Reflective Paper

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCES

HUMAN RESOURCES

Human Resources Manager

Deborah Baker

BUS 303: Human Resources Management

Prof. Demetra Blacknell

April 16, 2012

Human Resources Manager

The responsibilities of a Human Resources Manager are vast and complex. A HRM must know the organization, the employees that work for the organization, the market that the organization works in, and the local, state and federal labor laws. They have to ensure their organization provides equal employment opportunities. They have to know the laws regarding affirmative action and employee and labor relations. An organization needs a HRM that has the ability to analyze the organizational needs and ensure they have the correct employees doing the correct job. They also ensure that the organization has enough employees to complete the mission and if they do not, the HRM sets up the selection process. This selection process has to include a competitive benefits package. Safety and health standards have to be met and maintained for the benefit of the organization and the employees that work for them. Being a Human Resources Manager is the one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs a person can hold.

The most important job of the Human Resources Manager is that they know everything about the organization they work for. This is done first of all by understanding the mission statement of the company. The mission statement should give you a clear view of what the company does, who their customers are, and what contributions you can make to the organization to meet and maintain that mission. If you do not understand or agree with the mission statement, you cannot properly represent the organization.

HRM’s must also know everyone in the organization from janitor to the CEO. Without that knowledge you can’t make the crucial decisions needed to assist the organization with meeting the mission statement. This is accomplished through analyzing evaluations and determining which employee is best suited to accomplish each task required to fulfill the mission statement. Knowing the education and experience levels of each employee will assist in accomplishing employee placement. This will also allow you to determine when the organization doesn’t have the manpower to complete an assigned task. In this case you will need to know how to recruit new employees with the skill set that will best benefit the organization.

In order to recruit qualified employees, you have to know where to advertise for them. You have to be able to offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. In most cases many employees are not only looking for a competitive salary, but they require a benefits package that will allow them some piece of mind for their entire family’s future. Benefit packages could include medical, dental, and optical plans, life and disability insurance, paid vacation plans, holiday and sick days, a comprehensive pension plan, stock options or profit sharing, tuition assistance, relocation allowance and even telecommuting. Each benefit increases the overall attractiveness of the organization. This allows your organization to recruit a better quality employee. You have to be able to evaluate how much these benefits will cost the company. Then you need to determine if the quality of the employee is worth added expense of the benefits.

When making that determination, your cost analysis needs to include how much it will cost to hire and retrain current employees. All companies have basic benefit packages. These benefits need to be competitive and the HRM is responsible to ensure they are affordable to both the company and the employer. You also need to know all about premiums and coverage details. The employees will come to you for answers. They will ask you what each program consist of, what each part of the health plan means, what are the deductibles, what doctors are in the plan, what type of dental and optical coverage. Life insurance is also very confusing and employees will have questions about that along with retirement plans.

Employee and labor relations is a balance of the rights and responsibilities of the organization with the rights and responsibilities of the employees.

“Employers are not the only ones who determine compensation. Labor unions are often heavily involved in the process and have a major impact on designing pay plans. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) gave employees the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining, through which compensation is usually determined. Collective bargaining is also used for other employment conditions. These conditions can include working hours, paid time off, cost-of-living allowances, and income security” (Youssef, 2012).

The Civil Rights act of 1964, EEO and affirmative action all go hand in hand as part of the labor relations. Each ensures that organizations are doing the right thing for every employee that works for them. It is a checks and balance designed to assist every organization.

Retirement plans are another powerful recruitment and retention tool. Retirement plans can be simple or complex. There are a vast varity of plans available such as the 401(k) with or without employer matching contributions, 402 (b) plans, IRA’s, Roth IRA’s, Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees, Simplified Employee Pension, Salary Reduction Simplified Employee Pension, Profit-Sharing Plans, and Employee Stock Ownership Plans. Just to name a few. There are safe investment plans or risky stock investments with a higher yield. You need to ensure you know all about contributions, matching, taxes, penalties, and loan programs. Retirement plans are just as complex as medical plans but they come with a whole new set of laws that govern it. Luckily, most of these plans are ran by a third party organization and the HRM only needs to be able to offer guidance to the employees and advice to your organization. There is no way you can be an expert, but you do need to be informed.

Another benefit that is being used more frequently by more companies is tuition assistance or tuition reimbursement. This practice turns into a win-win situation. The employee is able to go back to school, something they may not have considered without tuition assistance. The employer gets an employee that is learning new things, improving on their skills and benefiting the company. Many tuition assistance programs require an employee to stay with the organization for a period of time after the completion of a course. The employee also gets practical experience to accompany their degree program.

These type of education programs are all part of human resources development. In addition to traditional classes, other nontraditional training is available to develop employees to improve the organization. Online classes, technical training, video conferences and other web based training are all training available in today’s modern technological world. Training programs to promote from within increase moral and ensure an organization grows from within. Training programs do not need to be elaborate. You can develop employees by just cross training them to do a different job or sending them to a class that improves their computer skills. The bottom line is that any training can be used to improve the organizations effectiveness.

