In 2026, it seems as though everyone is busy. Our calendars are full, our inboxes are  overflowing and we’re working across multiple projects, each carrying its own deadlines,  meetings and urgent requests. 

Yet despite all this activity, in many organisations a lot of important work keeps falling  behind. 

Leaders often interpret this as a capacity problem: there’s simply too much work and not  enough time to complete it. The only answers are to hire more people or ask the current  people to work even harder. 

Sometimes that diagnosis is correct, but sometimes it’s not – or at least not fully. 

That’s because the more common problem isn’t that an organisation has too much  work, it’s that it has too much work happening at once. And when this happens,  employees get overloaded, becoming less productive, less efficient and more likely to  make errors. 

If you want to know whether that’s happening in your organisation and what you can do  to fix it, read on. 

 

How overload creates even more overload 

Imagine a team responsible for six important projects and, rather than deciding which  projects should take priority, its leaders ask the team to progress all six at the same  time.

Employees then move constantly between them. They leave one task unfinished to  attend a meeting about another. Then a supposedly urgent request arrives, so they  abandon the work they’ve just resumed and move to another project still.  

This leads to a self-reinforcing and inefficient cycle, in which: 

MIT Sloan researchers Nelson Repenning and Donald Kieffer compare the effect to  traffic on a busy highway. Adding more cars initially allows more people to reach their  destinations. But once the road approaches capacity, each additional car makes every  journey slower. Eventually, the road becomes so congested that almost nobody moves. 

The same principle applies to knowledge work. Giving every employee a full workload  may appear efficient but, when the system becomes overloaded, starting more work can  reduce the amount that ultimately gets finished. 

In other words, just as a full road isn’t necessarily a productive road, a completely  occupied workforce isn’t necessarily a productive one either. 

 

The hidden cost of switching between tasks 

Part of the problem is that switching between tasks isn’t instantaneous or cost-free.  Every time we move from one project, client or application to another, we need to work  out where we were, recall the relevant information we might have forgotten and refocus  our attention on the new task. 

Individually, each transition may take only a few moments. But repeated hundreds of  times across a working week, those moments add up. 

A Harvard Business Review study tracked 137 employees across 20 teams at three  Fortune 500 companies for up to five weeks. It found that employees switched between  applications and websites around 1,200 times a day.

The researchers estimated that workers spent almost four hours each week simply  reorienting themselves after these switches: equivalent to around 9% of their total  working time. 

And switching between applications is only the most easily measured form of task  switching. Employees also move constantly between different projects, clients,  meetings, approvals and unexpected requests, often leaving one piece of work  unfinished to deal with another. 

The organisation pays a small productivity cost every time an employee changes  direction even though the cumulative cost can remain largely invisible. 

Instead, the consequences show up elsewhere: in longer completion times, missed  details, avoidable errors and employees who reach the end of a relentlessly busy day  wondering why they made so little meaningful progress. 

 

Why unfinished work follows us into the next task 

Even after we’ve moved to another task, part of our attention can remain fixed on the  work we left behind. 

Professor Sophie Leroy coined the term “attention residue” to describe this effect. Her  research discovered that people have difficulty fully shifting their attention away from an  unfinished task and, as a result, tend to perform less effectively on whatever they do  next.  

Consider an employee who stops writing an important report halfway through to attend  a meeting. During the meeting, they receive an urgent request from a client. They then  leave the meeting, respond to the client and return to the report, pausing along the way  to answer several emails and messages. 

Technically, that employee has worked on several things. But they may not have given  their complete attention to any of them. 

This is why carrying too many active projects creates more than an administrative  burden. Every unfinished task occupies some mental space. The more often people are  required to change direction, the more likely they are to carry thoughts, concerns and  unresolved decisions from one task into the next.

We may move from one piece of work to another without bringing all of our attention  with us. The result is slower thinking, reduced concentration and a greater likelihood of  overlooking important details. 

For some neurodivergent employees – particularly those who experience differences in  executive functioning, working memory or transitioning between tasks – the effects of an  overloaded and unpredictable workplace can often be compounded further. 

 

When everything becomes urgent 

As overloaded teams take longer to complete their work, more projects begin  approaching (or passing) their deadlines. Leaders respond by elevating whichever task  is under the greatest immediate pressure and pulling people away from their existing  work to deal with it. 

This may solve the immediate problem. But it also delays everything those employees  were doing before the latest request arrived. 

