Human Resource Challenges

Ever wondered who took care of recruitment and personal conduct of company employees, or the middleman between management and workers? Human resources is in charge of those things, and much more. The Human resources department of each company is a very crucial group of people. Human resources handle matters pertaining to the company’s employees, such as recruiting, benefits management, and working as a means of communication between employees. Human resources also keep all the records that are important to the company such as employment, financial and insurance records. 

Although the job of a human resource employee may not seem too hectic, there are several factors that come into play while working. At the workplace, the area and environment of the worker will affect either the emotional state or production of work of the employee. According to HRM Today, “Today’s workforce is more diverse than ever, therefore a growing number of employers are leveraging voluntary benefits to create robust, universally appealing employee benefits packages that cater to the wide-ranging needs of a multigenerational workforce.” 

When a group of people band together to strive for a similar goal in the same company, conflicts begin to arise. Every single person who is hired into a company was hired for the talent and skillset they could bring onto the force. Along with his or her unique skillset comes with values, opinions, beliefs and traditions that differ from the next person they may hire. It is often that when employees with different opinions come together to work, conflicts occur.

Aside from coworkers at the workplaces, the human resource management deals with a variety of other issues. One of the things the human resource department is partially responsible for is recruitment. Different companies have different strategies as to recruiting employees. Some companies will post ads online, run commercials on the television, send promotional mailings, or just spread the word. 

For example, Wal-Mart’s human resource department may post advertisements online or television commercials to generate interest or continue to print their logo on each of their bags so that others will see the logo and at the very least, consider their company as an employment option. They may also discuss what time the advertisement should run, depending on their target audience. Other companies who specialize in selling technology such as Verizon or AT&T promote their company with each product they sell. The logo on each device markets itself, and if its performance is outstanding, word will spread and others will become interested in their products and services as well.

Some companies may have annual or even semi-annual sales in order to attract customers, but an easy way to fool them is by raising the price right before slapping on a twenty percent off sticker on the price tag. Sales and discounts always attract consumers because everybody is looking to save, but the more people who buy the discounted (or not discounted) clothes, the more profit the company gains back. Depending on what each company’s goals are, and what they are selling, their approach towards advertisement will be slightly different, but they all have a common purpose in mind- to create profit.

Human resources is not just responsible for hiring, but making decisions regarding whether or not the employment of a worker is needed in the company due to behavior outside of work, or behavior in the workplace. Bushra Salahudeen states in “10 Steps to Implementing an Effective Change Management Strategy within the Global HR Shared Services Center”, “In my experience, implementing an HR shared services center, global or otherwise is welcoming, as operationally, it cuts costs and increases efficiency.” As HR personnel, you must think not only for each employee but the employees as a group, and the company’s financial state. When it comes to certain matters, what is at stake may not only be matters pertaining to one personnel’s job, but the company’s. Several different factors come into play while caring for the company, because there are so many areas to care for.

Human resources are in charge of a numerous amount of areas of the company in order to ensure the longevity of it. One of the areas is personal conduct in the workforce, but also how behavior away from work. For example, it has been brought to the attention of human resources that one of the employees has a drinking problem. The problem is very personal and possibly fragile, but nevertheless, needs to be dealt with immediately. Before taking action, there are a few things the human resource department has to keep in mind. 

First, they would have to decide what steps to take next regarding the worker’s employment with the company. If they decided to keep him, he may become a nuisance and do poorly at work due to his addiction. If human resources came to a conclusion that he would be hurting the company rather than helping, they would proceed with corrective actions. According to Case Western Reserve University, the first warning is verbal, the second is written, and then come along the suspensions. “Once a supervisor determines that an employee should be entered into Positive Corrective Action, the Positive Corrective Action Form must be completed prior to conducting a face-to-face corrective action meeting with the employee.”

The goal of human resources is to make sure everything in the company is running smoothly when it comes to organizing and managing employees and improving morale so that they can be as productive as possible. Human resources personnel must think about what is best for the production of the company, and what is best for the employees as well. Making sure that the company’s profit margin and overall financial stability is in check is also a must. To do that, human resources must make choices wisely- every choice made in the company will affect it somehow, but their job is to make sure each decision does not overly affect more areas than necessary.

When making changes in one area, they must do so in a way where it will not harm the company’s budget or employees. According to the International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRM)’s Code of Conduct, “As professionals, members and staff must recognize that they represent themselves, their employers, and the Association and they must maintain, at all times, the highest ethical standards in business dealings and IHRIM affiliations.” Upon those conduct rules, there are several other that remind employees to maintain their best behaviors and keep a respectable and professional manner regarding relationships and personal conduct.

It is important to keep things such as conduct in mind because the workplace is an area where productivity and growth should be two of the main goals to keep in mind. Professional relationships and mannerisms are a must, because inappropriate mishaps could not only end in unemployment but possibly other fines as well. In Max Mihelich’s article, “Learning to Save, Saving to Learn: A Portrait of the Next Generation”, he writes about a nineteen year old student and kitchen manager named Rachel Maynard. “She is at the leading edge of what generation consultant Tammy Erickson labels as the Re-Generation- the next wave of people getting ready to make their mark on the workforce.” As a result of the financial crisis of 2008, members of Maynard’s general are committed to sustainability and tend to be fiscally conservative. At the end of his article, he quotes Neil Howe, “The idea of college and getting a degree is highly important to this group of people.” He wraps up the article with a quote from Maynard saying, “The world is more competitive today, so you need more education.” 

Both Howe and Maynard were correct- in order to become successful and become noticed by human resources recruiters, the first step is to begin with an education, because with knowledge as a foundation, anything can bloom from there.

Works Cited

 “HR Policy Manual: Positive Corrective Action” Case Western Reserve University, 2011,

http://www.case.edu/finadmin/humres/policies/development/pcap.html. Accessed 14 April 2013. 

“IHRIM Code of Conduct Policy” IHRIM, 2012, http://www.ihrim.org/Downloads/IHRIM_CodeOfConduct.pdf. Accessed 14 April 2013.

Mihelich, Max. “Learning to Save, Saving to Learn: A Portrait of the Next Generation” Workforce, April 2013, http://www.workforce.com/article/20130412/NEWS02/130419987/learning-to-save-saving-to-learn-a-portait-of-the-next-generation. Accessed 14 April 2013. < >

Salahudeen, Bushra. “10 Steps to Implementing an Effective Change Management        

Strategy within the Global HR Shared Services Center” Human Resources, 2010. http://www.humanresourcesiq.com. Accessed 14 April 2013 < > 

Schmigel, Brittany. “How Legal Plans Meet the Needs of an Increasingly Diverse Workforce. HRM Today, January 2013, http://www.hrmtoday.com/featured-stories/how-legal-plans-meet-the-needs-of-an-increasingly-diverse-workforce/. Accessed 14 April 2013.