The Importance of HR Communication in the Organization

The most important thing that I have taken from this class is the importance of communication between the Human Resource department and the organization.  The functions of the Human Resources department are intertwined in everything that takes place in the organization. 

When initially hired, HR provides the introduction to the organization in the new employee orientation.  What happens then can set the tone for the new employees work experience.  Equally as important is the day to day communication that comes from HR and Sr. Management, not only communicating the vision of the organization but also backing it up in their day to day activities.  And this communication is even more important during tough economic times when the threat of downsizing is looming. 

The communication must also be well thought out.  For instance, in my company, our CEO wrote a blog about becoming a leaner organization.  Immediately, employees interpreted, or perhaps misinterpreted that to mean that the company was going to be downsizing.  While that was not out of the question, I believe the message spoke more to becoming a more efficient organization.  What the organization failed to realize is that many people did not understand the term “lean” and how that communication would impact employee perception.  The CEO quickly had to follow up with more blogs explaining what he meant but unfortunately, the damage was done.

The Human Resources department also performs an important role in the exit of employees from the organization.  If the organization faces layoffs, the communication to both employees impacted by the layoffs as well as the remaining employees must be handled carefully.  If good employees must be laid off, the HR department must be careful not to alienate the employee should they be in the position to rehire them.  For employees that remain, HR must instill a sense of security that will exist because of the layoffs.   

Public Sector Unionization

The article discusses the decline of unions in the private sector and the rise of unions in the public sector. The decline in unions for the private sector is due, in part, to the loss of industrial and manufacturing jobs and to the successful work of HR professionals in improving employee relations.  In addition, laws and regulations are in place now to protect workers and taking the place of traditional union protections.

Public sector unions are increasing for a variety of reasons.  Some of these reasons include the emergence of laws protecting the public sector. In the 1950’s, on a few public sector employees were organized.  States did not permit public sector collective bargaining, public sector strikes nor were public sector employees allowed to organize.

Another reason for the growth of public sector unions is the ability to influence employers through the political process. The article cites an example of the approval of billions of dollars of pension benefits for government workers after lobbying and campaign contributions from politically connected unions.

Public sector unions, in particular, at the state/local levels, seem to organize like craft unions rather than the traditional industrial union model in the private sector. Unions of teachers, public safety officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, transit workers have grown as these areas of public sector services have grown.

Why is this important to us?  We should be concerned about the continuing growth in public sector employment and unionization, about the rising costs associated with the public sector workforce, and the expectations for quality and cost effective services.

The article poses the following, “A question that needs to be answered in the labor/management debate is whether treating employees as costs to be minimized would lead to lower service quality and productivity, or whether building a positive workplace culture and encouraging employee participation in problem solving might lead to higher service quality and improvements in productivity.”

The article goes on to suggest the following three recommendations for improving employee/employer relations. 1) Adopt a Human Resource Management Perspective, 2) Introduction performance based evaluation and compensation and, 3) Negotiate a psychological contract.

To obtain the full article in PDF format, please contact me.

Family Friendly Benefits

A challenge for organizations is to provide a work-life balance that keeps employees satisfied in their jobs, keeps them committed to the organization and helps attract and retain employees.  There are many different discretionary benefit options including paid absences, insurance, and retirement benefits. In the article listed below, one example of discretionary benefits is called family-friendly benefits (FFBs).

These benefits help employees balance work life and family life and include things like child care, elder care, fitness facilities, flexible work schedules dependent care, flexible spending, family leave, and telecommuting.

When designing a discretionary benefits plan, the organization should take into consideration what the competition offers, employee demographics, cost of the benefit and the value of the benefit to the employee.   

The most important aspect of implementing a discretionary benefits plan is communication. By communicating with employees at an early stage in the program development process, the organization can create buy-in.  The first step in developing the program is identifying whether or not the program is feasible to implement.  What are the potential costs?  How does it impact our resources? How will this affect employee attitudes/perceptions?  Do we have the IT resources required to support the system?  How will the administration of the new benefits plan differ from the existing plan? If the feasibility study indicates that the program will work, the initial plan information can be communicated to employees. 

The next step is planning the program and identifying and documenting the details.  This should include a structured communication plan that creates awareness and identifies a launch date.

During the actual implementation phase, employees enroll in the plan.  Once the plan is live, payroll and/or benefit corrections can be made.

Lastly, the plan must be administered and maintained on an ongoing basis.  It may be administered internally or by a 3^rd party.  The plan should be monitored and based on employee feedback, updated to add new benefits or remove unwanted benefits in order to keep the program desirable.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5430/is_200704/ai_n21286972/?tag=content;col1

Merit Pay and Performance Based Compensation

Merit pay is a performance based pay system whereby employees are paid based on how effective their performance is.  It is best known in the educational system but organizations also use this system in combination with performance appraisals to determine annual increases.

In the education system, it is believed that merit pay helps schools with lower socioeconomic status attract qualified teachers. It is also believed to help retention by rewarding high performing teachers with better pay increases.  Likewise, in organizations, employees with higher performance appraisal ratings will typically benefit by receiving a higher percentage of increase. 