Soon, one of those abandoned tasks becomes urgent too. It is pushed to the front of the  queue, interrupting another piece of work and creating another future delay. Priorities  change repeatedly, employees receive competing instructions and the organisation spends increasing amounts of time deciding what should happen next rather than  completing it. 

This can create a workplace in which: 

Urgency can look like responsiveness. The employee who drops everything to rescue a  delayed project appears committed, while the manager who rapidly reallocates  resources appears decisive. 

But when urgent interventions become routine, it’s usually a sign that work is no longer  flowing properly. Each rescue pushes another task closer to crisis, ensuring that the  cycle continues.

When that happens, sustained overload can also become a workplace health and safety  issue. Safe Work Australia identifies high job demands (including having too much to do  in too little time) as a psychosocial hazard when they are severe, prolonged or frequent.  

To prevent this from happening, it recommends redesigning inefficient processes,  planning the workforce appropriately and allowing enough time for difficult tasks to be  completed safely. 

 

Hiring more people may not solve the problem 

When employees are overloaded and deadlines are slipping, hiring additional people  can seem like the obvious solution. And sometimes it is. If your organisation simply has  more work than your workforce can reasonably perform, increasing capacity may be  essential. 

But before you begin recruiting, make sure you identify what’s actually preventing work  from being completed. Broadly, the constraint will usually involve one or more of three  things: 

Recruitment can address the first two problems but it won’t usually fix the third. 

Adding employees to an overloaded system can create more handovers, meetings and  communication. New team members are likely to find themselves managing the same  competing priorities and interruptions as everyone else. Rather than increasing the  organisation’s output, the additional coordination can make an already congested  workflow more complicated. 

This doesn’t mean you should delay necessary recruitment or expect existing  employees to absorb unreasonable workloads. It means hiring decisions should form  part of a broader assessment of how work moves through the organisation. 

If work is stalled everywhere, priorities change constantly and employees are carrying  too many unfinished tasks, the underlying problem is likely to be systemic rather than  the result of any employee or team.

 

Stop starting and start finishing 

One of the most effective ways to relieve overload is to limit the amount of work being  progressed at any one time. 

This can feel counterintuitive. You might begin to worry that delaying the start of a  project means losing momentum or becoming less responsive. But MIT found that  employers who:  

reduced the time required to complete work by as much as 90%. 

Limiting work in progress also makes problems easier to see. When employees are  juggling dozens of active tasks, it can be difficult to distinguish genuine capacity  constraints from confusion and congestion.  

The scale of the problem is reflected in Atlassian’s 2024 State of Teams research.  

In a survey of 5,000 knowledge workers, 64% said their teams were constantly being  pulled in too many directions, while 70% believed they would make better progress with  fewer, more specific goals. 

To overcome this in your organisation, Repenning and Kieffer recommend: 

The difficult part is the need to make genuine choices about what the organisation will – and won’t – work on now.

 

Diagnose the problem before adding more work 

Modern work will always involve competing responsibilities, changing circumstances  and occasional interruptions that impact work/life balance. 

The goal isn’t to eliminate these things or ensure your employees only ever work on one  task at a time. It’s to prevent the amount of simultaneous work from exceeding the  team’s ability to keep it moving. 

So, when deadlines begin slipping and employees appear overwhelmed, resist the  temptation to respond by simply increasing pressure, changing priorities again or  immediately adding more work (and people) to the system. Instead, begin by asking: 

After all, recruitment can increase capacity, but it cannot by itself repair a system that  continually prevents people from completing their work.  

Instead, the answers to the questions above might point to a need for additional  capacity, new capabilities, a redesigned workflow or some combination of the three. 

 

Want more? 

Not sure whether your organisation needs more people, different capabilities or a better  way of managing work? 

Catalina Consultants can help you assess your workforce, priorities and processes,  then develop a practical HR strategy aligned with your organisation’s goals. 

When Catalina Consultants expanded into Melbourne last year, we knew we were entering a relationship-driven market where business was built on trust and reputation.

And, while that’s proven to be completely accurate, what we have come to understand is the nuances of the work we’ve been engaged to do.

“Whether it’s education, manufacturing, professional services, transport or hospitality, the main HR challenge we’re helping Melbourne businesses solve in 2026 is navigating the sheer number of issues they face at the same time,” says Rachel Bloom, Catalina Consultant’s Melbourne Principal.

Leaders want a partner, not more data

In 2026, Melbourne’s business and HR leaders have more access to policies, templates, guidance material and more information than ever before.

