HR Department. Who are these guys?
Dear e-COACH,
I'm a senior level Operations Manager at a company with 325 employees and every quarter I participate in more HR programs than I can count, like employee development, bonus assessment, performance appraisal, 360 feedback, etc. These programs create a lot of work for the rest of us when we need to be making money. Bottom line, do we need an HR department?
Dear Operations Manager,
After much reflection on your question, I will say that sometimes Human Resource people could lose sight of the business vision in a misguided attempt to implement best HR practices at any cost.
On the flip side, business owners / managers can sometimes lose sight of the importance of effectively managing what is hopefully their most important resource - their human capital.
The programs that you mentioned all have a valuable purpose that I'm sure your HR Director would happily explain to you. But since what you asked was to justify the existence of HR, I've offered a perspective of your world without it:
You and the other managers could start by developing a long term strategic plan for your employees that ensures that everyone in every position is acting in harmony with the values and objectives that you've established. This process will include careful analysis and definition of each position and development of a game plan for selecting, training, managing, rewarding and retaining suitably qualified people for today and tomorrow.
You must structure the salaries, benefits and bonuses for the company, keeping market conditions and internal equity in mind, in order to attract and retain the best talent (so your competitors don't hire them away).
You'll make professional well thought-out hiring decisions, systematically recruiting the best people who fit not only your vacancy but also the succession planning strategy that you developed. Once you've oriented and trained new employees in the company culture / policies and specific skill set required, you'll also ensure that their development needs are continuously assessed and met.
You'll want to be aware of and apply the latest management principles to ensure that your employees' performance is maximized, keeping a view on enriching their jobs for retention of high performers.
A performance measurement tool will need to be created and implemented to enable you to evaluate employees' contributions and a reward system is recommended (most companies of your size, with whom you compete for job candidates, have one).
If you have any under-performing employees, you need to evaluate the problem and apply a remedy of corrective action or retraining. In the event that a termination is required, be careful that a proper case has been prepared for 'just cause' or that you have paid the employee appropriately so you don't wind up in court and in the newspaper.
Naturally you will want to maintain full knowledge of and consistently apply all legislation related to wages, overtime, hours of work, vacations, terminations, maternity/parental leave, Health & Safety and Human Rights to ensure that the company does not gain a reputation for engaging in illegal or unethical business practices, suffer penalties / legal recourse, or get shut down for non-compliance in some area.
Don't forget to keep careful records on vacations, benefit claims and coverages, disciplinary action, training, performance, hours of work, leaves of absence and salary increases as these are required for legal or business purposes.
You also may need to counsel upset employees, mediate conflicts, comply with requests for references and financial / government information, administer / monitor disability and benefit claims, administer the pension plan, facilitate training programs, handle union (if you have one) issues and negotiations, conduct exit interviews, arrange for temporary staffing and maybe even organize the staff Christmas party to everyone's liking.
I sincerely hope I've helped you to decide whether you need your HR department. (… and I feel better now.)
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