Business Acumen: Aligning Business Operations and HR

Course objectives

• Read an income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement with confidence
• Explain how the organisation generates revenue, margin and cash
• Quantify the cost of turnover, vacancy, absence and poor performance
• Link workforce planning to operational and financial demand
• Build a costed business case for a people investment and defend it to finance
• Choose people metrics that connect to business outcomes rather than activity
• Speak to executives in the terms they use to run the organisation

Who should attend

• Human resources business partners and managers
• Learning and development and talent professionals
• Reward and human resources operations specialists
• Human resources practitioners moving into a strategic role
• Line managers who work closely with human resources on headcount

Course outline

1. 01How the organisation makes money: revenue, margin, cash and the operating model
2. 02Reading the three financial statements without an accounting background
3. 03Cost of labour, fully loaded, and where it sits in the accounts
4. 04Costing turnover, vacancy, absence and underperformance
5. 05Workforce planning driven by operational demand rather than last year plus a percentage
6. 06Building a business case: assumptions, costs, benefits and payback
7. 07Choosing metrics an executive team will act on
8. 08Presenting a people proposal to a finance audience

Scheduled sessions