For any organisation that has employees it is important to develop an HR strategy for the future which will provide a 3-5 year direction for the organisation in order to gain competitive advantage.
The use of a SWOT analysis can help develop an HR strategy in looking at how external factors (opportunities and threats) can impact on internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) identifying plans for improvement and/or growth. External factors can include those related to political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental issues. Therefore an organisation must analyse which or all of these will have an effect. For example employment legislation is constantly changing (dependent on EU implementation requirements and government interpretations). This has an impact on employees in that an organisation has to ensure an engaged productive workforce that are being managed within the law.
To analyse the internal factors, an organisation must look at its tangible HR resources ie specific employee skills and experience, recruitment strategies, staff motivation, staff turnover, etc. to identify its strengths and weaknesses.
By cross referencing strengths and weaknesses against opportunities and threats clear plans can then be developed on paper for an HR strategy. Employees are an organisation’s greatest resource so such a long term plan is essential for success.