As a difficult 2009 came to a close, I was more excited than ever to turn the calendar to 2010. Understandably, a keen focus on operational issues took second row to survival for many businesses. I will share a few suggestions based on my own HR New Year’s resolutions in the hopes that it will motivate you to continue to make a few of your own throughout 2010!
1. Commit to your own professional development goals! If you are not already a member of your local SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) chapter, join now. Local SHRM organizations provide their members with legislative updates, opportunities to benchmark best practices, and benefits of networking with other HR professionals. What skills are you missing to stay on top of your game? A good way to understand your skills gap is to survey the market—read business books, review online HR job postings for skills in demand, sign up for HR newsletters, and attend local legal updates. Your training budget isn’t a factor in taking advantage of most of these opportunities.
2. Get involved! Keep abreast of pending legislation related to your field, and give your legislators your opinions. So often, legislation is passed that doesn’t take into account the practical impact it will have on business operations. SHRM reports that we are “on the brink of the greatest change in labor and employment law in over 20 years.” It is our duty to be aware and to remain an active influence on these matters.
3. Self-audit your HR files more regularly. We all dread the possibility of any type of audit or investigation often beacuse audits are time consuming and divert our attention away from other duties. If every HR professional would schedule a monthly or quarterly self-audit of state and federal immigration requirements, benefits records, personnel files, and hiring/promotion/termination processes, we would sleep better at night. If you have deficiencies, wouldn’t you rather find them before an outside agency arrives?
4. Review salary structure and total benefits to ensure every dollar is being spent wisely. Many companies have maintained roughly the same salary plan and benefits for years, though the workforce they hope to attract and keep has changed. Work with an outside expert to review your spending and make sure you are getting an optimal ROI (return on investment).
5. Focus on “topgrading” your talent!
Hiring, developing, and retaining top performers is the key to success in any business environment. Review your recruiting practices including an evaluation of your company’s reputation in the marketplace. What can your organization do to ensure that you will attract top talent? (By the way, talented professionals are not often actively seeking a
new position, they are most often methodically recruited). How can you best develop your talent and keep them engaged? Human Resources professionals have the opportunity to affect the future success of their organization by proper planning and execution in this area.
Strange this post is totaly unrelated to what I was searching google for, but it was listed on the first page. I guess your doing something right if Google likes you enough to put you on the first page of a non related search. 
I think that is an interesting point, it made me think a bit. Thanks for sparking my thinking cap. Sometimes I get so much in a rut that I just feel like a record.