Some people believe that affirmative action is unfair to the non minority group. That it gives minorities more points when applying for jobs. The fact is that it is designed ensure that everyone has the same opportunities. “Affirmative action policies require that employers show initiative in recruiting a diverse pool of applicants for their job openings” (Youssef, 2012). Some of the best candidates for a job can come from the most unlikely background. Sometimes affirmative action is the only way to get to these unlikely candidates.

One of the hardest part of the HRM’s job is to know the many labor laws. Now it is ridiculous to think that anyone knows all the local, state and federal labor laws. But you do not need to be an expert and know all the laws. You do need to be more than familiar with the laws and acts that govern hireling and employing. “Recruitment, along with all HR functions, are regulated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964” (Youssef, 2012). That simply means that as a HRM, you need to ensure you know the ins and outs of the Civil Rights Act and especially title VII which covers EEO. “From the very earliest stages of recruitment, such as the screening phase, organizations must clearly demonstrate equal opportunity for all applicants regardless of their age, sex, religion, or ethnic background. In addition, organizations must carefully review their job advertisements and other recruitment tools to ensure that the language does not suggest any discriminatory preferences” (Youssef, 2012). You need to ensure your organization is in full compliance with all the Civil Rights act of 1964.

Once you have enough candidates set up for a position, it is the HRM’s responsibility to set up interviews and to ensure that the interview process is conducted in accordance with the Civil Rights act of 1964. It is of the utmost importance that the entire process of selecting a new employee be fair and impartial. The repercussions of selecting a candidate based on anything other than merit could be devastating to an organization. If any of the candidates decide to take legal actions against the organization because it is perceived that favoritism or racism or sexism was part of the selection process. You need to ensure that your organization is educated and the entire selection process is well documented.

Next it is important that your organization is in compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act). “The Act defines an employer as any "person engaged in a business affecting commerce who has employees, but does not include the United States or any state or political subdivision of a State." Therefore, the Act applies to employers and employees in such varied fields as manufacturing, construction, longshoring, agriculture, law and medicine, charity and disaster relief, organized labor, and private education. The Act establishes a separate program for federal government employees and extends coverage to state and local government employees only through the states with OSHA-approved plans” (United States Department of Labor, 2009). Employee health and safety should be of the upmost responsibility of every employer. As an HRM, you are responsible to ensure OSHA policy is complied with and that both the organization and their employees are safe.

Now that you know your employees and you understand the basic labor laws, it is vital to know the marketplace. Knowing the market includes knowing the suppliers. The HRM needs to know where to buy paper, pens, computers, and office furniture. Of course, without these basic needs an organization cannot function. However, it is important to know vendors. Not just vendors for supplies your company uses, but vendors for the products your company sells. With knowing the vendors comes having a vendor policy. Some vendors will try to give gifts to influence your organization to use their product. It is important that the company policy is established and followed to ensure the organization is not compromised in any way.

Another important piece of information that is immensely important is to know if the organization is fiscally stable. The HRM is responsible for the organizational payroll and all the documents that accompany it. You know how much each employee gets paid and how much is being spent on supplies and marketing. In most organization you should also be able to identify if the organization is in trouble and if layoffs are forecasted as an option to sustain the company. In that case, you will need to evaluate which employees are the best candidates for layoffs. In addition you may need to design a severance package. A good severance package allows the employee to sustain their family for a short period while they seek new employment. Severance packages could benefit the employee by including things such as wages, medical and dental insurance, payment of vacation and sick time, and stock options. The company benefits from the severance package by, in most cases they include stipulations the releases them from any wrongful dismissal or payment of unemployment benefits. Additionally, if the company values the employee, it keeps the options open for future endeavors.

Apart from benefits and labor laws are office policies. Every organization has a set of policies that need to be adhered to. These policies include the office smoking policy, sexual harassment policy, drug and alcohol policy, hostile work environment, IT usage, social networking, public affairs, fraternization, grievance, emergency leave, disciplinary policy, and many more. None of these policies should be new. The organization should already have them in place. If a new policy needs to be established, with the internet and the CEO’s input, establishing new policy is not as difficult as it seems.

Finally the HRM also must know what is not in the mission statement, what is the CEO’s intent? What cannot be explained in a mission statement? Does the CEO actually use the HRM correctly? If the CEO views the HRM as just a “paper pusher” then you are just as expendable as the common telemarketer, which means you are useful but annoying. The Civil Rights Act, EEO, affirmative action policies, fair labor standards, workers compensation, safety and health standards these are all laws that govern employees. The HRM has to know so much information. It is difficult to imagine that anyone can perform all these tasks. But being a HRM is about being a part of a team. No one person can be expected to know it all. The training programs do not only apply to the employees that the HRM supports, they also apply to the HRM. Although the responsibilities of a Human Resources Manager are vast and complex, they are not impossible. So when it is all said and done, being a Human Resources Manager is the one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs a person can hold.

References

National Archives and Records Administration (1991) Teaching With Documents: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved April 09, 2012 from http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/

United States Department of Labor (2009). Employment Law Guide. Retrieved April 12, 2012 from http://www.dol.gov/elaws/elg/

Youssef, C. (2012). Human Resource Management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. Retrieved April 09, 2012 from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUBUS303.12.1