Functions of Human Resource Management
Introduction
Human Resource Management is a management function whose primary duties include hiring, motivating, and maintaining hardworking employees in an organization. The HR management strives to ensure that all employees are satisfied in their workforce, thereby helping the organization reap highly from the maximum contribution of its employees. As the HR department designs its plan, the number and type of employees required to achieve an organization’s objectives are determined. After planning, organizing, and directing employees at different levels, individual employee performance is checked, verified, and compared with the initial plans. If the return is found to be below expectations, the HR team must conduct research aiming to find out the reasons behind underperformance. Afterward, a decision on whether to retain or fire the employee is initiated as guided by the labor laws and regulations.
Performance Management
Performance management is a constant process of enhancing performance by designing personal and team objectives that are interconnected with the mission and vision of the organization. It should include a plan on how the set goals are to be achieved. The progress of performance management needs to be thoroughly assessed and reviewed continuously. Also, it should improve the knowledge, skills, and capabilities of the employees. However, performance management remains to be a challenging field to navigate since its continually changing. New performance management shifts erupt each year. If the human resource team fails to design a sound performance system, the workforce will feel less motivated and even frustrated. Thankfully, more and more companies are realizing the benefits of sound performance management systems.
Human resource planning, recruitment, and selection
It can be expensive and discouraging for any organization to have employees who are not performing their duties as expected. As a result, it is the responsibility of any employer to make sure that every member of staff is well trained. The training should strictly focus on developing the required skills for every job description. With that mind, productive human resources planning is crucial in making sure that the aims of training and development are entirely achieved. Proper human resources planning needs to start at the early stage of recruitment. At that stage, the HR team needs to ensure that a person who possesses the right skills as spelled out in the job description is hired. After an employee has been appointed, the employer is supposed to help him, or her adapt to the new environment through an induction process.
An appropriate induction process can minimize turnover, lower overall training costs, and enhance employee contribution. Besides, a good induction process helps the HR department identify the gray areas where the new staff member may need additional training and close supervision. Furthermore, the induction process is much needed where an organization appoints a person with unfit or zero skill set as spelled out in the job description. Consequently, prior to making an appointment, the HR team may need to take into account the amount of training the employee needs. After the induction process, the HR department should keep an eye on the employee performance regularly using performance appraisals and continued training, amongst other methodologies. However, if the employer notices that the employee is ineffective and is not improved by the pieces of training, the dismissal process may be activated.
Human resource development
Human Resource Development (HRD) is the architecture for assisting workers in improving their individual and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. It comprises of taking a new employee through the induction process, offering opportunities to learn new skills, providing the needed resources for the employee’s duties, amongst other improvement activities. An appropriate Human Resource Development program makes employees more competent. As a result, employees tend to become more committed to their work. Moreover, it helps in the establishment of a pleasant working environment full of trust and respect, thereby improving team spirit in the organization. With the help of HRD, the employees tend to become better problem-solvers. Additionally, it results in commendable organizational effectiveness since resources are correctly used. The objectives of the organization are achieved excellently. In the end, the participation of each employee is greatly enhanced as a result of workers feel a sense of pride while attending to their duties.
Compensation and benefits
Futuristic human resource department treats its compensation and reward methodologies as part of performance management efforts. It considers those rewards as an investment in employee’s effectiveness and engagement as a way of combating the growing competition for talent. Nowadays, it is hard to hire skilled employees and even harder to retain them as opposed to some years back when organizations expected job loyalty. To begin with, companies need to evaluate their strengths and ascertain if workers have benefits to sell. Workers today can easily change employers for better enumeration and in search of comfort in companies that will involve and treasure their contribution in the decision-making process. Some organizations have adopted creative rewards, like providing free breakfast that has more rich nutrients than daily coffee and tea. Other companies facilitate social functions like trips whenever a vital goal has been achieved.
Numerous organizations prefer using newspaper ads, online job sites, referrals, or recruiters as their means of attracting job seekers after understanding that both attraction and retention are marketing concerns. In this regard, these organizations strive to create the right image in the market place. They also work towards establishing a working environment that is full of purpose, excitement, and mutual agreement by concentrating more on the needs of their employees. In these entities, the best method of workers recruitment is through employee referrals. Employees working on these agencies can entice their relatives and friends into desiring to work at their organization by narrating to them the many advantages of working for it. As a result, a formal process of identifying the employees who are selling the company values well intending to reward them though with different awards and retain them for long.
