How To Develop an HR Strategic Plan [Free Templates]
Operational plans are essential for executing HR strategy. Recent research has found that successful organizations go beyond outlining activities, timelines, and responsibilities. They create an HR strategic plan that is a true roadmap to success.
An HR strategic plan translates your HR strategy into an operational plan with key milestones and focus areas. For the entire organization to engage with the HR strategy, they must understand how it’s being played out. An HR strategic plan turns your HR strategy from an abstract concept into a concrete road map for HR and organizational success.
This article discusses what an HR strategic plan is, why you need one, and how to create one.
Contents
What is an HR strategic plan?
Why do you need an HR strategic plan?
What should be in an HR strategic plan?
Developing an HR strategic plan: 7 steps
HR strategic plan examples
HR strategic plan templates
What is an HR strategic plan?
An HR strategic plan converts an HR strategy into a single document focused on execution. This document is a summary of the strategy so all stakeholders can understand it and how they contribute towards it.
This plan outlines specific HR goals, key HR initiatives, and priorities, aligning them with the overall business objectives. It serves as a guide for HR activities, ensuring they contribute effectively to the company’s growth and adapt to changing business environments.
HR leaders will typically collaborate with organizational leadership to formulate this plan, which describes how the HR strategy will affect operations and processes. It outlines the resources and investment needed, the actions that will be taken to carry out the strategy, and how progress will be measured.
Why do you need an HR strategic plan?
An HR strategic plan keeps everyone–leadership and the HR team–centered on the HR strategy. It takes the strategy from an idea to something tangible that is implemented throughout day-to-day activities. It creates clear accountability for execution, and by monitoring progress, it can be adapted to ensure that the overall objectives of the HR strategy are successfully achieved.
An HR strategic plan can benefit an organization in the following ways:
- HR’s focus stays on the predetermined priorities
- Company leadership is already included and on board
- Internal stakeholders have a clear picture of what HR is working on and what they can expect
- Goal setting and tracking are in place
- Resources are allocated appropriately because capacity has been determined
- HR teams understand where they’re headed and can become more engaged in their work
- Creating accountability for the HR strategy and managing expectations upfront.
Without a strategic plan and roadmap, the HR Strategy remains just an aspiration, rather than a concrete path we’re actively pursuing.
What should be in an HR strategic plan?
An HR strategic plan should cover the HR goals and how they align with the organization’s business objectives. It should also be a road map for implementing HR initiatives that support these goals. The HR strategy canvas is a useful tool that can be used to outline the most important aspects of the HR strategy that will inform the strategic plan.
Here is an overview of the key components of an effective HR strategic plan:
- HR ambition and mandate: It’s important to start by stating the plan’s direction. This vision statement declares HR’s purpose and destination, and the mission illustrates how it will get there.
- Business priorities, values, and goals: Since an HR strategic plan must be linked to the organization’s aspirations, you should include the wording of official organizational values and goals.
- HR success metrics, objectives, and key results (OKRs): List the plan’s objectives and the metrics for measuring progress. HR OKRs will help quantify the success of the HR strategic plan.
- Summary of key strategic HR initiatives: Detail the main initiatives for each area of HR that will facilitate achieving the HR strategy’s goals. These are often focused on recruitment, compensation and benefits, organizational culture, employee experience, and employee performance management and development.
- HR investments to be made in the operating model and skills required to deliver the strategy: Outline how the HR department is organized and delivers its services, such as business partner, functional, or agile HR operating model. State which skills and technical expertise HR professionals need to uphold this type of operating model.
- Key resources: Identify the budgetary, technology, and human capital resources needed to implement the HR initiatives. Summarize how they will be allocated to avoid cost overages and employees being overextended.
- People risks to manage and mitigate: Name the potential barriers to executing the HR strategic plan and how your organization can mitigate the risks. For example, a tight labor market may require introducing innovative talent attraction and recruiting methods.