But all of this knowledge isn’t making their lives any easier. In fact, it often complicates things because it means they face competing priorities on a scale they’ve never had to deal with before.

In 2026, organisations are grappling with legislative change, psychosocial obligations, workforce shortages (at least in some sectors), rising costs, flexible work expectations, rapid technological change and, increasingly, questions about the role AI will play in the future of work. (And by the way, this is not unique to Melbourne!)

Rachel says that, individually, any one of these challenges would demand attention.  However, when taken together, they mean that leadership roles are becoming less about managing day-to-day operations and more about balancing competing priorities.

“Every decision creates consequences somewhere else,” she says.

“A flexible working policy may improve employee engagement but may also create challenges around collaboration and accountability. Cost pressures can cause a company to successfully rethink structure and workload, but damage culture and wellbeing.”

“And AI might present exciting opportunities for productivity and efficiency, but it also raises questions about capability, job design, risk and change management.”

“In other words, no HR or business challenge exists in isolation and the question has increasingly become how to fix one of these challenges without breaking another. That’s a very different problem to solve.”

The rise of the challenger

After speaking with many of Melbourne’s business and HR leaders over the past 12 months, Rachel says what they find more valuable than anything else is someone they can talk these challenges through with.

“They’re often looking for an experienced partner who can challenge assumptions, test ideas, ask difficult questions and help them understand the potential consequences of a decision before they make it,” she says.

“So clients aren’t necessarily buying HR advice, processes or direction. They’re buying an independent partner who can listen without judgement and offer pragmatic opinions when they’re making complex people decisions, or business decisions that will have a people impact.”

Rachel explains that this is one of the most dramatic changes she’s personally observed in recent years – the role of HR moving from responsibility for policies, compliance and processes to a more high-level strategic position. And it’s something Catalina has been providing now for 14 years.

“Often the challenge isn’t understanding the options available. It’s understanding which option is right for a particular organisation, at a particular point in time, with a particular group of people,” Rachel explains.

“That requires a level of judgement, context, experience and strategy that can only be delivered by a trusted thinking partner.”

Three lessons from 12 months in Melbourne

Rachel says that her first 12 months in Melbourne have reinforced three key lessons.

1. Trust still matters (maybe even more than before)

“When we first entered the Melbourne market after many years in business, we knew organisations would choose advisers they trusted rather than simply the provider with the most impressive credentials or largest profile,” Rachel says.

“That assessment proved correct, with many of the strongest opportunities coming through referrals, introductions and existing relationships rather than traditional business development activity.”

When leaders are navigating sensitive people issues, organisational change or difficult decisions, they want an adviser whose views they respect to sit beside them, challenge their thinking and provide practical guidance when things become complicated.

As Rachel puts it: “Technical capability is important and expected and absolutely critical, but trust is what differentiates.”

2. Authenticity beats polish

Rachel says that one thing that surprised her most was how strongly leaders responded to honest conversations about what was really happening inside their organisations.

“Many leaders are dealing with challenges that don’t have simple answers, so they’re cautious about anyone who’s selling easy fixes,” she explains. “They want someone who understands the complexity of the situation and can help them work through it.

Rachel says that, in a world increasingly filled with automated content, curated messaging and carefully managed communication (which often says everything while saying very little at all), genuine conversations have become even more valuable. Catalina has always understood this – in fact, it’s why we’ve always pitched ourselves as the human resources team that’s human!

3. Execution is often the real challenge

Rachel says her most important lesson of all has been that, while most organisations already have a reasonable understanding of what needs to happen, they often struggle to turn their intentions into reality.

“Leaders know they need to develop capability, strengthen culture, improve performance, navigate change and support their people,” she says.

“Where they need help is in working out where to start, what to prioritise and how to execute effectively without creating new problems elsewhere. And ideally someone with the capacity and know-how to carry it through”.

The future of HR is human

When Rachel joined Catalina’s Melbourne office a year ago, she says that her success would depend on establishing a presence, building relationships and proving the model. However, her – and Catalina Consultants’ – ambitions already look quite different.

“Our Founder, Merilyn Speiser never wanted growth for growth’s sake, but was interested most in the HR impact we could have on Melbourne-based businesses,” she says.

“Are we helping leaders make better decisions? Are we strengthening workplaces? Are we building capability that remains long after our engagement has finished?”

These questions aren’t random, but reflect a broader shift occurring across the profession. And HR professionals who understand this will be better placed to have influence and impact.

