Year-End Suggestions for Keeping Your HR Staff On-Track

At the end of the year, it is common to feel overwhelmed with mounting projects and deadlines. For human resources (HR) professionals to stay organized and productive during the year-end rush, members of the Forbes Human Resources Council are offering a handful of tips. One suggestion is to make a plan a few months in advance and put everything on a calendar to share with the HR team. Similarly, make a shared daily to-do list that the HR department can see and follow. Not only does a specific list keep you focused on the most critical jobs of the day, but your department can hold you accountable and volunteer for delegated assignments. Furthermore, set and prioritize your goals. Prioritizing helps to determine how you can adapt to new and competing business needs. If a new business need comes into play, ask leadership if it outranks the other initiatives. In addition, schedule all tasks in your calendar, from when to order holiday cards to when to begin auditing W2s and 1099s. By keeping your calendar current, you will be able to spread out the tasks over the remainder of the year and not have to do it all in one week. Another helpful tip is to create email inbox rules and filters. To keep inboxes from overflowing, set up rules to automatically sort emails related to certain projects. Once you’re ready to tackle a project, all of the communication will be accessible in one place. Finally, schedule recovery time. Block off an hour on your calendar as an appointment; this will show colleagues you are “busy” and give you time to catch up on work that has been disrupted.

Read the full article on Forbes.com.