- Strategic focus areas and priorities: State the activities in the priority areas that HR will focus on while executing its agenda. Explain why the activities will improve HR service and support business objectives. For instance, how new succession planning techniques will ensure leadership roles are well-staffed.
- Stakeholders: Identify the most important stakeholders that have to be considered in the strategic plan. Also, consider how the strategy should be translated and communicated to them based on their needs.
Developing an HR strategic plan: 7 steps
The HR strategic plan should be based on your HR strategy. It must reflect the organization’s broader objectives and address specific workforce needs and challenges.
Here are seven steps you can follow to develop an HR strategic plan:
1. Evaluate the quality and relevance of your HR strategy
“The key to an effective HR strategic plan is the quality of the HR strategy it is built on,” says HR Subject Matter Expert Dr. Marna van der Merwe. That’s why, before you start your strategic HR plan, you need to evaluate the quality and relevance of your HR strategy. This step ensures that your strategy is already aligned with the broader business context and objectives.
The strategic plan will then translate this strategy into a clear roadmap for action, with defined milestones and measurement tools in place to track progress. In other words, the plan is how you turn your strategy into tangible action, align stakeholders, and monitor results.
To help with this evaluation, you can use our HR Strategy Audit Checklist. This checklist provides a structured approach to assess the strengths and gaps in your current HR strategy. You can pinpoint specific adjustments needed to refine your strategy and set a strong foundation for your strategic HR plan.
2. Assess current HR capabilities
Once you’ve created your HR strategy, you must assess the current state of the HR department and determine whether it is equipped to deliver on it.
“Many HR departments miss this crucial step, says Dr. Dieter Veldsman, AIHR’s Chief HR Scientist. “They forget to evaluate whether they have the capabilities in the form of skills, resources, technologies, and processes to successfully execute on strategic intent.” That can result in failed initiatives, wasted resources, and missed opportunities to align HR efforts with the overall business strategy.
To prevent these issues, start by evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities you have throughout HR. Also, identify any external factors you should be prepared for. You can conduct a SWOT analysis to walk you through this process.
You can also assess the readiness of your HR department by performing an HR audit. This thorough review of all the HR policies and processes will shed light on how well they’re functioning and reveal which components need to be updated or modified to be more effective for upcoming business goals.
3. Outline the priorities and objectives of your HR strategy
Summarize the priorities of your HR strategy and list the key objectives you’ve established.
Decide which specific initiatives or programs you will implement to fulfill each HR objective. Then, write a brief description of these that you can display in the finalized HR strategic plan.
For example:
Objective: Address skills gaps and build sufficient staffing levels to support projected business growth.
- Partner with local technical schools to recruit graduates with the required technical skills
- Create online training opportunities to upskill employees for new roles
- Evaluate and adapt compensation and benefits programs to be more competitive.
4. Create specific action plans based on your strategic plan
With the HR strategic plan document as a base, you can map out the specific action plans. Break down each objective into high-level, achievable tasks for accomplishing them. Then, assign the tasks to the appropriate teams and set a schedule of timelines, milestones, and deadlines for the activities.
Having this structure in place for HR leaders and teams to follow will keep them motivated and focused on the strategic HR plan. The action plans are also a point of reference for accountability, avoiding delays, and measuring progress.
5. Understand the audience groups for the strategic plan
Various stakeholders have an interest in the HR strategy and strategic HR plan. They either provide important inputs into the strategic plan (for example, aligning business priorities) or are key to enabling execution. You should consult them and secure their buy-in. Outline and consider these audience groups when putting the strategic plan together and communicating it. Potential groups include:
- Business stakeholders
- Executive team
- HR leadership team
- Broader HR team
- Employees
Each of these audience groups has to be understood based on their needs, contribution, and impact on the success of the strategic plan execution.
6. Develop a communication plan
You’ll want to keep all levels of the organization informed and engaged with the HR strategy so it gains traction and there is clarity around what to expect from HR. Start at the top with an HR strategic plan presentation to the leadership team and walk them through how the plan ties to the organization’s overall business strategy.