Another appropriate channel of acquiring new members of staff is by hiring recruiters who will look for prospective job candidates in the area. Whenever an organization decides to use this method, it is advisable to find recruiters who can acquire quality people, other than merely produce resumes. The human resource team should work along with the recruiter to create a proper job description that should always guide the recruiter in the search for the best-fit candidate. All the shortlisted candidates should be pre-screened. More importantly, the recruiter should strive not to solicit the organization’s workers for other clients. Notably, internet sites are appropriate channels of identifying prospective candidates who may be moving into the area.
Reward systems
Every organization today is conscious of the need to control compensation costs. However, the need to ensure that employees are paid competitive wages is equally essential. With that in mind, agencies that either roll out their salaries surveys or discuss salary issues with other competing organizations may find ways of retaining workers who may leave because of underpayment. Lack of precise survey data may make the organization overpay or underpay its employees. As a result, different organizations are drifting towards pay for a performance compensation system that recognizes individual employee’s efforts of their exemplary service and efforts towards the organization’s business goals. An organization’s compensation plan should either offer prize money, gifts, promotion, or extra days off, amongst other rewards. In the end, the aim is to make each employee feel valued, thereby increasing the chances of attracting and retaining hardworking employees for long.
Communication
The most hardworking employees and managers agree to high expectations and desire to know they are working together with likeminded people. Appropriate criteria for designing and communicating personal expectations is through the performance review process. Through time to time response, workers can know how they are doing and the kind of training opportunities they should seek to grow their skills and knowledge. Therefore, proper communication is vital to present-day workers since they all desire to know if their style of work is aligned to the big picture of the organization’s mission and vision. In this regard, they value numerous meetings that furnish them with updates on plans and new developments as well as respond to all their work-related concerns. As a result, their efforts are rejuvenated by public and personal recognition.
Employment and labor laws and regulations
As in many other countries, the US legislature has enacted laws and regulations meant to safeguard its citizens against employment discrimination. However, these laws are amended whenever there is a change in administration. Therefore, there a need for players in the employment industry to stay alert and informed on any amendment in the labor laws. With some exceptions, an employer or employee may opt-out of a non-contractual job whenever the need arises, provided the cited reasons are legal. The US laws consist of statutes that allow an organization to have a policy of employment that not only best suits its needs but also acts in its defense against a violation of contract lawsuit. Conversely, US employees can make other kinds of claims related to discrimination, personal injury, and even excessive working hours. However, the termination of a contract is a legally complicated matter that depends on the jurisdiction.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the constitutional mandated with enforcing federal discrimination laws. In 2016, EEOC designed a strategic enforcement plan that is hoping will help remove hindrances in the application that are considered a bit restrictive by the end of 2021. For example, online applications that are not user friendly to people living with disabilities. Also, EEOC aims at safeguarding vulnerable employees that are perceived undeserving due to language barriers, work level amongst other obstacles that make these groups prone to discriminatory acts. Besides, EEOC hopes to eliminate unfair qualification guidelines and inflexible leave policies that are not only punitive to people living with disabilities but also fails to reasonably consider the needs of pregnant workers.
Other laws and regulations that govern employer-employee relationships include the National Labor Relations Act, the employment-at-will doctrine, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, amongst many others. They individually cover a wide range of employment issues. For instance, the Fair Labor Standards Act demands payment of a statutorily set out minimum salaries to all workers, excluding younger employees who may be paid as per their unique guidelines. It also states that employers should pay for all overtime hours exceeding 40 weekly hours at a rate of one and one-half times of the agreed regular price. Other laws may demand an additional better overtime rate.
How functions of HRM work together to optimize organizational and employee behavior
Highly profitable organizations associate their prosperity to commendable management of their human resource department. Proper management of workers involves finding the middle ground between individual employee’s goals and the objectives of the entire organization. By ensuring that each employee is productive, the HR team makes the business to prosper. From the onset, a performing HR team ensures that the people hired are strategically aligned to the company’s mission and values. After the right employees are engaged, the HR department creates a conducive environment where employees feel motivated and dedicated to reaping the best of their performance. Moreover, HR leaders design all required programs, initiatives, and events that solely guide the employees in their daily activities. In any organization, change is bound to happen. As a result, HR managers should recruit and equip workers with the necessary skills to steer the change process.
Conclusion
From the beginning to the end, the process of recruiting and hiring the right candidates for the job is vital in determining the success of an organization. It should be as transparent as possible. After hiring, the HR team should continue to develop, manage, and motivate the employee to remain committed to his or her roles as well as those of the entire organization. Furthermore, incentives and other forms of rewards are very effective at ensuring that employees feel appreciated. If irreconcilable differences occur, employment and labor laws should strictly be followed in dismissing the employee.