How We Work – Welcome to AKAYA HR Consultancy

We help organizations calibrate the foundational conditions necessary for employees to perform and the business to thrive.

Calibration is the intentional alignment and fine-tuning of the foundational elements in any system, which turn that system into far more than just the sum of its parts.

We address nine foundational conditions to formulate a calibration strategy that brings the organization into seamless and synergistic alignment, creating the environment necessary to thrive….

We calibrate organizations for long-term success by getting to the root causes of challenges to rebuild and heal from the foundation.

Many growing businesses cannot justify an HR professional on staff. As a result, HR needs often fall to the business owner, president or other senior executives to manage. Or worse yet, go unaddressed. AKAYA HR provides flexible support on an as needed basis. Your commitment is as much or as little as you need.

AKAYA HR delivers integrated Human Resources programs, processes and services designed to align with and support your organization’s goals and objectives. Based in Edmonton, AKAYA HR serves clients throughout Western Canada to position your company’s human capital for success.

AKAYA HR can assist you in developing a plan to recruit, manage, develop, and engage your employees.

Developing an HR Strategy

An HR strategy is an integral part of engaging people to achieve corporate goals, create an attractive work environment and a strong organisational culture. An effective HR strategy provides focus and clarity for all people related issues and helps to engage everyone towards achieving a common goal.

How we can help you

Our approach is focused on helping you develop an HR strategy that is aligned to and helps you deliver your company strategy. Each organisation is unique; its challenges, its opportunities and its people. We consider all aspects of an HR framework in developing a robust HR strategy.

Developing an HR Policy & Procedure

An HR policy provides the necessary framework to manage people effectively in any organisation. A policy provides ‘the rules’ that define how an organisation operates on a daily basis in respect to its people. Procedures describe how to carry out or implement policies in a fair and transparent manner.

How we can help you

At PeopleFirst we develop tailored HR policies covering all aspects of the employment lifecycle from attracting and recruiting talent through to exiting. We develop new policies and review and update existing policies always ensuring your policies are legally compliant and aligned to international best practices. We offer support to managers and HR teams in implementing new policies and procedures.

Manpower Planning, Recruitment and Retention

Manpower planning, recruitment and retention are critical business considerations that contribute directly to an organisation’s ability to build a skilled workforce and achieve its goals.

How we can help you

We can help you to identify your manpower requirements whilst considering the nature of your business, working practices, systems, processes and industry norms.

We provide hands on support from developing detailed job descriptions, to designing and implementing robust recruitment and selection tools, up to and including CEO level.

PeopleFirst has worked extensively with clients to design, develop and implement retention strategies to attract and retain talent. We take a holistic view of the employment relationship and see total reward strategies, the employee proposition and long term incentive programmes as key levers to achieve success.

Job Evaluation & Grading

Job evaluation and grading is a systematic process which helps to determine the size and value or worth of a job role in relation to other job roles in the organisation. It helps us to compare job roles internally and externally.

How we can help you

The first step to job evaluation and grading is to create comprehensive job descriptions that can be used to evaluate the size of each role. PeopleFirst has extensive experience in developing job descriptions for a variety of job roles across numerous industry sectors and develop grading structures based on widely used job evaluation methodologies.

HR Outsourcing

Outsourcing HR services is a cost-effective way of ensuring your HR needs are met and allows you to free up resources to focus on other core areas of your business.

How we can help you

PeopleFirst offers a partial or total outsourcing solution for small, medium and large sized organisations. Be it transactional services like payroll or the complete HR function, PeopleFirst has the expertise and resource to support this. We focus strongly on managing costs so all the savings are passed directly to our clients.

Corporate Governance Frameworks

A corporate governance framework provides the rules and guidelines and control measures by which an organisation (incl. Board of Directors) ensures accountability, fairness, and transparency in the company’s affairs internally and externally.

How we can help you

PeopleFirst has experience in developing corporate governance frameworks for government and private sector companies which help organisations to ensure the appropriate levels of control are in place to allow the smooth running of the organisation and protect the interests of shareholders, whilst ensuring legal compliance and alignment to best practices.

We have experience in developing various supporting tools such as Delegation of Authority Matrix and have helped a number of organisations establish the appropriate governance entities and define the Terms of Reference for the Board and Governance Committees.

Executive Coaching

Executive coaching can help leaders fine tune what they do and exceed expectations. It can help your senior management through times of change and can help them enhance the quality of their internal and external relationships.
Do you want someone to challenge your thinking and help you figure out what works well and what does not?
Executive coaching is the solution and can have a tremendous impact on your organisation.

How we can help you

A PeopleFirst coach will be your thinking partner, someone with whom your team can safely and honestly talk through issues and ideas in a confidential setting. Our coaching sessions last around 2 hours and we recommend individual monthly sessions.