The Human Resource department is an essential element of an organization. Every company’s management highly depends on this department in dealing with administrative issues to maintain good relations between management and employees. Human resources professionals are considered strategic partners, employee sponsors or advocates and transforming mentors. They are responsible in evaluating and organizing the operations of personnel department such as enforcing policies, programs and procedures in recruitment, pay and benefits, collective bargaining, training and development and job classification. As management representatives, they are constantly faced with varying policies and regulations relating to the well-being, safety and rights of every employee. In addressing these issues, human resources professionals must investigate and probe, gather data, conclude and take corrective actions. Some of the most significant problems they are facing include the following:
Establishing Productivity
The company’s revenue growth entirely depends on productivity. The human resource department should primarily focus on how to make every employee productive. This can be achieved by organizing the number of people working per shift, team task specifications and offer incentives and bonuses for employee motivation. There should be a balance between these factors which are strongly associated so as not to
negatively affect other areas while modifying one factor. The company’s budget should also be considered so human resources professionals should take extra care in managing these changes without hurting the finances.
Recruiting Employees
Employee recruitment has always been the responsibility of the human resources department where hiring the right people is a crucial process. Due to globalization, companies are facing more problems in the area of recruitment since they are confronted with global competition rather than just nationwide forcing them to offer more benefit packages and incentives. While most employees are seeking for jobs that offer stability in the face of unstable economic status, nowadays, the Internet offers jobs that provide flexibility between work and family which is more preferable to most people. This has been an additional challenge to human resources professionals in recruiting employees who have the potentials. There are various approaches in addressing these challenges where careful planning is necessary. To generate applicants and attract job interests, the human resources department can join job fairs or send out promotional e-mails. The Internet can also play a vital role in the area of recruitment where it can pool up manpower worldwide. Candidates can apply online which includes the process of interviewing and verifying the applicant’s qualifications and employment history. This procedure is convenient for both the candidates and the human resources professionals not to mention the cost efficiency it provides for the company.
Training Arrangement
Training is necessary for the newly hired employees who may not have the product knowledge or required skills for the specific job as well as every employee has to conform with the company’s policies and procedures. It is the major responsibility of human resources professionals to provide employees with high quality training and deliver this knowledge for the employees to perform their specific task. Training sessions and seminars are important elements for employee development and should be conducted regularly to enhance or update existing and new skills. The challenge lies on managing the training where the flow of operations should not be stopped or hindered while undergoing training sessions. This can be successfully implemented by arranging schedules in deploying appropriate number of people working in an hourly basis.
Preventing Discrimination
Every organization seeks for diversity that can provide different ideas and experiences and nurtures equality which could influence good teamwork that contributes to greater productivity. However, some workplaces have laws and policies that could trigger some forms of discrimination in terms of race and ethnicity thus human resources professionals are faced with discrimination complaints. To reduce or eliminate these issues, human resources professionals should recruit and train employees in accordance with legal business standards and to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements. They can also organize extra-curricular programs for employees to get involved such as volunteer and community works which could foster unity, respect and cultural awareness.
Resolving Conflicts
Conflicts are common in a workplace where a mixture of personalities, experiences and skills exist. Aside from conflicts arising from breach of contract between employees and the company, lost properties and other concerns, complaints of verbal, physical or sexual harassment, drug and alcohol abuse are also common. Human resources professionals should resolve existing conflicts critically examining the cause and evaluating both sides of the story and take disciplinary actions. They should practice transparency and make each employee feel valued, let their voices be heard making sure that they share the same perspectives. Maintaining a safe and supportive work environment is one way of motivating employees to be productive.
Establishing and Distributing Benefits
Handling Outsourcing
Retaining Employees
Mass resignation poses a threat to every organization because the
possibility of losing good employees will have a negative impact on the company. One of the major challenges of every company is to avoid employee resignations and terminations because it is cheaper to retain an employee than to hire and train a new one. Resignation has various reasons such as the absence of career growth opportunities, lack of acknowledgement or appreciation, stress due to overwork, more attractive job offer and illness. Human resource professionals should conduct a complete exit interview to identify the cause for leaving which could help them evaluate and apply the needed changes in their policies and procedures. They should take into consideration that retaining an employee means maintaining a challenging and interesting job with appropriate financial benefits. Loyal employees should be provided with a competitive compensation proportionate with their job profiles and special awards and incentives such as loyalty awards and occupational hazard pay for protection from injury, illness or death.
Promoting Employees
Promoting employees could be a complex issue because various employees have different expectations on their performance. Human resources professionals should be fair, transparent and systematic in their evaluation to make sure that the higher position goes to a well-deserved and hard working employee. They should motivate all other employees to continue working efficiently by carrying out programs that could boost their productivity and morale.
Terminating Employees
As much as possible, most companies avoid terminating an employee because it contributes workforce reduction which could adversely affect productivity. However, employees who are engaged in unethical behavior or business practices, criminal activities or fraud should not be retained as it could harm the reputation of the organization. Other reasons for termination are incompetence, escalation, absenteeism and redundancy. Human resources professionals should conduct a thorough investigation and evaluation before terminating an employee. The grounds for termination and notice period should be clearly specified upon termination to protect the company from possible lawsuits and labor complaints.
Human resources professionals should deal with these issues in a systematic process while applying comprehensive policies in the right manner. Building a solid team coordination and cooperation in the human resources department is necessary in solving problems to achieve positive results. Problem solving should be their expertise and any simple error is unacceptable because this could impact the company’s reputation that could lead to total failure.
References:
Cyprus, S., What Are the Most Common Human Resources Issues? (March 21, 2013). wiseGeek. Retrieved from
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-most-common-human-
resources-issues.htm
Gorkin, M., A Stress Survival Guide for HR Professionals, Pecan Valley Centers, (2013). Retrieved from http://www.pvmhmr.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=992
Heathfield, S., The New Roles of the Human Resources Professional, About.com. Human Resources, (2013). Retrieved from
http://humanresources.about.com/od/hrbasicsfaq/a/hr_role.htm
McCray, S., The Top 10 Problems With Outsourcing Implementations
(And How to Overcome Them), (April, 2008). Technology
Partners International, Inc. Retrieved from
http://www.tpi.net/pdf/papers/Top_10_Problems-with
Outsourcing.pdf
Pillai, P., Human Resource Management Issues, (October 30, 2012). Buzzle. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/human-resources-issues.html
