The Perfect Workday Routine for HR Department Leaders

Every HR leader struggles to find time in their day to get everything done without feeling burnout.

We get stuck wondering things like, “Why am I running out of time?” or “How long will this busy season last?”.

When you’re unsure what to do, it’s hard to move forward.

The good news is that you can easily bring order to the chaos by planning your workday routine ahead of time.

In this post, I’ll describe the ideal HR leader workday and provide 3 activities for the perfect week. I hope that this will give you a roadmap so you can get started with planning your workday routine and feel more satisfied with the work that you do and the time it takes.

Planning your HR workday routine ahead of time includes making space for the most pressing projects while also leaving room for the unexpected that undoubtedly arises.

In other words, there are 3 types of activities you should prioritize to get more done each week.

The added benefit is that you’ll have plenty of time built in to work more strategically.

From interviews to meetings with your supervisor to vendor calls and more, it’s guaranteed that a portion of your workweek will be unavailable for anything else.

This is a crucial component to remember because when setting expectations for what you can accomplish within any period of time, you must know how much time is available to be productive and how much time is already committed.

Many people new to leading an HR department or growing within their role start on the right track but then get stuck because they add too much to their “plate” and don’t realize that they’re setting themselves up for disappointment from the beginning.

And then they wind up working double-time, trying to fit four days of work into two days and getting burnt out.

The key to tackling your responsibilities appropriately is to accept that you have a portion of your time that you cannot commit to other tasks.

To get started here, go into every workday understanding how much time you have available to do the daily tasks and assignments that are required in your role. You can do this at the start of the workday, but even better, do it at the end of the week before or the day before.

One of the best ways I’ve learned ways to categorize the work I must do to keep the department running is by thinking of them as projects. Whether you’re preparing for the next onboarding session, planning for the upcoming evaluation cycle, or reviewing options for open enrollment, they’re all projects – typically with a beginning and end.

If you’ve spent hours working on your to-do list but something still feels off, like you’re not completing anything or you’re spinning your wheels and doing busy work, this is likely the piece that’s missing.

Without thinking of your work as projects, you can continuously check items off your never-ending to-do list and still not feel like you’re getting things done.

What can you do?

A really useful technique for understanding how much time you have available is to get in the habit of tracking it over time – either in your calendar or an offline planner.

Protect your precious time by keeping an eye on it, taking care of it, and organizing your activities well.

Our Thriving in HR Planner is specifically designed for HR department leaders to gain control of their time by making the work more visible. Learn more about it here: https://www.talentedteamsconsulting.com/planner

Within any workday, it’s easy for phone calls, projects, meetings, and interruptions to creep over time and next thing you know, you’re fresh out of time. To avoid this, you need to keep a section of your time as flexible working hours.

Here’s where you’ll really start to bring it all together and anything you couldn’t get done because it didn’t fit into your scheduled meeting time or your blocked-out time for projects.

Of course, this requires you to stay on top of your time on an ongoing basis and hold yourself accountable for keeping your work on track. Consider reviewing your schedule at the end of each workday or at the start of each workday and commit to not moving into the day until you are clear on what goes where.

The process you can use to review your schedule is:

★Decide when your time is most open and when you’re most available to do this pre-planning

★Then add some “quiet hours” or “focus time” that is almost never scheduled over

★Then, in order to hit your project milestones and get your work done each week, make sure you use this time with care and don’t take it for granted.

Once you’re done, you’ll be well on your way to staying on top of your work and optimizing your time

There you have it! The three components of your perfect workday as an HR leader.

It may sound like a lot, but like most things, practice makes perfect. Just focus on on day at a time. This will help you feel like this is a more attainable goal and start leaving work without feeling like you didn’t do anything productive.

If you need help getting started, my free action plan, 5 Powerful Ways to Work Smarter, Not Harder, will help you gain clarity on how well-prepared you are to follow this perfect HR workday routine so you can walk into your days ahead knowing you’re prepared for all that the day brings.