Find various ways to share the core message of your HR strategic plan with employees so they understand its purpose and the benefits of the progress being made.
A regular cadence of tapping into communication channels such as meetings, emails, newsletters, and posts on internal social media will help you provide the information and resources employees need to be in touch and grasp how the HR strategy and plan will impact them.
HR teams should have widespread exposure to how the plan is being activated and a clear picture of how their day-to-day activities are crucial to implementing the HR strategy.
Effective communication is especially important when the plan prompts shifts in policies or practices that affect employees. Announce the changes well in advance and explain what will improve and how they will benefit the company and teams. Be sure to include what type of support you will offer during transitions.
Communicating the HR strategy is about more than just a once-off presentation. Think about how the audience will engage with the content and establish ways to reinforce strategic focus areas regularly, report on progress, and give real-time updates and access to it via existing platforms such as the intranet.
What is the core message of your strategy, and how can you simplify it to clearly convey what you aim to achieve? People are often motivated by compelling stories, so your strategy should be framed as a story that inspires and drives action.
7. Make your HR strategic plan document easy to read and understand
There’s no point in preparing an HR strategic plan if it’s not accessible and engaging. The key to getting people to read and absorb the plan is to present the information clearly and concisely.
This starts with an appealing layout that catches the reader’s eye. Even though it will cover plenty of information, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. “Having a strategy on a page helps to condense the most important aspects of your HR strategy and makes it easy to communicate in a simple and concise manner,” notes Marna van der Merwe.
You can use this template to create your own HR strategic plan document:
Use simple, concise language that speaks to your audience. Avoid academic-sounding text and HR jargon that might alienate those outside of HR.
It’s fine to use company-specific words, phrases, or acronyms if they are common enough that everyone will be familiar with them. If necessary, you can also provide a brief, parenthetical explanation for a particular term.
Be sure to display the projections, metrics, and statistics in a digestible format. Including visual elements, such as charts, graphs, and infographics, is eye-catching and the most effective way to translate numbers.
HR strategic plan examples
Let’s look at some highlights from two real-life HR strategic plan examples:
Example 1: Pennsylvania State University
The HR department of Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) structured its HR strategic plan around five overall goals relating to HR organizational effectiveness, recruitment, DIB, and engaging, developing, rewarding, and retaining employees.
The plan describes the steps for achieving the goals and fulfilling the HR mission of “creating innovative solutions to attract, develop, engage, and retain a diverse workforce.”
Penn State’s document also contains a “Planning Process” section that explains who was involved in creating the plan and the six phases of how it was carried out.
Example 2: The County of San Mateo
The County of San Mateo, California’s comprehensive document explains its five-year HR strategic plan by outlining three areas it will focus on to “maximize individual potential, increase organizational capacity, and position the County as an employer of choice.”
The priorities of each focus area (talent management, employee experience, and HR excellence) are also described.
The document format contains both narrative text and tables to convey the plan’s elements. It is also enhanced by graphics and photos for visual appeal and personalization.
HR strategic plan templates
To support you in building a comprehensive and effective HR strategy, we’ve created a collection of practical templates featured throughout this guide. Our HR Strategy Template Collection with HR Strategy Canvas and the HR Strategy on a Page and the HR Strategy Audit Checklist are designed to simplify the planning process and set you up for success. You can download the full template collection and start using them right away to craft a clear, actionable HR strategy.
Key takeaway
Creating an HR strategic plan helps you bring your HR strategy to life and is a necessary component for demonstrating HR’s relevance and contribution in today’s business environment.
Once the planning process is finished, the strategy must be accessible to the entire organization. By developing a strategic HR plan document, you can communicate what HR is doing, why and how it’s being done, and make it clear that everything ties into helping the organization progress toward its goals.
Learn more
Related articles
Are you ready for the future of HR?
Learn modern and relevant HR skills, online
