Making The Best Use Of HR
Introduction
Human Resource Management, or HRM for short, is one of the most important elements in running a prosperous business, although it is not always handled with the time and emphasis that it deserves. To fully understand what HRM is and its impact on the success or failing of a business, we first need to know what it means.
The function of Human Resource Management is to recruit, develop and utilise the staff within an enterprise in the manner in which is most suitable to accomplishing the aims and objectives of the enterprise.
This essentially translates to “using people in the business in the best way possible” although that would be an over-simplified assertion that doesn’t echo the real nature and range of HRM. HRM describes all of the techniques and processes that are involved in making sure that all members of staff within a company are pulling in the same direction, and more importantly, in the right direction. Without having good human resource management a business will be spending energy on jobs that it may not directly gain from.
At its core, HRM brings together three primary elements that are essential to the productive output of the workforce. These factors include motivation, management and leadership, and organisational structures. Consequently, HRM can be applied to all levels of management inside your company, not just the shop floor staff, and it may even be used to alter the framework of those levels of management as well. It is a wide-ranging subject that is explained in more detail in this article.
Why is it Necessary?
Quite simply, companies don’t operate without employees. As such, some level of human resource management is necessary for any business to operate at all, let alone in an efficient and prosperous manner.
Human Resource Management has an impact on every level of your corporate activities with varying degrees of visibility. The most evident HRM tasks involve the hiring and firing of employees as well as monetary systems such as payroll. It may also impact on motivation and communication within your company, which are much more intangible aspects but are crucial nonetheless.
It also goes without saying that every business is unique and will have a unique set of challenges to face and opportunities to take advantage of. HRM can work as a flexible tool that translates workforce potential into financial profits and can adapt to fully utilise the talents of your firm.
We employ Human Resource Management to make sure the workforce delivers asset protection offshore efficiently for optimum prosperity.
Impact on Business
While this all sounds very interesting and important, how does it actually impact on the daily operations of your company, and more importantly, how will it help to enhance the performance and profitability of your company?
Recruitment & Training
This is probably the part of a company that is most associated with human resources – recruitment. Nearly every business in the world, and particularly companies that are expanding, must recruit people to work for them. Either current employees have left, or new possibilities have arisen which mean there are roles that have to be filled. HRM can make sure your recruitment system gets the appropriate people into the right jobs at a cost-effective price.
It’s also important to keep your staff training procedures up-to-date to make sure that your workforce is fully capable of doing the job they are there to do. Whether it is a new piece of legislation or a new piece of technology that alters the industry, there is an on-going requirement to keep your organisation up-to-date and prepared to take advantage of any opportunity. There is an expression that states that “if you are not moving forward you are going backwards” which can be applied to business.
You may also discover that the costly process of external recruitment can be avoided if your organisation has adequate training facilities in place. It is much easier to teach an existing staff member to a higher level and then use external recruitment to fill the gap left at the lower level than it is to hire directly to a higher level.
Employee Relations
Once you have the suitable men and women working for you it is necessary to keep them doing work for you, and to be sure they are doing a good job. This can be achieved by means of good employee relations. The most obvious employee relations practice is the art of motivation – a broad topic itself – but other worker relations issues can include disciplinary and grievance management. All of these things are an essential part of the overall HRM strategy.
Finances
You can’t keep employees at your company by good motivational techniques only. They will want to be paid a fair sum and on time. Payroll ought to be one of the primary systems that is created when you start a business, but they still need to be maintained and updated when staff join, leave or change pay grade.
Industrial Relations
Several firms will have to deal with trade union or other workers rights organisations which can be incredibly forceful when protecting the interests of their own members. When interacting with such bodies it is beneficial to have people within your company who can connect comfortably with them whilst keeping the interests of your own organisation in mind as well.
Human resource management is actually required by every offshore llc no matter how big or little your workforce might be.
Workforce Planning
We have seen the influence that human resource management may have on a company and generally it looks like good HRM will have a beneficial effect on any company. As a rule, this is the case, but good HRM does not just occur overnight.
One way to apply HRM concepts to your company is via workforce planning – a process that has the aim of making sure your workforce can complete the upcoming tasks required for your company to be successful.
Definition
Workforce planning is the process of anticipating ahead of time the human resource needs of any organisation, both in terms of the number of employees needed and the appropriate skill mix. Recruitment and training policies are designed with a long term emphasis in order to make sure that the company is able to function without being limited by a shortage of appropriate labour. Workforce planning can be split into four main areas; requirements, recruitment, selection, and training and development.
Requirements
Analysing your workforce demands is vital to the proper planning of your workforce in the short-term and long-term future. If your company is subject to seasonal shifts in demand, for example in the tourism industry, or is prone to seasonal fluctuations in staff levels then your workforce planning has to take these factors into consideration. Also bear in mind any future retirements or times of maternity/paternity leave or you could experience a shortage of qualified employees.
Recruitment
Whether you are recruiting externally or from inside your existing workforce you still want to find the right individual to fill the position. As part of your workforce planning you ought to draw up a job description that describes the role that will be undertaken as well as a person specification which will give an indication of the sort of individual that would be a good fit for the job and your business. By mixing and prioritising the elements of these two documents you will be able to recognise the ideal job applicant.
Selection
The selection process can be as involved or as easy as you deem necessary. Beyond regular job selection interviews there are several ways you can learn about about candidates for your jobs, including aptitude tests, group interviews or even psychometric testing.
Training & Development
The primary goal of staff training and development is to develop a better standard of worker in your organisation. Workforce planning can use training to fill upcoming gaps in the skill set of your staff and is usually faster and more cost effective than external recruitment. Training and development may also go some way toward motivating your staff.
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Workforce Motivation
It almost goes without saying that properly motivated workers are going to deliver a better standard of work and have a greater quantity of production than unhappy workers. This improved work rate will inevitably lead to a rise in the profitability of a business.
Essentially, all motivational tactics can be separated into two models that are often called the “carrot and stick” approach to motivation. The analogy relates to the two approaches to make a donkey carry your belongings, either by tempting it with a carrot, or threatening it with a strike from a stick!
Whether you use the carrot strategy or the stick approach will largely depend on your own management style, as well as the industry you work in and the type of individuals that you employ. Regardless of your approach, motivational factors can be broken down into a further two sets; financial and non-financial motivators.
Financial
The most common financial motivators are payment plans. You can pay staff in a number of different ways, either a set amount for a fixed service, by an hourly or daily fee, or a rate related to production, such as a commission structure.
Another financial motivation technique involves what are known as incentive schemes, where by additional financial rewards are given out for good overall performance. This may include commission beyond a fixed salary, performance-related pay levels or even providing a share of company profits.
Non-financial
Many human resource advocates have their own thoughts about the other factors that motivate people to work, although these are often seen as an added bonus to a worker. It is widely acknowledged that income is the main motivational factor for the vast majority of people. If you want to learn more about these ideas I would recommend looking up the work of Elton Mayo, Abraham Maslow and Fredrick Herzberg.
The Changing Face of HRM
As previously mentioned, HRM is a versatile application that is there to match the features of your staff to the objectives of your organisation. As a result, it has had to keep adapting to a corporate climate that is constantly changing for one reason or another. Furthermore, it is a good idea to continuously evaluate your own HRM procedures and not to rest on your laurels.
Perhaps there is a new piece of government legislation that will have an effect of how your business can carry out its operations, or maybe a fresh manufacturing technology will come along that can revolutionise your sector. Either way, if you want to make certain that your staff is performing to its highest level then your HRM system should be flexible enough to cope with an ever-changing world.
