Retention of Skilled Employees for the Benefit of the Organization - Essay Example

Human Relations Management Introduction Human relations theory believes that workers need to feel important and that they are part of the organization, and they have more social needs that financial ones. This theory of management focuses on providing the workers a sense of direction and control when performing daily activities. This will induce the workers to give their full potential. Thus, the “illusion of involvement and importance are expected to satisfy workers’ basic social needs and result in higher motivation to perform.” (Griffin & Moorehead, 2013, p.92) For instance, a manager may permit a group of workers to engage in decision making process although he or she has already finalized what decision to be taken. This false gesture of making the workers feel important can motivate them to work more efficiently. Human relations (HR) theory needs also to focus on retention of skilled employees for the benefit of the organization. In order to maintain satisfaction within employees and to make the organization attractive for potential employees, management must provide them employment benefits like health benefits. In many organizations, there is a one person HR department in which a solo individual is given the responsibility of performing all aspects of human relations management. It is up to the efficiency of that person which determines how well he can face the challenges and takes advantages of the opportunities to prove himself as a strong leader (Brady, 2006, p.1). For an effective human relations management, the strategy is to learning how to balance different aspects of the departments. Working tirelessly for long hours will reduce the efficiency of the manager as he will lose focus on his critical responsibilities. In this paper, a HR program is created for a retail business firm that sells variety of products ranging from beauty products to apparels. It has over 1,000 stores in several U.S. states with over 120,000 employees. The retail organization has set up a one person HR department, and the new HR manager has designed and initiated a program for the benefit of the employees. The next section will talk about this program. Recruitment and selection Recruitment is the “process by which prospective employees are located and they are encouraged to apply for the job” (Khurana et al., 2010, p.65). There are several internal factors that determine the recruitment and selection process in an organization. First, salary and other benefits direct affect the recruitment of efficient employees. The promise of high salary in this competitive market can attract skilled employees. Otherwise, with low salary offer it will be difficult to attract the most efficient employees. Second, job security of employees along with sufficient promotion opportunities compared to other organization can attract a large number of prospective employees. Third, expansion programs will required more number of employees. Other factors like high turnover, type of job vacancy, and the kind of skills required also determine the recruitment and selection process. There are external factors that determine recruitment process. First there is the cultural factor like not every person is suitable for all kinds of job. Second there is the economic factor like the condition of the labor market. With high availability of job openings there will be more number of prospective employees available. Finally, there is the legal factor which determines maximum working hours and employee policies (Dwivedi, 2009, pp.59-60). Research has shown that prospective employees give preference to the level of salary and compensation, and also number of working hours so that they can properly balance their work and personal life. Reputation of the firm and the recognition that can be achieved by working in a reputed firm are not their major concerns (Bagley et al., 2013, p.64). Since this is a retail organization, therefore the HR manager selects those individuals who are specifically talented and knowledgeable about dealing with customers and convincing them to buy the products. He tries to find the candidate who has the required talent to fulfill the objectives of the organization. This is done by providing job descriptions and specifying the type of person required. Also there are training opportunities that will help employees to develop their career. Since in a retail store, it is important that prospective employees have the training to replenish shelves with items so that the shelves never appear empty, and also since they need to directly interact with customers therefore the manager also observes the personality of prospective employees like whether they have an enthusiastic and pleasant personality. Moreover, the manager focuses on the approach and dedication towards work of the prospective employees and also whether they can cope with stress especially during festive seasons when there will huge influx of customers in retail stores. Training and development Training and development is one important aspect of HR management as it means preparing the employees so that they can exhibit maximum efficiency for the benefit of the organization. In the retail organization, the HR manager should focus on training employees so that they can to curb their inherent weaknesses and sharpen their strengths while dealing with customers. The principle objective of this training program is to train employees so that they can give optimum performance levels in favour of the organization. For this, the manager need to provide working conditions enabling employees to feel as part of the organization. Also, the HR manager may create action plans and periodically conducts employee evaluation. The manager also should focus on developing motivation within employees. Since managers are guiding light for employees regarding work/life balance and career enhancement, therefore the manager of this organization can design the training programs so as to enable employees to hone their skills to become eligible for promotions. In the first session of the training program, the manager should help the employees to identify their roles and responsibilities in relation to their work requirements. In the second session of the training program, the manager is supposed to provide the employees job assignments that they need to accomplish either alone or in collaboration with the other employees. In the third and final session, the manager evaluates the manner in which employees deal with customers. Compensation Compensation management is that aspect of human relations that is concerned with improving the employee relation with work by providing monetary and non-monetary benefits to employees. While monetary compensation can be bonus, medical expenses, rewards for good performance, overtime pay and so on, non-monetary compensation can be stock option, house and car. Compensation package should be designed in the manner so that employees feel motivated to perform better and prove their efficiency. There are many positive impacts of a good compensation package – it acts as reward for employees’ contribution to the organization, it