questions survey so you can collect integral data regarding how diverse your team is, on top of other super-useful, super-effective workflows.

Plus, by managing diversity properly and facilitating real change, your organization can gain advantages such as:

• More creativity;
• Increased innovation;
• High rates of productivity;
• Boosted financial performance.

Diversity process workflows

• Code of conduct policy adherence process
• Unconscious bias training guide
• Diversity training process
• Diversity management monthly audit workflow
• Diversity initiatives quarterly improvement process

HR processes #7: Aptitude tests

Talent.

The world is chock full of it.

But no matter if your team is based in a physical office or spread out as part of a virtual team, you want to ensure the talent you choose is a good fit when hiring a new candidate .

It’s often hard — sometimes extremely so — to whittle down the longlist to a shortlist, a shortlist to the final choice.This is where aptitude tests come into play.

Aptitude, personality, and psychometric tests help the HR team (and departmental managers) gain insight into a potential employee’s interests, ideas, feelings, values, behavior, and personality.

Considering the new employee needs to mesh well with the team’s pre-existing personalities, these tests are pretty darn useful for gaining an inkling into the person in question.

This is why 80% of Fortune 500 companies utilize aptitude tests as part of the hiring process — specifically, as a screening mechanism.

Aptitude test workflows

• IQ test (structure workflow)
• DISC assessment (structure workflow)
• Leadership tools test (structure workflow)
• Holland codes test (structure workflow)
• Big five personality test (structure workflow)

Create your own HR processes with Process Street today!

There you have it. More than 60 of Process Street’s HR-related processes to truly bolster your HR team.

We’re sure you’ve managed to uncover several ready-made workflows that’ll complement your current processes and practices incredibly well. But we also understand that, sometimes, you want to make your own processes from scratch.

Once you’re ready to dive in, log into your account (or sign up here if you haven’t already!) and get creating amazing workflows which your HR teammates, cross-departmental colleagues, and guests can launch workflows from.

What HR process workflow do you believe to be the most useful? Which would you use more regularly? Let us know in the comments.

The post The Essential Processes Your HR Team Needs Today (+60 Free Templates) first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.