INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCES
Human Resource Management (HRM) aims to recruit
capable, flexible, and committed people, managing and
rewarding their performance, and developing their key
skills to the benefit of the organisation.
Human Resources is crucial to the long-term performance
and success of businesses. It is not just about “hiring,
paying, and firing” workers.
This list of functions give an indication of its importance:
➢ Planning, implementing, and controlling,
➢ Talent Management: recruting and retaining high-
quality employees, developing their skills, and
motivating them to improve their performance. Their
primary interest is to maintain a workforce highly
motivated to perform well and stay in the business in
the long term.
➢ Training and development of employees: identify the
skills needs of the business and resourcing training
courses for employees. This also helps to motivate
workers as they receive opportunities to improve their
skills and they feel recognized of their important role
in the business.
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➢ Reward and performance management: paying
employees an appropriate level of remuneration, using
a system which stimulates and motivates them to
perform well. Benefits are expected by many
employees, who must be monitored through a regular
appraisal system.
➢ Employee welfare: this means to provide facilities
which allow employees to work in a healthy
environment. A nice place where to work is also useful
to motivate and improve the employee morale.
➢ One aspect of employee welfare that is receiving much
attention at present is work-life balance, because of
work preferences changes after the pandemic.
➢ Human Resource compliance: consists in developing
policies and practices to ensure that the employment
and work practices of the organisation meet all legal
control and regulation:
• Minimum wage law
• Health and safety at work laws.
 THE ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Human Resource Management requires careful planning of the number and skills of the people needed by the organisation.
It is part of its responsibility to get the right number of people with the appropriate skills, experience and competencies in
the right job, at the right time, at the right cost.

Human Resource Management is the strategic approach Human Resource Planning consists in analysing and
to help business achieve its objectives and gain forecasting the numbers of workers and their skills to
competitive advantage. achieve company’s objectives.

The Human Resource area must respond to the corporate plan of the company. If the overall business plan is to expand
production and develop new products, this must be reflected in workforce plan. It involves 2 main stages:

Forecasting the number of required employees: Forecasting the skills required

-This will be influenced by market conditions, seasonal factors, -The need for better qualified workers or people with different
competitors’ actions and trends. skills is a constant factor in the area of Human Ressource.

-The productivity level of the business regarding the capacity
of the workers, as well as the quality of the machinery.
-The objectives of the business is the basis of the number of
required personnel that the company needs to comply the
activities.
-Continuous changes in the technology demands businesses
to look for new skills that comply with the acquisition of new
machinery for example.
-The necessity of flexible or multi-skilled employees is a factor
that must be considered in certain activities like operations.

-Changes in the law regarding workforce conditions that might -Most companies need to recruit or train employees with
affect or not the business. more than one skill that can be applied in different Jobs.

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INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS
KEY TERMS

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 EXTERNAL FACTORS

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES

The potential supply of labor is affected by demographic changes. Table below summarises three of these changes and
their potential opportunities and constraints supply:

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 EXTERNAL FACTORS
CHANGES IN LABOUR MOBILITY

High occupational mobility of labor helps a country to Geographical mobility of labor, especially between rural and
achieve economicc efficiency. A mobile workforce means urban areas, is another frequent aspect that lead to
that if Jobs are lost in one industry or region, workers are overcrowding and por living conditions in towns and cities.
willing and able to move to other Jobs and/or other
occupations. Many governments pursue policies to attempt to increase labor
mobility which includes:
In developed economies, labor tends to be relatively
inmobile because: • Relocation grants for key public sector workers.
• There are high levels of home ownership, which • Job centres to advertise job vacancies.
means people is not so opened-minded to restart
a new life in another place. • Training and retraining programmes for the
• Employees have high skill levels and they are not unemployed.
interested in developing an operational job
without specific skills.
In emerging countries, despite strong cultural ties, mobility KEY TERMS
tends to be higher because:
• Home ownership is low, which means people
don’t have enough economic ties to stay in their
country.
• Skill levels are lower so workers can undertake
low-skilled jobs in different industries with lower
demands.

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