Employee Resourcing
Employee resourcing entails HR concern with a range of approaches and methods used by the employers for resourcing the organizations in a manner that enables them to meet the key organizational goals. Thus, it involves the staffing including recruitment and selection as well as retention and the dismissal. Also, it involves, performance management including the appraisal as well as the management of employees performance. Further, it involves administration functions such as policy development, documentation, and procedural development as well as management of change (Beardwell, Holden & Claydon, 2004).
However, although there is general agreement regarding what constitutes areas such as recruitment and the release, there has been little agreement on ER’s performance management dimension’s boundaries. Leopold, Harris and Watson (2005) include the equal opportunities, diversity management, selection, assessment, performance management as well as exit management and evaluation as part of the ER. They also cover the reward management, which is often accorded a separate treatment.
ER’s policies choices revolve around the human resources flow: meaning the manner in which people enter into or are placed or move around as well as exit or move out an organization. Thus, how an organization chooses to plan as well as implement its Human resources flow policies can be termed as being dependent on its assessment of the various stakeholders’ interests. That involves weighting on what is appropriate for each given the varying situational characteristics like the type of the workforce, management philosophy such as being a family firm. Other characteristics include the firm’s technology, business strategy, the agendas of the trade unions, and the legal regulations, the labor market state and the prevalent societal values depending on the areas it operates (CIPD, 2004).
A good example of the modern resourcing practices is the use of the headhunting agencies by companies to source for personnel with specific skills. That entails engaging professionals with a good understanding of the market to recruit and select the most suited candidates for the jobs. The approach has been applied by many companies mainly the multinationals.
Reward management
Reward Management deals with formulation as well as implementation of organizational policies and strategies aiming at rewarding people fairly, consistently and equitably in line with the value they present to an organization (Armstrong & Stephens, 2006).
The reward and compensation system has a key role in business organizations. Since, among the four key Ms, of Men, Material, Money and Machine, Men are the most important aspect as it not possible to run the business process in the absence of Men. Thus, Land, Capital, Labor and the Organization are the four key factors of any production. In that respect, each factor has a contribution to the production and business. In turn, all the factors expect a return from those business processes like in form of rent that is expected from the land. On the other hand, the capitalist expects some Interest while the Organizers who entail the Entrepreneur expect a return regarding profits. In the same manner, Labor expects a return regarding wages and salaries from the business process.
It’s thus evident that the other production/business aspects are not human hence labor has a vital role and responsibility for organizing the business and production process and putting it in motion. In that respect, the labor factor being human is marked by expectations, ambitions, egos, and emotions. Thus, labor expects a fair share of the production and business process (Sarin & Mahajan, 2001).
In that view, developing a fair pay and compensation platform is crucial for the business organization. That fair compensation will has benefits including the following:
With a suitable compensation platform, there will be a positive and desired impact on results and efficiency.
The system encourages all workers to perform well and achieve fixed standards.
The system also encourages job evaluation process while also helping with setting up of an ideal evaluation process. The ideal process then features transparency while the standards setting would be realistic as well as achievable.
There would be a flexible and simple system, and the workers can compute their compensation receivable.
The system would also be uniform and clearly defined. It would thus apply across all organizational levels in a general platform.
The system would also be easier to understand and implement hence not penalize workers for reasons that are not within their control thus avoiding the exploitation of the workers.
The system also helps the management regarding compliance with various labor laws and acts.
It raises the morale, cooperation, and efficiency among workers. Thus, being fair and just would offer satisfaction to workers.
It also brings a suitable settlement of employees’ disputes between workmen’s unions and the management.
It embodies in itself all principles of the equal work and equal wages acting as an encouragement to people who perform well as well as opportunities to excel (Lyons & Ben-Ora, 2002).
Reward management goes beyond the standard remuneration as it embraces a company culture while aiming at offering a voice to all employees where employers in return receive an engaged performance by the employees. That means it involves total reward that offers a broader perspective for treating everything an organization can offer its staff as well as what employees can, in turn, promise their companies, embodying a fundamental change in management decision making a model of the organization’s high-level managers (Christina & Gursoy, 2009).
