Our Human Resources

[Amelie Robertos]

TheHuman Resources department (HR department, sometimes just called "Human Resource")[4] of an organization performs human resource management, overseeing various aspects of employment, such as compliance with labor law and employment standards, interviewing and selection, performance management, administration of employee benefits, organizing of employee files with the required documents for future reference, and some aspects of recruitment (also known as talent acquisition), talent management, staff wellbeing, and employee offboarding.[5] They serve as the link between an organization's management and its employees.

The duties include planning, recruitment and selection process, posting job ads, evaluating the performance of employees, organizing resumes and job applications, scheduling interviews and assisting in the process and ensuring background checks. Another job is payroll and benefits administration which deals with ensuring vacation and sick time are accounted for, reviewing payroll, and participating in benefits tasks, like claim resolutions, reconciling benefits statements, and approving invoices for payment.[6] Human Resources also coordinates employee relations activities and programs including, but not limited to, employee counseling.[7] The last job is regular maintenance, this job makes sure that the current HR files and databases are up to date, maintaining employee benefits and employment status and performing payroll/benefit-related reconciliations.[6]

Human resource management used to be referred to as "personnel administration".[9][10] In the 1920s, personnel administration focused mostly on the aspects of hiring, evaluating, and compensating employees.[11][12] However, they did not focus on any employment relationships at an organizational performance level or on the systematic relationships in any parties. This led to a lacked unifying paradigm in the field during this period.[13]

According to an HR Magazine article, the first personnel management department started at the National Cash Register Co. in 1900. The owner, John Henry Patterson, organized a personnel department to deal with grievances, discharges and safety, and information for supervisors on new laws and practices after several strikes and employee lockouts. This action was followed by other companies; for example, Ford had high turnover ratios of 380 percent in 1913, but just one year later, the line workers of the company had doubled their daily salaries from $2.50 to $5, even though $2.50 was a fair wage at that time.[14] This example clearly shows the importance of effective management which leads to a greater outcome of employee satisfaction as well as encouraging employees to work together in order to achieve better business objectives.

Now, human resources focus on the people side of management.[15] There are two real definitions of HRM (Human Resource Management); one is that it is the process of managing people in organizations in a structured and thorough manner.[15] This means that it covers the hiring, firing, pay and perks, and performance management.[15] This first definition is the modern and traditional version more like what a personnel manager would have done back in the 1920s.[15] The second definition is that HRM circles the ideas of management of people in organizations from a macromanagement perspective like customers and competitors in a marketplace.[15] This involves the focus on making the "employment relationship" fulfilling for both management and employees.[15]

Some research showed that employees can perform at a much higher rate of productivity when their supervisors and managers paid more attention to them.[14] The Father of Human relations, Elton Mayo, was the first person to reinforce the importance of employee communications, cooperation, and involvement.[14] His studies concluded that sometimes the human factors are more important than physical factors, such as quality of lighting and physical workplace conditions. As a result, individuals often place value more on how they feel.[14] For example, a rewarding system in Human resource management, applied effectively, can further encourage employees to achieve their best performance.

Pioneering economist John R. Commons mentioned "human resource" in his 1893 book The Distribution of Wealth but did not elaborate.[17] The expression was used during the 1910s to 1930s to promote the idea that human beings are of worth (as in human dignity); by the early 1950s, it meant people as a means to an end (for employers).[18] Among scholars the first use of the phrase in that sense was in a 1958 report by economist E. Wight Bakke.[19]

One major concern about considering people as assets or resources is that they will be commoditized, objectified, and abused. Critics of the term human resources would argue that human beings are not "commodities" or "resources", but are creative and social beings in a productive enterprise. The 2000 revision of ISO 9001, in contrast, requires identifying the processes, their sequence, and interaction, and to define and communicate responsibilities and authorities.[citation needed] In general, heavily unionized nations such as France and Germany have adopted and encouraged such approaches. Also, in 2001, the International Labour Organization decided to revisit and revise its 1975 Recommendation 150 on Human Resources Development, resulting in its "Labour is not a commodity" principle. One view of these trends is that a strong social consensus on political economy and a good social welfare system facilitate labor mobility and tend to make the entire economy more productive, as labor can develop skills and experience in various ways, and move from one enterprise to another with little controversy or difficulty in adapting.

Another important controversy regards labor mobility and the broader philosophical issue with the usage of the phrase "human resources".[21] Governments of developing nations often regard developed nations that encourage immigration or "guest workers" as appropriating human capital that is more rightfully part of the developing nation and required to further its economic growth. Over time, the United Nations have come to more generally support[22] the developing nations' point of view, and have requested significant offsetting "foreign aid" contributions so that a developing nation losing human capital does not lose the capacity to continue to train new people in trades, professions, and the arts.[22] Some businesses and companies are choosing to rename this department using other terms, such as "people operations" or "culture department," in order to erase this stigma.[23] An HR professional who is a critic of its governance has written that "HR has become the clerisy for the management class, driving and enforcing uniformity of opinion," whereas "those who come up with the good ideas in business are the dissidents, the disruptors, the passionate."[24]

Human resource companies play an important part in developing and making a company or organization at the beginning or making a success at the end, due to the labor provided by employees.[25] Human resources are intended to show how to have better employment relations in the workforce.[26] Also, to bring out the best work ethic of the employees and therefore making a move to a better working environment.[27] Moreover, green human resource development is suggested as a paradigm shift from traditional approaches of human resource companies to bring awareness of ways that expertise can be applied to green practices. By integrating the expertise, knowledge, and competencies of human resource development practitioners with industry practitioners, most industries have the potential to be transformed into a sector with ecofriendly and pro-environmental culture.[28]

Administration and operations used to be the two role areas of HR. The strategic planning component came into play as a result of companies recognizing the need to consider HR needs in goals and strategies. HR directors commonly sit on company executive teams because of the HR planning function. Numbers and types of employees and the evolution of compensation systems are among elements in the planning role.[29] Various factors affecting Human Resource: planning organizational structure, growth, business location, demographic changes, environmental uncertainties, expansion etc. Additionally, this area encompasses the realm of talent management.[citation needed][30]

Human resources refers to both the people working for an organization and the department responsible for managing the life cycle of each employee. But if someone mentions human resources in a work setting, more often than not they are referring to the human resources (HR) department.

Human resources is responsible for recruiting, onboarding, training and managing an employee from their job application to final severance. This end-to-end management of employees includes strategies for payroll and benefits administration, upskilling, establishing positive workplace culture, optimizing employee productivity, handling employer-employee relationships, employee termination and more.

Every business wants to do right by its employees, but business considerations often throw a wrench into this good intention. The human resources department is there to formulate policies that strike a balance between employer and employee interests.

The modern human resources team has moved beyond the legacy responsibilities of payroll and benefits administration, severance handling and postretirement relations. Now it encompasses designing strategies to acquire the right employees, ensure employee retention by addressing their challenges, manage employee separation, handle compliance and legal issues, and stay on top of the HR industry trends.

Human resources is responsible for filling the vacant positions within an organization. The recruitment process typically includes creating and posting job descriptions, accepting applications, shortlisting candidates, organizing interviews, hiring and onboarding. Each of these recruitment steps involves designing the workflow and executing it in a way that ensures they hire the best candidates. Many teams rely on recruitment software to help automate these processes.

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