Who does not love a good meme? It is one of the internet’s favorite devices for communicating information that otherwise may get lost in a typical paragraph of text or be poorly delivered in a video.
There are memes for everything these days, from politics to office etiquette and yes, of course, the things that impact HR. Having just seen one of the most difficult years for HR fade into memory, there have been a slew of inspirational memes and content designed for the HR professional making the rounds these last few weeks.
Here are eight memes we hope will inspire HR professionals to keep improving the work experience and performing their best in 2021.
1. Stay Curious
The road ahead is not going to be any less complex for HR professionals. Similar to the year that has gone, 2021 will present its own unique challenges to overcome and to do so, HR professionals must keep growing and learning from the people around them. No matter how much of an expert you are, there is always something that you can learn from the next person you come across.
2. Embrace Your Adaptability
In HR, you have to be a bit of everything at your times. You are the Swiss Army knife of the human side of the business. Embrace it and take ownership of it. Your value to the business increases with each crisis you help mitigate, every policy you design and all the culture that you instill in people.
3. Wield Your Influence
In 2020, we spoke a lot about HR taking its seat at the leadership table. With that seat comes a great deal of influence in important conversations and it is something HR can use to the betterment of the entire company.
4. Use/Improve the Company Image
No list about memes in 2021 is complete without a reference to inauguration Bernie Sanders. Your employer brand is more important than ever before in 2021. To achieve your goals, you will have to be realistic about the state of that employer brand, but also open minded to what you can do with it. Look at this way, Bernie did not have the style of the Obamas, but post inauguration, it is all anyone is talking about because of how genuine a moment it was. As the photographer of that Bernie photo put it, what makes the photo great is that it is just “Bernie being Bernie.”
5. Prioritize Feedback
While performance reviews are not necessarily anyone’s favorite part of the job and for employees they can provide a great deal of stress, they are nonetheless important. And how HR professionals handle them is equally important. Here is some advice from HR Exchange Network columnist Charles Abramo on how evaluations should be looked at going forward.
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6. Emphasize Rest for Your Teams
Burnout, fatigue and disengagement have become real concerns as the lines between work and personal life have blurred. As more focus is put on wellbeing, keep in mind why it is so vital to do what you can to prevent burnout and create a culture where the needs of people are top of mind.
7. Recognize Your Limits
Speaking of rest, you will do well to know when you need it as much as everyone else. In HR, there is a tendency to feel the weight of obligation to the people and organizations we serve and to let it take over. But never forget, you can’t help others if you aren’t able to bring the best version of yourself to the work each day.
8. Know Your Value
A bit corny, but a bit of truth. This oldie-but-goodie is to remind you that the work you do every day can impact someone’s life. For every difficult task you have to fulfill, there are opportunities to improve people’s daily experience and to help through difficult times in profound ways.
Photo Courtesy of Stock Photo Secrets