provides opportunities for promotion and career development, it increases the satisfaction level of employees, and enhances their morale. The HR manager needs to properly design employee compensation since it has indirect relation with the company’s profit. Hence, a compensation package needs to be designed in the manner so as to “enhance the efficiency of the employees and also help retain the efficient ones in the business for a relatively longer period of time” (Pravin, 2010, p.315). There are both direct and indirect forms of compensation. Basic pay which is fixed monetary remuneration per month, and variable pay which includes commissions, profit sharing and bonuses are direct forms of compensation. Indirect compensation can be in the form of medical insurance, travel benefits, day care for children, involvement in decision making process, promotion opportunities etc (Pravin, 2010, pp.314-315). In the retail company, it may be increasingly difficult for an HR manager to design appropriate compensation packages since demand of sales employees in incessantly increasing. Therefore, the strategy should be provide compensation which is fair and specific for both the employees and the organization. In retail business, it is important to boost daily sales to maintain profitability. Therefore any compensation package needs to focus on providing incentives to the employees to increase sales. Commission based on sales is one important way of motivating the employees. Therefore, the manager has to design lucrative commission system in order to increase sales which enables the employees to earn unlimited among of money. Each employee should be provided the objective to selling specific number of products in every month, and the person should not be given commission unless the objective is fully met. Since in next year, the employee is given the target of surpassing previous year’s sales it is possible that he will stop selling once the goal is achieved to avoid getting a high goal next year. Therefore, the manager also needs to promise the employee a higher commission/ incentive if they manage to surpass their annual goals/targets by higher percentage. Moreover, annual bonus rewards are designed based on the employees’ financial and non-financial performance. The manager also, along with financial compensations, should promote coordination and cooperation among the sales employees to create an amicable working environment for increasing quality and quantity of sales. Legal issues with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) In any organization, the HR manager needs to be cognizant about the country’s employment laws before making recruitment and selection policies or designing compensation packages. According to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, every employee should be given equal treatment and opportunity irrespective of age, color, race, nationality, religion or gender. In case of pregnancy or gender issues, there should not be any discrimination in relation to recruitment and selection, pay, leave benefits, training opportunities or health insurance (Law & Guidance, n.d.). One major aspect of legal issue that HR manager needs to deal with is sexual harassment in the workplace. The common problem lies in the fact that HR managers often do not receive proper training regarding sexual harassment investigations. Therefore, very often although the managers try their level best to conduct such investigation, the employees concerned do not feel they are receiving the required justice (Dorfman et al., 2000, p.33). There has been two Supreme Court Cases, Faragher v, City of Boca Raton and Burlington v. Ellerth which “demonstrate that an employer can be forced to pay damages to workers who are sexually harassed by supervisors, even if the employer knew nothing about the harassment and the victim failed to complain” (Dorfman et al., 2000, p.34). The HR manager of this retail organization has to encourage the employer to take necessary steps to avoid sexual harassment. The manager should hold meetings from time to time to clarify the employees that any kind of unlawful harassment will not be tolerated. An effective complaint process is to be established so that employees feel encouraged to inform the manager of any harassment issues, and the manager takes immediate and necessary measures. The manager also should review sexual harassment policies and the complaint process on regular basis. Performance appraisal It is a vital responsibility of the HR manager to design and implement an effective performance appraisal system. It is the HR department that is responsible for deciding the level of performance the organization expects from an employee, and also the extent of salary increase that the employee deserves based on his or her various performance skills. Performance appraisal can be defined as “the overall system that supervisors and managers use to measure job performance, sustain productive work groups and recognize workers for meeting the company’s performance standards” (Mayhew, 2014). The concerned HR manager of the retail organization should integrate compensation in performance appraisal system in order to assess the financial requirement for rewarding employees according to their performance level. For performance appraisal, the number of sales per day, week or month is articulated for specific goals. Since in case of one person HR department, it is not possible for the manager to assess the performance level of every employee, therefore the manager can encourage each employee to rate his/her own performance and then provides comments based on those ratings. Conclusion The HR department is an intrinsic part of any business enterprise. It is important therefore that HR managers receive proper training to deal with employee issues with regard to recruitment, training, compensation, and performance appraisal. Also, an HR manager needs to remain fully aware of legal issues in connection with employee fairness and welfare. An organization’s economic success depends, to a large extent, on the efficiency level of the HR department. References Bagley, P., Dalton, D. & Ortegren, M. (2013) Targeted Recruiting and Retention: What Matters Most to Employees. CPA Journal, 83(5), 63-65 Brady, R.L. (2006) Managing an HR Department of One, Business & Legal Reports Inc. Dorfman, P.W., Cobb, A.T. & Cox, R. (2000) Investigations of sexual harassment allegations: legal means fair – or does it? Human Resource Management, 39(1), 33-49 Dwivedi, R.S. (2009) A Textbook of Human Resource Management, Vikas Publishing House Griffin, R.W. & Moorehead, G. (2013) Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations, 11th ed., Cengage Learning Khurana, A., Khurana, P. & Sharma, H.L. (2010) Human Resource Management, FK Publications Law & Guidance (n.d.) EEOC, retrieved on October 21, 2014 from: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/index.cfm Mayhew, R. (2014) The Role of HR in a Performance Appraisal, GlobalPost, retrieved on October 21, 2014 from: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/role-hr-performance-appraisal-19415.html Pravin, D. (2000) Human Resource Management, Pearson Education Read More