Those that oppose merit pay believe that it lowers teacher morale because it creates competition between and among teachers.  They are also opposed the cost of time and resources to administer the plan.

According to Ed Lawler, an academic expert in Human Resources, money is a motivator to employees for the following reasons; employees attach a high value to pay, they believe good performance will result in higher pay, they have enough control over the job that their own efforts can have a material impact, and they believe that superior performance leads to more positive than negative results (e.g. more acceptance than rejection by coworkers).

I personally believe in the idea of a performance based pay system.  I think the following quote by Frederick Taylor, founder of the school of scientific management, sums it up perfectly, at least in my experience.  "The common tendency to 'take it easy' is greatly increased by bringing a number of men together on similar work and at a uniform standard rate of pay.  When a naturally energetic man works for a few days beside a lazy one, the logic of the situation is unanswerable. 'Why should I work hard when that lazy fellow gets the same pay that I do and does only half as much work?'”

It is my belief that people (employees) rise or fall to the expectations put before them.  If merit pay systems create competition, those that are willing and capable of rising to the challenge will and merit pay systems support this natural tendency.

Managing Employee Absenteeism

The article entitled How to Deal with Employee Absenteeism on the Employer-Employee.com website, discusses employee absenteeism as one of the most costly problems facing global organizations.  There are many reasons why people are absent including personal reasons, stress, or because they have difficulties with their boss.  Absenteeism is worse in organizations that have more than 500 employees.

When employees are absent, the organization suffers not only from the loss of the absent worker but from the ill effects on employees that are at work including employee burnout, turnover, poor morale, and workplace negativism.

Part of the problem may be a poorly documented or enforced absenteeism policy. In addition, many businesses do not have a good way to report, capture or measure absenteeism.  In order to manage absenteeism, organizations need to know who is off and why they are off.  Once you know this, you can plan more effectively.  

Organizations can address the problems of absenteeism by implementing an incentive program that discourages bogus absences.  Some examples of program incentives include the ability to ash-in unused sick days, bonus pay for every month of perfect attendance, free lunches, certificates of achievement, or scratch-off cards concealing prizes.

The incentive program should be appropriate for your company.   The article indicates that the duration of the reward program should be defined based on the company but that younger workers should be rewarded more frequently but based on the difficulty of the job.  Regardless of the details of the program, one way of getting buy-in from employees is to include them in the development of the incentive program.

http://www.employer-employee.com/absent.html

The Use of Personality Testing in Recruitment and Selection

Personality testing began in the 19^th century and was accelerated during World War I to measure military personnel behavior.  In the 1920’s, procedure-projective testing was introduced whereby subjects projected his or her emotional associations onto some kind of stimulus; the most well known of these tests being the Rorschach Inkblot test.  During the 1930’s and 1940’s, situational testing was developed in which a subject was placed in a simulated, lifelike situation to collect information about how the person behaved.

Today, organizations are using personality testing in their recruitment and selection process.  There are two types of testing; Objective and Projective.  Objective-Normative testing measures specific qualities or scales and Objective-Ipsative requires the subject to choose between two responses that measure for different qualities or scales.

Examples of Normative testing include Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.  Objective-Normative testing has been criticized because potential employees may provide answers they deem to be more socially acceptable. Nomative-Ipsative tests address this problem by providing two answers that have equal social appeal but that score on different scales.  Examples include Gordon Personal Profile and Gordon Personal Inventory and Edwards Personal Preference Schedule.

Overall, psychological testing is criticized for a number of reasons including the potential for invasion of privacy, the inability to measure how situational factors can influence how a subject would perform in a test setting versus actual job setting, the tendency for stress to affect scores, the tendency to overlook or fail to measure an individual's motivation, and the impact of testing on handicapped employees. One way to mitigate

some of these issues is to combine testing with other screening techniques.  

Employee Development – Talent Management Systems

In my company, we have implemented a talent management system.  This system allows the organization to develop common processes around goal and performance management.

The organization has adopted the SMART goal setting process.  Employees can capture their goals, track milestone activity throughout the year, and participate in the performance review process. 

Why use the SMART goal setting process?  Let’s consider each of element of the acronym SMART; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. 

Specific goals have a greater chance to be accomplished than general goals.  For example, rather than setting a goal of “improve my sales,” a better goal is “improve my sales by 10%.”  By stating a specific goal, it then becomes easier to measure and track. 

We must also determine if this goal is attainable.  If sales demand is expected to go down, a 10% increase may not be achievable and you will not meet your goal.

The goal must be realistic.  Are the goals consistent with other company or departmental goals?  Do you have the tools to help you achieve the goal; is there any reason why the goal may not be achievable?

Lastly, we must be able to achieve the goal in a timely manner.  Without a time frame, there is no urgency in working toward the goal and there is a greater chance of not achieving the goal.  For example, rather than a goal of “improve my sales,” a timely goal is “improve my 1^st quarter sales by 10%.”

Using the SMART goal setting process motivates people.  It provides the employee with clear goals to achieve and helps them measure their progress. By actively involving employees in the goal setting and subsequent review process, they have input into their development within the organization.