Human Resources: Functions and Planning

• HR involves managing people in organizations to boost performance and achieve strategic goals.
• Hawthorne's research focused on fatigue, rest periods, and productivity.

Areas Impacted by HR

• Global economy
• Firm and business sector changes
• Technology
• Sustainability
• Human capital
• Demographics

Prohibited Areas of Judgement

• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Ancestry
• Place of origin
• Color
• Ethnic origin
• Citizenship
• Creed
• Record of offenses
• Orientation
• Gender identity/expression
• Marital status
• Disability
• Discrimination based on drug/alcohol dependencies and religion are prohibited.

Systemic Discrimination

• Minimum height and weight requirements
• Internal word-of-mouth hiring policies
• Requirements to work on specific days

HR Planning Process

• Forecast labor demand
• Determine labor supply (internal and external)
• Identify the gap between demand and supply
• Develop plans to bridge the gap
• Establish and conduct evaluation

Dealing with Oversupply

• Attrition (employee departure)
• Leave of absence without pay
• Job sharing
• Reduced hours

Addressing Shortage

• Full/part-time hiring
• Independent contractors
• Overtime usage
• Retention strategies
• Scientific management (Fred Taylor) aims to maximize output with minimal time.

Functional Areas of HR

• Job analysis and design
• Compensation
• Recruitment & selection
• Talent management & succession planning
• Employment engagement
• Performance appraisals
• Discipline & discharge
• Labor relations

Job Analysis

• Performance appraisals aren't commonly used in job analysis.
• Job enlargement increases the variety of tasks in a job

Identifiable Data Types

• Identification (job title, division, supervisor's title)
• Duties (job's purpose)
• Responsibilities (decision making, controlling, planning, organizing)
• Human Characteristics (skills, abilities, training, education, experience)
• Performance Standards (average vs. poor performance)
• Working conditions (health and safety hazards, skills/abilities required)
• Job Description is a statement of work conditions.
• Job Specification is an interpretation of work conditions.

Effective Job Design Considerations

• Organizational (efficiency, workflow)
• Ergonomic (efficiency, productivity, safety)
• Employee (human needs)
• Job specialization (five job characteristics like job rotation, enlargement, enrichment, employee involvement, work teams, job families)
• Environmental (workforce availability, social expectations, work practices)

Five Job Characteristics

• Variety
• Task Identity
• Task Significance
• Autonomy (decision-making control)
• Feedback

Human Resource Planning

• Primary objective: Aligning human resources with organizational goals
• HRP is a strategic and proactive process for determining future human resource needs and ensuring the right people are employed for the job.

Elements to consider when planning

• Strategic plan
• Demographic impacts
• Turnover
• Legal changes
• Technological changes
• Competitors
• Budgets and revenue forecast
• New ventures
• Organizational and job design
• Job rotation involves transitioning employees between different jobs for skill improvement.
• Markov analysis forecasts variable value based on its current state, disregarding prior activity.
• Ratio analysis analyzes financial statement data.
• Sexual coercion is a type of sexual harassment where sexual advances are tied to job benefits or consequences.
• Human Resource Information Systems collect, analyze, record, store, and retrieve HR data.

HRIS Functions

• Size of the organization
• Information needed
• Volume of information transmitted
• Firm's objectives
• Managerial decision needs
• Reporting capability

Important HRIS components

• Organizational policies
• Results of job analysis
• Employee information
• Industry information
• All flow into a relational database of other important information*
• HRIS produces employee records, salary, benefits, and retirement details.
• Job fairs are events where professionals exchange information about their organizations and seek job candidates.
• HR planning ensures the right people with the right skills are in the right place at the right time.
• Planners forecast needs by understanding factors influencing worker demand and estimating the availability of current workers both internally and externally.
• HR uses tools like HRIS and HRA to gather and analyze data.
• A well-crafted HR plan serves as a roadmap for recruitment, selection, training, and development.

Legal requirements

• Is the person an employee or independent contactor
• Organization provincially or federally regulated
• Employee unionized or not

HR Workplace Policies

• Outline expectations in the workplace
• Meet statutory requirements
• Outline how to address complaints
• Help protect from colleagues
• Help to train and develop
• Outline breaks, vacations & statutory holidays

Types of policies

• Harassment
• Attendance
• Occupational health and safety
• Workplace violence
• Remote workers
• Technology use
• Social media
• Substance use
• Confidentiality