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If you have responsibility for human resource management in a small or medium sized organisation, this series of Columns is for you. Topics to be covered include: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. Recruitment Selection Induction The Legal Environment of Employment Wages and Benefits Training Safety and Health Employment Relations
Industrial Relations Performance Management and Performance Appraisal Disciplinary Systems Termination of Employment
You may have other tasks assigned to you, for instance, finance and administration, but these do not relate to human resource management so they will not be covered in these Columns. All the material in these Columns relate to Malaysia unless an example of a human resource management practice from another country is given.
Recruitment and selection of new staff, which will be discussed in later Columns, require preparatory work such as preparing job descriptions and person specifications, after which some effort has to be made to inform possible applicants that a vacancy is available. When a number of people have applied for the vacancy, information must be collected about each applicant so that they can be compared and the most suitable person for the job can be offered the position. Is this all HRM work? No. It is a joint venture between the head of department or manager to whom the job-holder will report, the CEO, possibly the finance officer who will give input on a possible compensation package for the job-holder and the person responsible for HR. It may also involve outside parties such as employment agency staff. Who is going to do what? If there is no clear understanding as to who does what, certain key activities may not be done at all or one party may resist doing something on the grounds that it is not his job. It is impossible to have team work and efficiency in a messy situation where no one is sure what they are supposed to do. For every function and action needed to carry out the function a list should be drawn up. It could be a flow-chart showing what is to be done and who is responsible for each action. To revert to our earlier example, recruitment and selection, who makes the final decision to offer a candidate the job? Certainly, not the HR person. Normally, the manager to whom the job-holder will report will make the final decision even though the work of informing the candidate and ensuring he or she is welcomed into the organisation is the responsibility of the HR officer.
An efficient HR person gets as much done as possible with the least resources. This means you need to work smart and use technology to assist in your work and to make your systems run smoothly. An effective HR person does the right things. They do not ignore any key aspects of HRM and they are constantly looking for ways to improve the HR systems in their organisations. You need to scan the Internet where a great deal of information relating to HR practices can be found. Contact other HR people who are usually willing to share ideas and practices.
Join an Employers Organisation If possible, persuade your CEO to affiliate the organisation to any suitable organisation which can assist you in HR matters, especially the complex employment law related issues. The Malaysian Employers Federation and the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers are examples of large organisations which have regional meetings where you can learn more about HR as well as talk to other HR practitioners and get expert help, if needed. Learn the Right way to Conduct Human Resource Management There is no right way to conduct human resource management and no wrong way either. But, some policies, procedures and actions are better than others. You have to be willing to experiment with new ideas. To get approval for new ideas, you will surely have to persuade your managers and your CEO that the ideas are good for the organisation. To do this, you need facts, and wherever possible, examples of how these ideas have helped other organisations improve their financial position. Most Malaysian CEOs and managers are very conservative when it comes to introducing new HR ideas. What can you do to overcome this problem? 1. Experiment on small groups or in one section of your organisation before introducing an idea across the whole organisation. Start small wherever practical. 2. Talk to your employees and get written feedback to show the CEO and other managers that the workers like an idea or practice. 3. Do not burden managers with frequent changes to procedures. If, before they have become comfortable with a new procedure, you make changes to it, they will become unwilling to cooperate with HR policies. 4. HR policies must be consistently upheld throughout the organisation. Discuss the policies thoroughly with all managers before they are implemented. Once they are agreed to, ensure they are unfailingly implemented by all managers. 5. As you scan the Internet or attend meetings with other organisations, keep a record of practices implemented by these parties that you would like to copy. Print out from the Internet, or the newspapers (use the on-line versions) examples of Malaysian and foreign companies which are doing things which you think would be helpful in your organisation. If you can find a Malaysian organisation doing something you want to imitate, you could request that their HR representative come and explain their practice to your management team. In this way, they can see that your new idea is workable.
Generation Y
Do not like to hear stories about the old days when nasi lemak was 20c a packet. Do not want to be ordered around. They want orders explained to them.
A generation gap between older workers and junior entrants to the workforce is not a new issue but there is more research now available showing the very large differences between the generations. These affect the ability of the organisation to gain maximum commitment to organisational goals from the younger employees. Let us take some examples here: Technology and Generation X and Y Generation X has learned to use the technology needed for their jobs but they may not be entirely comfortable with it.
Do not want to have to wear formal clothes at work. Do not want to stay at work after 5.30pm. They have a life to live. But they will continue their work at home or at Starbucks, if necessary.
