Preparing for the End of the Year

The end of the year is a busy time for human resources professionals. Year-end human resources planning can help cut down on the anxiety of the busy season by letting you more clearly outline and organize exactly what needs to be done before you head into the new year. The end of the year provides plenty of chances for evaluation, training, and preparation for the upcoming tax season. Human resources planning during this period should involve ensuring that your company stands ready to tackle the challenges of the new year.

While many companies are moving to year-round evaluations, the end of year provides ample opportunities for employee reviews. This is especially true in companies that are not part of the retail or hospitality industries. Human resources planning for year-end reviews should include evaluations of skill development as well as review of the progress each employee made during the year towards reaching sales or service goals. Combining a future-looking skill assessment with metrics evaluation gives you the ability to create a personalized training plan for each employee.

Human resources planning for next year's training should begin during the evaluation process. Human resources training often requires keeping up-to-date records on the skills and experience of each employee, and that means that it falls on you to verify the skillsets and on-the-job experience each worker obtains during the year. Professionals working in human resources are often tasked with ensuring that time and resources are available for training, especially in smaller organizations. Using your human resources planning time to plot out next year's required training periods can help ensure that your workforce remains able to handle regular operation without the staff members who are in training.

The biggest hurdle for human resources planning during the time at the end of the year remains tax and payroll preparation. While larger companies may have accountants focused solely on the tax side of the work, human resources training includes the ability to create all reports that the accounting department needs to do their work efficiently. Payroll is a major concern for employees and employers alike, and many businesses offer their annual pay raises at the end of each year to help streamline the process. The payroll reports generated by human resources during this time helps owners and managers better understand the overall value of their workers and costs of doing business as they move into the new year.

Human resources professionals take on many tasks during the busy year-end period. Human resources planning during this period must focus on evaluations and training as well as crafting precise payroll reports for tax professionals and business owners. Careful evaluation of present resource levels and payroll concerns can give your business an edge in the year to come.

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