Human Resources

KEY CONCEPTS

Human resources management (HRM) is an important aspect of business strategy and a key to improving organizational performance. You gain an understanding of the complex world of HRM when you develop your organization and explore areas of employee engagement and motivation.

Nowadays, merely carrying out tasks that has to do with people in your business, such as administering salaries and conducting interviews, is not enough. You must ensure that the duties of the HR team are fully integrated into the business and actively contributes towards helping it achieve its strategic goals. This is the only way that will move HRM from being just a task or process-oriented function to one of strategic importance. The huge effect of HR is felt on the culture and environment of your workplace, giving your employees adequate knowledge on how to settle disputes, communicate and work with each other. This ultimate guide will teach you everything you need to know about human resources.

WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM)

HRM is the term used to describe a process that essentially covers the basic procedures, activities, tasks, and policies in an organization that has to do with employees, which are its key resources. The process of hiring new employees and training existing workers is an example of human resource management.

The process of engaging your employees is also another example of HRM. An engaged employee always makes a better employee than one who is not engaged. HRM can be summarized as the process of optimizing company performance through better management of human resources (people or employees). The scope of the HR department in every business is very wide and involves functions like recruiting, employee benefits, workplace culture, and adequate training. Human Resource Management deals with your employees, whether regarding recruitment, management, or other forms of direction and assistance. An effective HRM means more attentive and communicative managers which translates into happier employees who feel both fulfilled and appreciated at work. In other words, the process of HRM involves finding effective ways to ensure your employees keep investing their time and effort into their own success together with the ultimate success of the organization.

IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The importance of HRM in every organization cannot be overemphasized. The human resource department has the capacity to manage the most important and valuable resources of an organization. Without a proper functioning human resource department, an organization cannot achieve a high level of efficiency and workforce management. The following are the importance of Human Resource Management.

Recruitment and Training

The longevity of any business is attributed to the recruitment of new employees. The human resources department understands the available vacancies within an organization, and it takes adequate measures to ensure those vacancies are filled. Recruiting new employees is a long process associated with advertising new job postings, sourcing potential candidates, screening the applicants, conducting interviews in the preliminary stage, and coordinating with the managers who oversee making the final decision.

When necessary, the HR team also provides training to the employees according to the requirements of the organization. This allows the members to get the opportunity to sharpen their existing skills or develop specialized skills which in turn, will help them to take up some new roles.

Establishing Relationships with Employees

The HR department is responsible for maintaining relationships with employees in an organized work environment. It also focuses on strengthening the relationships among employees. As a result, the HR department is in a position to resolve all sorts of conflicts that arise within the organization.

Ensuring the Safety of Employees

The safety of work environment is an extremely important part every organization must pay attention to. The HR department takes necessary measures to ensure a safe working environment for the employees. A safe, clean, friendly, and healthy environment brings out the best in an employee and gives the staff members job satisfaction as well. The HR department is also in charge of reporting injuries that take place within the work environment to higher management.

Compensation and Benefits

This function is the most transactional. It has to with administering and running payroll, calculating and paying bonuses and administering the benefits schemes which the company gives. These benefits include private medical insurance and pensions. Some of these tasks involve detailed and ongoing cooperation with third-party partners. There is also a strategic element to this area, because the compensation and benefits strategy should be linked to the type and goals of the larger business.

In a normal setting, the larger the business, the greater the compensation and benefits its employees receive. For instance, increasing sales would be achieved better and faster by offering commission-based bonuses to sales employees.

Regulatory Compliance

The HR function is responsible for supporting employees and line managers to obey the employment rules and regulations that hold in the country and field of operation. These laws could have to do with employee relations (such as disciplinary and grievance), health and safety, payment of income tax, etc.

Developing Public Relations

Establishing good public relations is the responsibility of the HRM to a great extent. They organize business meetings, seminars, and different official gatherings on behalf of the company to build up relationships with other business sectors. Sometimes, the HR department plays an active role in preparing the business and marketing plans for the organization too.

OBJECTIVES OF HUMAN RESOURCE

Social Objective

This involves being socially responsible to the requirements and challenges of the society. Organizations that fail to use their resources for social welfare may cause restrictions, societies may bring up laws limiting human resource decisions.

Operational Objective

This involves maintaining the functions of the department at a level proper to the organization's needs so as to ensure that resources are not wasted. The level of service of every department must match with the company it serves.

Organizational Objective

HRM should survive to contribute to the effectiveness of the organization. HRM is the process to help the organization achieve its main objectives.

Human or Personal Objective

For workers are to be satisfied, personal or human objectives of employees must be achieved, motivated and retained. Otherwise, employees may underperform, be dissatisfied, and eventually leave the job.

ROLES OF AN HR MANAGER

Human resources managers are in charge of planning, directing, and coordinating the administrative functions of an organization. They oversee the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring of new staff, consult with top executives on strategic planning, and serve as a link between an organization’s management and its employees.

The roles of a human resource manager can be categorized into three major areas: Administrative, Operational and Strategic roles.

Administrative Role

As the HR administrator, your main responsibilities are to maintain and update employee records, and manage various HR documents and internal databases, such as holiday and leave. HR administrators are usually the first point of contact to employees and external partners for every HR related queries. HR administrators handle majority of employee documentation, including contracts, human resources forms (HR forms), recruitment paperwork and starter packs.

It is very important that the HR department understands, have the knowledge of employment law and conforms to these laws.

As an HR administrator, your roles include the following:

• Forming and maintaining employee records.
• Preparing and amending HR documents where necessary, i.e. employment contracts and recruitment guides.
• Helping with various arrangements internally, from travel to processing expenses.

Operational Role

Operational HR activities are tactical. They focus on the immediate needs of the organization. Operational HR activities relate with the HR functional areas which are employee and labor relations, compensation and benefits, training and development, safety and risk management, and recruitment and selection.

Strategic Role

Strategic human resource management combines the traditional human resources functions of recruiting, screening, interviewing, and hiring employees, with the overall organizational strategy to achieve success. The Strategic Planning Manager plans and directs an organization's strategic and long-term goals. They conduct organizational reviews to identify strengths and weaknesses and to evaluate operational effectiveness. There are different tools and HR templates that can be used to enable HR managers carry out their roles effectively and efficiently.

These HR documents and forms are particularly useful during the recruitment process.

CHALLENGES OF HRM

Humans are complex in nature and having to manage people has always been tricky. This makes human resource management a difficult role that is faced with challenges.

The following are the top challenges of HRM:

Attracting Top Talent

Attracting and retaining top talent requires discernment, time and a whole lot of work. You need to know the requirements of the job and the organization in order to attract the right individuals, this keeps changing with time, making the process more difficult.

To overcome this, ensure your vacancies are marketed only where your target individuals are. When you attract the right individuals, the screening process becomes less stressful.

Fostering a Culture of Continuous Learning

A lot of employees leave their jobs due to lack of trainings and development opportunity. training is a major key for keeping employees stimulated, engaged and loyal.

Organize different online trainings to keep your organization competitive, while improving your employees.

Looking After Health and Safety

Health and safety standards are one of the most challenging part of HR management. This is because health in a workplace is more than just personal hygiene and safety. Training managers in Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a great way to overcome this challenge. This helps employees recognize the benefits of a healthy mental state.