Generation Y cannot live without electronic and mobile technology. They expect the appropriate hardware (mobile telephone with Internet capacity or I-pads and so on) to be provided by their employer for their use. They are embarrassed by employers who only provide equipment used in the dinosaur age . Employment Mobility of Generation X and Y Both generations are mobile and willing to quit jobs and employers who do not satisfy their needs. But, Generation Y employees are exceptionally willing to move out at any time they are unhappy with their work environment. Partly, they move on because they have not made up their minds what career or industry is most attractive to them but, more
importantly, they move because they can. They move because they have choice. Malaysia has faced a labour shortage for decades now and this situation is likely to continue. The more experience the employee has, the easier it will be for him to move to another employer. What does this mean for HRM? You will need to: 1. Find out why employees are leaving. Do not assume it is for more money; it is equally probable that an employee who leaves is running away from an unbearable supervisor or manager. 2. Work on tactics to keep the best employees in the organisation. Excessive levels of employee turnover affect productivity and profitability. 3. Think about how to front-end load your wages and benefits package. Generation Y employees do not think long-term. Their idea of long-term is 3-5 years. They want high wages now; they are not attracted by benefits to which they will become eligible after 5-10 years service. 4. Work with your managers to respect the opinions of their Generation Y subordinates and to invite ideas from them. Formalize a scheme to do this and measure the performance of the managers on how well they are able to excite their Generation Y subordinates. Managing Older Workers Fifty-five years of age has been the normal retirement age for employees in the private sector since the 1950s. A clear trend has emerged whereby this retirement age is considered unacceptable. Law may be introduced soon to prohibit employers from retiring workers younger than 58 or perhaps 60. In years to come, this number will probably be raised further, at least to 65 years of age, in line with the practice in developed countries. This means that HR officers will need to learn how to manage the career and work of older workers. Health issues may become more important. Decisions will have to be made as to how best older workers can contribute to the organisation. In some jobs, older workers who are more mature and more experienced can perform better than younger workers. But there are also jobs which require a high level of physical ability. Some older workers are healthy and able to continue to work to the expected standard, while others who have not looked after their health may have difficulties. Dealing with New Issues New issues are frequently arising which challenge human resource management officers. Examples of these issues are:
1. Reducing sexual harassment at the workplace 2. Managing employees who are People Living with HIV/Aids (PLHIV) and their coworkers 3. Improving the health of employees 4. Ensuring employees do not abuse technology 5. Ensuring employees do not abuse social net-working sites A few years ago, no one would mention sexual behaviour in formal work settings. It was considered a personal matter and of no concern to employers. Now employers are required to introduce written policies to prevent and eliminate all forms of sexual harassment at work. They are required to train employees on what is and what is not sexual harassment, and it is essential to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary action whenever an employee complains that he or she has been sexually harassed. Ignorance leads many employers to dismiss employees who are found to have HIV/Aids. This discriminatory treatment is unnecessary and could lead to a legal suit against the employer. Providing proper systems are in place, employees with HIV/Aids can continue to contribute to achieving the organisation s objectives. HR officers need to provide sufficient knowledge to all employees and management so that discrimination does not take place. Safety has always been an important function which is often assigned to HR officers in companies which have no full-time safety officer. With life-styles changing, and costs of medical care increasing, employers are now taking steps to improve the health of their employees. Activities known as wellness programmes are long-term efforts to reduce medical costs of lessening medical bills. Healthy employees visit the doctor less often and take less medical leave. The productivity and profitability of an organisation is directly affected by the health of its employees. More and more jobs require access to electronic technology. Computers and mobile telephones are necessities in increasing number of jobs. Do your staff have clear, written policies on the use of these devices at work and even outside working hours? If you do not have these policies, it will be more difficult to take disciplinary action against any employee who abuses the equipment. Social networking has escalated at a tremendous rate. The number of people visiting these Internet sites cannot be calculated. Have you checked what your employees might be saying about management in your organisation? Are they happily giving away confidential information thinking that you won t notice? Are you using the social network sites to screen job applicants. Photographs of job applicants in silly poses may not be an issue but overly sexy photographs may be.
CHALLENGES FACING HUMAN RESOURCE OFFICERS The Belief that HR is an Easy Job
People who have never been employed in a human resource management position often say, Anyone can do HR work. It is easy . It is only when they find themselves responsible for human resource management that they find it is not so easy. Dealing with people is never easy. Dealing with stressed out managers is never easy. Dealing with ambitious chief executive officers is not easy either. As explained earlier, HR officers commonly do not have complete authority to make decisions on their own because their decisions will affect other parties in the organisation directly. This means that a number of personal qualities are the key to success in human resource management.
organisation or your reports may be read by the most senior officers. They need to be clear and understandable.
6. 7. 8. 9.
Policies Examples of written policies that you will need include: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Safety (required by law if you have more than 5 employees) Sexual harassment Leave Use of computers, Internet, emails, telephones, company property Dress code Security
Procedures Examples of written procedures that will be needed are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Rules At the least, you will need to introduce rules to cover: 1. Safety 2. Discipline 3. Use of illegal substances Forms and Letters A range of standard letters and forms should be prepared to make administrative work easier. Examples of letters and forms which are useful include: 1. Job requisition forms to be filled in by managers who want to recruit 2. Job application forms to be filled in by people looking to be employed by your organisation 3. Selection interviewers evaluation forms 4. Letter of appointment 5. Personnel record forms 6. Performance evaluation forms 7. Leave application forms Recruitment and selection Training Disciplinary action Resignation Confirmation of new employees Evaluation of employees performance Grievance handling Requests for leave or time-off Safety
8. Warning letters for minor misconduct and record of counselling sessions 9. Accident/injury reports 10. Exit interview forms for employees leaving the organisation