“For years, HR was often viewed through the lens of policy, compliance and process,” Rachel explains. “Those responsibilities remain important and always will, but increasingly, the greatest value lies in helping leaders and teams navigate complexity, ambiguity and human behaviour.”

“That’s something that still requires judgement, context and experience, and the best results come from having a trusted partner willing to ask the right questions rather than simply provide quick answers.”

Want more?

Looking for a partner to help your organisation make sense of today’s HR and business landscape? Get in touch.

Several decades ago, work/life balance referred to mothers who were trying to balance parenting with a career. Seems so archaic now, right? Then we progressed to work/life balance, meaning separation. You went to work, you came home, and – at least in theory – the two were distinct. Balance simply meant you got to leave the office on time, stayed away on weekends and had the opportunity to switch off.

For many employees, that version of work/life balance no longer exists. And for many employees, they like it this way – working from home, getting the washing done and a dip at the beach at lunchtime – but at what cost?

In 2026, work is no longer tied to a single location or a fixed set of hours. Instead, it moves across devices, environments and time zones. This means the challenge many organisations face is no longer how to separate work from life, but how to stop work from expanding to fill almost every part of it, albeit in a “flexible” way.

That, in turn, raises a more useful question: not whether employees have work/life balance, but whether the way work is structured today is actually sustainable. In other words, can employees have their cake and eat it too?

Balance is now about control, not hours

Work/life balance is no longer simply about working fewer hours. For many employees, balance means having the opportunity to structure work around real-world responsibilities – whether that’s school drop-offs, caring responsibilities, lifestyle choices, commuting constraints, or simply aligning work with periods of higher focus and energy.

Gallup research consistently shows hybrid work remains the dominant employee preference, with greater control over time cited as the primary reason for this. But the same data contains a harder finding: even among hybrid workers, employee engagement has fallen to a ten-year low, and clarity about what’s expected at work is now the lowest it has ever been. Sometimes working more flexibly actually adds to the stress!

And that points to the real issue in 2026. Having flexibility over where you work is not the same as having a workload you can actually manage. And flexibility can actually exacerbate your workload if too many variables are at play.

Flexibility without clear expectations isn’t balance, it’s availability

This is where the post-pandemic promise of flexible work is starting to show its limits.

Many employees have gained real autonomy over their hours and location. But the work still needs to get done, and more and more employees are finding that with flexibility comes the challenge of encroachment.

When an employee doesn’t provide clear expectations around their availability, flexibility can shift from a benefit into an obligation, with the freedom to work from anywhere becoming, in practice, the expectation of being reachable everywhere.

Hybrid work arrangements don’t solve the availability problem, neither do wellness programs, or Friday afternoon finish times or any policy that treats balance as something employees achieve on their own if given enough flexibility. 

Instead, it needs something more direct: clear expectations around deliverables, communication around availability, and managers who model those expectations rather than blurring them.

A performance and retention issue

Search “work/life balance” online and most of what you’ll find still treats it as a wellbeing issue. But in 2026, organisations that still take this approach are misreading what the research actually shows.

Effective work/life policies today include clear guidelines around communicating an employee’s availability and how they are accessing flexibility, and manager training that builds the capability to have real conversations about workload and expectations within that flexible regime.

When this happens, it has been shown to lead to reduced turnover, with McKinsey finding that employees who were able to manage their personal and professional responsibilities reported significantly lower rates of burnout. 

And research published in Harvard Business Review made an even more surprising finding: that effective work/life support leads to higher quality leaders and more effective leadership decisions.

The role of managers in promoting work/life balance

The research is also clear about the fact that none of this happens automatically. McKinsey found that manager behaviour was one of the primary factors determining whether work/life arrangements actually worked in practice. 

This finding connects directly to the next problem most organisations haven’t solved: that not all employees experience work (or life) the same way.

On this front, Gallup identifies two roughly equal groups in the workforce. 

Employees are more engaged and productive when the way they work and the way they prefer to work are aligned.

Managers who are too rigid, who focus too heavily on rules over results, and who force employees into ways of working that remove the benefits of hybrid and flexible work (at least in the employees’ eyes), are likely to find their efforts at work/life balance reduce productivity and retention rather than improving it.

Which means the real capability question isn’t whether a flexibility policy exists. It’s whether the managers implementing it understand that a “blender” forced into fixed hours is just as disengaged as a “splitter” who’s never allowed to switch off.

