Mainly through recruitment and job evaluation, HR people learn about the work that people in other jobs than their own do. This is critical. HR people who do not know what employees are doing will not be influential with management or much value in the hiring process.
Recruitment and retention of staff are two of the most important tactical areas in HR. HR people can add value to these by their keen understanding of the unique profile of their company as an employer. This will include the culture of the company (“the way we do things around here “), and also the market position on salaries, the best features of the benefits package, the benefits of career progression and employee development, the opportunities to travel, etc.
One of primary roles of HR is to market the employment culture of their organisation to current and prospective employees, and to link the ambitions of managers and employees to the goals of the organisation.
Organisation structure
Flexible organisation structures are becoming a textbook topic in the Unites States. The more established the structure, the more difficult it is to change. Clearly, the structure is primarily the responsibility of top management. As organisations now use organic, acquisition and divestment strategies to meet their goals, HR cannot be left out of the design process whatever their position in the top management structure.
Developing staff management
People have always been a key resource in any organisation, so I have always believed that the management of people is of strategic importance. The HR function has often been too immersed in the tactical activity of employment to be influential in how people are used to reach the organisation’s goals. For this reason, I believe one of our primary strategic goals is to develop and motivate managers of staff. If they do their job well, then the demand for tactical HR services will flow naturally.
Managing people is part of management development and this is one of the traditional areas of HR management. HR should be responsible for management development across the organisation, and be developing important themes on sound resource management through such programmes.
Data on people
Almost all HR departments use information systems for their own needs. The real goal is for HR departments to design people information systems for the needs of the organisation. We can be a huge influence on the organisation if we manage the core staff database, and help managers to set measures of performance and benchmarks through that.
Employee Communications Strategy and Practice
In the next century, internal communications will become a critical area of performance. Managers from Marketing Communications, IT and Human Resources will vie to become wholly responsible for this key operational area. HR is in a position to take strategic responsibility for internal communications.
Reward Systems
One of the traditional HR areas which is increasingly important is reward systems. Employees must value the rewards they receive, must link their performance with rewards, and feel that rewards for good performance is under their control. Managers must manage their staff’s expectations. HR must create the systems to deliver rewards that are aligned to organisational goals.
In this model, Employee Relations has a broad customer facing role and is responsible for staffing, developing staff management, employee communications, and promoting the employment culture of the organisation.