In the recent years, the total reward system has been increasingly becoming more used facet that has even the scholars’ attention. Thus, as a key part of HRM practice, the total reward was introduced into various organizations to improve competitiveness hence enhancing sustainability in a global marketing arena. Now, the total reward has advanced as a model of HRM which accelerates organizational development while boosting the advancement of the social and economic environment. In comparison with the traditional system, the total reward is greatly reflected in the ways enterprises motivate, attract, as well as retain talents. It also reflects in employee performances that accord with organizational goals (Jiang, Xiao, Qi, & Xiao, 2009).
Such total reward management approaches have been applied by many companies such as Apple and Microsoft that seek to retain top talent in the technology sector. For instance, Apple has a reward system that entails various pay methods and covering not only its employees in the US but also workers in its stores across the Globe. Further, the Company’s pay system seeks to reward performance with bonuses and kind rewards (Eromedia, 2015).
Employee Relations
Employee Relations offers direction as well as oversight for a variety of the non-union workers employment issues such as staff performance, absence leaves, and the disciplinary issues (Yang, Stafford & Gillenson, 2011).
It also addresses issues such as staff employees’ grievances such as the formal complaints, harassment investigations and the other forms of workplace misconduct. It also involves addressing all the anticipated terminations as well as claims for unemployment compensation. Employee Relations is also key in providing proactive assistance in interpretation as well as the implementation of procedures, Staff Handbook’s directives and policies to supervisors and employees (Price, 2000).
Thus, employee relations can be referred to as the total reward relationship that exists between employers as well as their representatives as well as the employees with their representatives regarding the setting up of the employment conditions. In past decades, industrial relations have been the term mainly used in describing the relationship (Kehoe & Wright, 2013). However, that has largely changed as the term has been gradually replaced by workplace relation that is viewed as a broader term. Although those two aspects are similar, the industrial relations mainly refers to resolutions of the conflicts between employees and employers while the employee relations refers to an approach which incorporates all issues in employee–employer relationship in a workplace covering recruitment, training and employees development, equal opportunity as well as organizational structures (Gennard & Judge, 2002).
Organizations are increasingly and continually examining means of improving competitiveness as well as profitability. Central to the objectives is an efficient and effective workforce hence an organization seeking to enhance performance uses its employees’ relations processes with a purpose to:
Encourage an efficient and effective workforce being a means of adding more value to all aspects of the organizational performance.
Focusing on the use of specific strategies for retaining, rewarding and motivating skilled and effective employees (Bach, 2005).
A good example of employee relations programs is in the technology sector where companies such as HP, Microsoft, and Apple seek to retain top talents by ensuring effective resolution of employees’ issues. Other employee relation approaches that have been applied have been enhancing communication across the management levels as well as from the bottom up.
On the other hand, in cases of Employee relations failure, companies suffer not only financial losses but also in terms of reputation and ability to attract top talent. A good example is the HP Company that was implicated in a case of spying on its Directors regarding a leak that was suspected to have emanated from them. The company was investigated and had to pay $14.5 M as settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General of California (Reisman, 2007).
Employment Law
Employment law addresses a wide range of aspects including employment contracts and dismissal as well as everything that falls in between. In that respect, organizations use employment law services for purposes of ensuring they comply with the law. The compliance with the employment law helps keeps an organization’s workforce happier hence more productive while saving the employer the stress and costs related to the employment tribunal’s claims. The following is a summary of some of the law’s aspects with reference to the UK’s case.
Statutory requirements and employment contracts
Every employee works under a contract which could either be in writing.. As such, employers are legally bound to provide written statements on the employment’s terms as well as conditions. In that respect, changing the contract terms without an employee’s agreement could be result in breach the contract.
Regardless of nature the contract, the employer should comply with the statutory requirements regarding employees’ working hours, annual leave and pay. Those include the regulations on working time that covers the maximum hours, minimum wage and the annual holiday entitlements. Finally, it also includes the statutory pay for the sick and the qualified employees.
Employee rights
The laws require employers to respect a range of their employees’ rights. The in rights include provision of a safe and healthy working environment, freedom to join trade unions as well as provision of pay statements.
Further, new mothers and pregnant women have the rights to sometime-off prior and after birth. For those who have been in employment for long, they qualify for a statutory maternity payment. The law provides similar rights to the adoptive parents as well as the new fathers.
