The Tough Job of a Human Resource Manager

Human capital is a very crucial aspect of every organization. People whose skills and experience are fit for the job can propel the organization towards its goals. With the right people, a company can maximize its growth and potential as an organization.

With this on hand, the human resource department place a critical role in your organization. The department is primarily responsible in looking for people who can deliver the roles and responsibilities of a specific position. However, this is not the only thing they do and can do, especially the human resource manager.

Roles of a Human Resource Manager

We commonly think that the role of a human resource department is limited to the hiring processes, training and onboarding of employees. However, their role also includes different departmental practices.

For the human resource manager, being the head of the saud department, the manager oversees the functions performed by the HR department including the following functions:

• Strategic Management

The human resource manager participates in the decision making process in terms of company’s decision in staffing and workforce projection. The ability to strategically manage the workforce also means being able to address the demand in both the operational and administrative aspect of the company.

• Wage and Salaries

The human resource department is also responsible for a wage and salary survey within the industry. The process enables them to offer competitive compensation to employees and applicants which are on par or better than industry standards.

The ability to create competitive compensation packages is also be helpful in cases where companies go after certain individuals to join their team. Offering an attractive and realistic compensation package must also be reasonably within the means and capabilities of the company, which is another factor that human resource managers should study and consider.

• Benefits

The benefits of the employees are another facet that the HR Department handles and focuses. The department is the one responsible in creating benefit packages that best suits the stakeholders of the firm.

The human resource manager, together with his or her team, is capable of handling and negotiating the group benefit packages while taking into consideration the budget of the company and the changing economic conditions.

It must be noted that benefit packages are one of the factors that employees consider. Employees use this to factor in their loyalty to the company which also translates to a lower turnover rate.

• Training and Development

Ensuring that the employees are equipped with the right skill in performing their role is necessary to maximize productivity. Therefore, they must be trained to possess the right attitude and must be equipped in carrying out their roles. However, skills can be learned, but without the right attitude, things can be problematic. Therefore, these two things must come hand in hand.

The development of the employee is another aspect that the HR handles. Employees must not be stagnant, especially in the face of the changing times. Investing in employees’ development can prove to be a good investment especially when if they are taught to be dynamic in their role in the company.

• Employee Satisfaction

A fast turnover of employees can be very problematic in an organization. You’d have to re-hire, re-orient and re-train a new set of people every time someone resigns. This can take time and may negatively affect the organization day to day activities of the firm.

Therefore, an organization must also consider their employee’s satisfaction. They must not be treated as a mere individual to do the job but a human being who is capable of emotions and learning.

These roles are just some of the things that will be looked into in determining how to become a human resources manager that is effective and efficient.

The Human Resource Management Process

There are different Human Resource Management Processes in the organization that the HR department needs to do:

1.    Human Resource Planning

Human Resource planning is the process of recruiting, selecting, hiring, training, evaluating, promoting or laying off employees.

• Recruitment. The HR Department would look for potential candidates for a vacant position.
• Selection. They will then select or filter the applicants and interview those who will be shortlisted.
• Hiring. They will choose the applicant who is the best match for the job.
• Training. They will then train the applicant to align them with the company’s mission and vision.
• Evaluation. An evaluation mechanism can be in place to serve as a gauge of the employee’s performance
• Promotion and Lay Off. For employees who have been performing well, HR would consider them for a promotion. However, for employees who had poor performance, there is a possibility that they will be laid off.

2.    Employee Compensation and Benefits

Since one of the roles of the HR Department is to do a salary and wages survey, the result of such survey will be the guiding information of this process.

3.    Performance Management

Managing the performance of the employees through training, motivating and rewarding them can significantly contribute to the achievement of the goals of the organization.

4.    Employee Relations

In a highly competitive industry, an organization might find itself experiencing the consequences of fast employee turnovers. Thus, a good and healthy relationship between the management and its people can help improve employee retention.

From the human resource manager job description, it can be construed that it is definitely a tough job given the things you need to consider and balance. You might always catch yourself in between the interest of the company and the employees, but a good HR Manager is someone skilled enough to handle both.