A 5-point plan for building work/life balance into your workplace

So, if you want to build work/life balance into your workplace, how do you do it? Here’s our simple guide on where to start.

  1. Set expectations around flexibility in writing. If an employee has asked for a flexible work arrangement, ensure all parties understand what this means and work towards achieving it – and resist blurring the lines.
  2. Encourage the taking of leave. Parental leave, annual leave, carer’s leave – all need to be not just a legal entitlement but actually encouraged at every level. Policies that exist but feel risky to use deliver none of the retention or productivity benefits the research suggests.
  3. Train managers, not just policies. Awareness isn’t enough. Managers need the skills to have direct conversations about workload and capacity, to identify unsustainable “flexibility” patterns before someone burns out or leaves, and to model the same expectations they’re asking their teams to maintain.
  4. Design for difference. Recognise that splitters and blenders exist in roughly equal numbers across your workforce, and that life stage and personal circumstances shape what balance actually means for each person. Build enough flexibility into working arrangements that managers can respond to individuals rather than applying rules counter-productively.
  5. Measure outcomes, not availability. Review whether your performance culture is rewarding results or rewarding visibility. If the people who get ahead are consistently the ones who are always on, no flexibility policy will change the underlying dynamic. 

Help your people understand that “visibility” is not what is expected, it’s deliverables.

Want more?

If you’re looking to build a genuine work/life balance into your organisation, get in touch.

New legislation allowing employees access to 10 days of Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave (FSVL) applies for large business from today, 1 February 2023. What does this mean for employers?

Firstly, what’s changed?

What is FDV?

Violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by an employee’s close relative, a current or former intimate partner, or a member of their household, that:

Who is included?

When can it be accessed?

Full-time, part-time and casual employees may apply for FDVL if:

What evidence is required?

An employer can ask their employee for evidence that shows the employee took the leave to deal with family and domestic violence
If the employee doesn’t provide the requested evidence, they may not get FDVL
The evidence has to convince a reasonable person that the employee took the leave to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence

Types of evidence

What about Confidentiality?

New regulations prohibit employees from including information concerning FDVL on employees’ pay slips (Regulations)
This includes information about the employee taking FDVL, including leave records as well as any evidence provided by the employee
Payroll systems must be set up to ensure non-disclosure in leave records and on payslips
Pay slips must not mention FDVL, including any leave taken and leave balances

What are the obligations of an employer?

What should employers do now?

We recommend that all businesses take the following actions immediately:

We are here to help you with any of these changes. Reach out if we can offer you support.

The year’s end is fast approaching, but there are still several HR-related things you need to do before everyone clocks off for the summer break. To help, we’ve created this checklist of the six things you should do to get your HR function right before 2023 arrives.

1. Take stock

With limited time left between now and the end of the year, you should map out exactly what needs to be done. That means, of course, factoring in routine HR tasks such as payroll. But it shouldn’t just be about doing the bare minimum. There’s still probably enough time to get other, more strategic things done too. That could include things like developing recruitment and training plans, working on employee engagement strategies (it’s going to continue to be one of the biggest issues next year) and other important HR tasks.  

2. Prioritise

That said, you’re unlikely to get absolutely everything you want to complete before the break, so work out what your main priorities are and what you need to do to make them happen. Use the tried and trusted technique of ranking each task as ‘Urgent/Non-urgent’, ‘Important/Not important’, and focus on those that are urgent or important. 

If some of your big picture stuff is important but can wait until the New Year, work out what you can realistically do this year to progress it, so that you don’t have a mountain of work to come back to once the holidays end.

3. Communicate

This can be an unproductive time in some workplaces as people get that ‘end of term’ feeling. But, as a business owner or manager, you can’t afford to let things slide. So let people know your expectations between now and the end of the year. Don’t be oppressive about it – you want people to be happy AND productive But you need to make sure they also get through the work that has to be done. You should also let people know your expectations around the holiday period. Are you closing down for a while? Do you expect people to take leave? If so, let them know. 

Over-communicating is always better than under-communicating. 

4. Throw a party

You’ve probably organised your workplace party by now. But if you haven’t, there’s still time to do something. No matter how small your workplace, or busy you are, celebrating the end of year is an important point in the calendar and something your people deserve. 

Even if it’s just a lunch or some informal drinks, make sure you get people together before the holidays start to reflect on, and celebrate, the year that was.

