Chapter 1: The Role of Human Resources

HRM Day-to-Day
 Strategic process dealing with staffing, compensation, retention, training, and
employment law and policies of the business
o Right people are hired and trained for the right job at the right time
1.1 What is HR?
 Capital- cash, valuables, or goods used to generate income for a business
 HRM- process of employing people, training, compensating, developing policies, and
developing strategies to retain your employees
o Everyone deals with some aspect of HR even if not a part of the HR department
o Staffing- the entire hiring process from posting a job to negotiating a salary
package
 Steps:
 Development of a staffing plan- allows HRM to see how many
people they should hire based on revenue expectations
 Development of policies to encourage multiculturalism
 Recruitment- finding people to fill open positions
 Selection- interviewed and selected  proper compensation
o Followed by training, retention, and motivation
o Development of Workplace policies
 Ensure fairness and continuity within the org.
 Develop the policy if changes are needed and then communicate it with
the employees
 This requires all departments
o Compensation and Benefits Admin
 Compensation- anything the employee receives or their work
 Must be comparable to similar jobs
o Consideration of # of years w/ org, years of experience,
edu., etc…
o Retention- keeping and motivating employees to sat with the org.
 Compensation is a factor in retention, but 90% leave due to:
 Issues around the job they’re performing
 Challenges w/ manager/management
 Poor fit w/ organizational culture
 Poor workplace environment
o Training and Development
 Training is a key motivator
 Makes them happier and Higher retention
 Ex: job skill training, communication training, teambuilding, legal
training, etc…
 o Dealing w/ Laws Affecting Employment
 Discrimination laws, Healthcare req’s, Compensation req’s, Worker
Safety laws, Labor laws, etc…
 Legal environment always changes  must be up-to-date to
communication these changes w/ management org.
o Worker Protection
 Awareness of worker protection req’s and ensure workplace is meeting
with Federal and Union Standards
 Ex: chemical hazards, heating, ventilation, “no fragrance zones”,
protection of private employee info
o Communication
o Awareness of External Factors
 External factors are something the co. has no control over
 Ex: offshoring, changes to employment law, healthcare costs, etc…
 Flexible work schedules and telecommuting are the newest factors thus far
 Develop policies that meet the needs of the co. and the individual
 Attending conferences and reading articles can help keep to date with
external forces (SHRM)
1.2 Skills Needed for HRM
 Organization
o Managing pay, benefits, and careers
 Multitask
 People Skills
o Various personalities, conflicts, and training/coaching
 Understanding specifics job areas like employee databases, employment
laws, and strategic plans that align w/ business
 Strategic mindset
o Planning for future for the entire business as a whole
 Ethics- sense of fairness
o Moral rights and wrongs of a situation
 Exams to take to show mastery of HRM material:
o Professional in HR (PHR)- 2 years of experience
o Senior Professional in HR (SPHR)- focuses on designing and planning (8 years of
experience and manages an HR dept.)
o Global Professional in HR (GPHR)- global level companies. Two years of
professional experience
1.3 Today’s HRM Challenges
 Containing Costs
o People part of a business is likely for cuts when econ isn’t well:
 Healthcare benefits, training costs, hiring process costs, etc…
o Balances cuts w/ employee motivation
o Cut costs associated w/ health care:
  Shift more of the cost of healthcare to employees
 Reduce benefits offered
 Change or negotiate the plan the reduce healthcare costs
o Cafeteria Plans- gives all employees a min. level of benefits and a set amt to
spend on flexible benefits allowing, based on their circumstances, to choose
which benefits best suits them
o Offering training
 Saves money in long run
 E.g. working w/in the law (sexual harassment lawsuits)
o Hiring process and cost of turnover (# of employees who leave a co. in a period)
o Communication skills and tools (email, conferences, etc…)
o Offshoring- movement of jobs overseas to contain costs
 Technology
o Greater need for multicultural understanding (working w/ people overseas)
o Flexibility, mobility, and productivity due to that
 Fairness to other workers when one person is offered a flexible schedule
o Virtual Org- no physical locale and allows employees to work from home or any
location of choice.
 Productivity and communication challenges come with this type of org.
o Smartphones and social networking
 Disseminate info to employees via these methods
o Cyberloafing- lost productivity due to employee’s using work computers for
personal reasons
 However, blocking access to Internet can impact motivation
o Increased stress and physical harm
 The Economy
o If work for unionized co, then union contracts guide when having to downsize due
to economical struggles
o Also, legal restrictions of who can be let go
 Performance issues can be considerations when necessary to lay off
employees
o On the other hand, massive hiring due to economic success
 Changing and Diverse Workforce
o Retirement of workers out ways the influx of recruits to replace them
 Baby boomers is the reason for this
 Life expectancy, SS isn’t covering retirement costs, loss of
knowledge
o Knowledge of current workers and the needs of future workforce is necessary
o Different values because of generation gaps
 Ethics
o Ethical workplace is important for shareholder and employee satisfaction
  Implication of ethic codes w/in business
 HRM dept. has responsibility of designing it and developing
policies for ethical decision making
o possibility to hire ethics officers
o code of ethics- outline that explains the expected ethical behavior of employees