Further, the law protects employees against discrimination of any kind may it be based on race, nationality, color, ethnic origin, disability, religion, age or their philosophical beliefs. Discriminate against employees based their sex, marital status or sexual orientation is also illegal. In regard to those rights, disgruntled employees can claim discrimination and tribunal award them damages.
Managing employees
Businesses must also inform as well as consult employees and or/and their representatives prior to major changes such as redundancies are made. Thus, employers need to keep written grievance and disciplinary procedures that are transparent and fair. Finally, managers should be trained and employees informed of those procedures regarding grievances and discipline issues (Morris, Willey, & Sachdev, 2002).
Human Resource Development
The Human Resource Development is a framework to help employees increase their organizational and personal skills, abilities and knowledge. The HRD includes opportunities like employee training, workers career development, performance development and management, mentoring, succession plan, coaching, key workers identification, organization development and tuition assistance.
The focus for all HRD aspects is in developing a superior workforce for individual employees and organization to attain their employment goals towards serving the customers. Thus, Human resource development is the process that workers of an organization receive help, in a planned and continuous way to:
Acquire or even sharpen capabilities needed to perform different functions that are associated with present or the expected future duties;
Develop culture for an organization whereby subordinate- supervisor relationships, collaboration and teamwork among the sub-units are well-built and contribute towards the professional welfare, pride and motivation of employees.
Develop the general capabilities of individuals as well as exploit and discover their personal inner potentials for development purposes (Werner & DeSimone, 2006).
Human Resource Development is the process, not merely set of techniques and mechanisms. The techniques and mechanisms like performance appraisal, training, counseling, and the development interventions of an organization are there to facilitate, initiate, and promote the process in continuous manner. Organizations can facilitate the development process by planning, allocating organizational resources, and by exemplifying a HRD philosophy which values human beings while promoting their development. The HRD goals include developing
The ability of each worker as a person.
The ability of each worker in relevance to her or his anticipated future role.
The ability of each person in relevance to her or his present role.
The team functioning and spirit in every organizational unit such as a group or department.
A dyadic relationship among each employee as well as her or his supervisor.
Collaboration amongst diverse units of the organization.
The organization’s overall health as well as self-renewing abilities that then increase capabilities of dyads, individuals, teams, as well as the entire organization (Petrescu & Simmons, 2008)
Given the Human Resource Management learning I had in this course, I now have a good understanding of the three aspects of Human Resources management. Thus, I am well prepared for roles in any of the functions as I understand not only the practices involved but also the benefits to employees, the employers, and the other stakeholders. I also understand the implication of failures in the HR functions.
References
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Bach, S. (2005). Human Resource Management. Oxford: Blackwell.
Beardwell I., Holden L. and Claydon T. (2004). Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Perspective 4th Ed. London: FT/Pitman.
CIPD. (2004). Recruitment, retention and turnover: A 2004 survey of the UK and Ireland. London: CIPD.
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Gennard, J. and Judge, G. (2002). Employee Relations. London: CIPD.
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Leopold, J., Harris, L. and Watson, T. (2005). The Strategic Managing of Human Resources. London: Financial Times/Pitman.
Lyons, F. and Ben-Ora, D. (2002). Total rewards strategy: The best foundation of pay for performance. Compensation and Benefits Review, 34(2), 34-45.
Morris, H., Willey, B. and Sachdev, S. (2002). Managing in a Business Context: an HR Approach. London: Prentice Hall.
Petrescu, A. and Simmons, R. (2008). Human resource management practices and workers' job satisfaction. International Journal of Manpower, 29(7), 651–667.
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Reisman, J. (2007). Avoiding the HP Syndrome When Investigating Misconduct. HR Online February 1, 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2016 from, http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=9598588
Sarin, S., and Mahajan, V. (2001). The effect of rewards structures on the performance of cross-functional product development team. The journal of marketing, 65(2), 35-53.
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Yang ,Y., Stafford , F. & Gillenson, M. (2011). Satisfaction with employee relationship management systems: The impact of usefulness on systems quality perceptions. European Journal of Information Systems, 20(2), 221-236.