5. Say thank you

Speaking of which, this is the time of year you need to say thanks (and your office party/lunch is an important part of that). For many of us, 2022 has been another trying year, and it’s important you let people know they’re appreciated. 

Saying thank you is important for your workplace culture, as well as for employee productivity and wellbeing. 

It’s also important for you as a manager or owner, because it boosts your productivity and wellbeing too. As the Harvard Business Review notes, “Gratitude is good for you.” 

So compile a list of the highlights of the past year, who’s been involved in them. And celebrate them either at the end-of-year function or in a company-wide communication. (Or both.) Just be sure to thank everyone for their efforts this year.

6. Get your HR ready for 2023

Finally, it’s worth remembering that while the year may change, the work goes on. There’s nothing worse than arriving back from holidays with a pile of work on the proverbial desk. So, going back to step one above, gear up for what lies ahead by drawing up a list of what needs to be done in 2023. 

Make headway into it now if you can, before you go on leave. And plan out what you can’t get through so that you don’t place yourself under unnecessary stress when you arrive back in the new year.

Want more?

Have a great holidays. If you’d like to know more about HR strategies for the rundown to the end of 2022, get in touch. 

What is an HR audit?

An HR audit is a systematic review of all your human resources processes. Carried out by an independent HR expert, it’s intended to identify exactly how healthy your human resources function is right now, as well as analysing what you need to do to get better. You can use an HR audit to identify any non-compliance, highlight any HR related risks and see how you stack up against best practice. That means it should serve as one of the foundations on which you can build your future HR and business plans and strategy. Here’s our guide to using an HR audit to make sure your human resources function is as healthy as it can be.

What’s included in an HR audit?

You can make an HR audit as narrow or as broad as you like. But the more comprehensive it is, the more effective it’s also likely to be.

That said, we understand that time and money won’t always allow you to do everything you’d like. There are, however, two main sources you should review in detail in any HR audit.

This isn’t as simple as just checking your written policies. Policies and procedures can also be informal too. All those unspoken rules and customs that have built up over time in the workplace culture will also count. Working out exactly what these are, though, is not always straightforward at all.

What to do with this information once you have it?

Once you’ve identified all of your policies and procedures, it’s time to measure how you compare. Generally, I recommend using it for one or more of three separate measures.

Legal and regulatory compliance

The most obvious thing to look for is whether you’re complying with the rules and regulations that apply. Again, this isn’t always as straightforward as it might seem.

For instance, if you’re like many employers – especially smaller ones – you’re probably using the same contract for all staff, regardless of their role or seniority. And yet, for many of your employees, the contract of employment is just the beginning. There are also the 10 National Minimum Employment Standards, which you can’t contract out of.

Beyond that, however, there are Awards, which are likely to provide for different terms and conditions of employment depending on the role employees perform. This can range from pay rates to dispute resolution procedures and pretty much everything in between. Not being across each of these Awards can leave your company exposed.

On top of this, the regulations frequently change and new laws are introduced. For instance, the rules and regulations on whistleblowers, flexible working and personal and carer’s leave entitlements have all changed or been clarified recently. Failing to keep up with these changes could land you in serious hot water.

Best practice

Complying with the law may be the first step in getting things right, but what about finding out how you compare to your competitors?
After all, if your rivals operate more efficiently than you do or if they’re offering different terms and conditions to their staff, their HR practices could be giving them a competitive advantage over you.

By incorporating HR best practices into your HR audit, you can see how your human resources policies stack up to your peers and work out where you’re deficient and what you can do to improve. That way, you can use your HR to help get to the top of the pack and stay ahead.

Strategy

The third and final way you can use the information you’ve gathered is to evaluate whether or not it’s helping you achieve your business goals. Human resources doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s a vital part of your operations and it should be used to support and achieve your strategic vision. This often gets lost in the day-to-day of doing business.

For instance, are you really promoting a positive workplace culture? Are you recruiting the right people? Do your employees feel energised and motivated? Do your KPIs and incentive schemes drive the right kind of behaviour?

By going back to your strategy and comparing how your HR processes help effect this, you can often make the tweaks and adjustments you need to get to where you want to be.

In short…

Our human resources policies can either hold our business back or propel it forward. By performing an effective HR audit you can give your human resources practices a real health check and give yourself a starting point for refining or even recalibrating your people-related policies.

Don’t have HR issues, have HR solutions. If you’d like to discuss how we could help your business with an HR audit, get in touch with the Catalina Consultants team today.