Key Functional Areas of Human Resources Management
One of the fundamental functional areas of Human Resources Management (HRM) is staffing. According to Miller and Gordon, (2014), staffing involves the determination of the needs of the personnel, the recruitment process, and the screening of applicants. The duties that the HRM undertakes to ensure the proper execution of staffing include the creation of job postings and positions, conducting interviews, and interpreting as well as administering skill assessment provisions. Through the activities, the organization is likely to benefit from attracting and retaining employees with the desired skill set needed in the organization. For this reason, the professionals working in staffing should have the knowledge needed to carry out the duties identified effectively.
The other key functional areas are inclusive of employee development and relations, and ensuring compliance with the organizational regulations. The employee development segment focuses on the identification of the areas that need skill development. The segment not only deals with the identification of the specific needs of a particular employee, but the training needs of the entire organization as well (Miller & Gordon, 2014). In relation to the aspect of employee relations, the HRM is responsible for ensuring the maintenance of positive relations between the members and the entire workforce at the organizational level. This functionality typically involves the management of employee morale, the implementation of performance appraisal procedures, and implementation of rewards and recognition programs, among other programs. The employee development and functional areas assist organizations to improve the skills of their employees to enhance their productivity, consequently avoiding employee turnover by creating a condition that will make them satisfied with their jobs.
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The other primary functional areas are the payroll and Human Resource Information systems. The implementation process of this functional area involves the performance of continuous reviews that fulfill the organizational needs. In this case, the HRM is responsible for evaluating the possible needs for system upgrades or the provision of contracts to vendors that can provide them with efficient information systems. Conversely, the members working in HRM should be well versed with the payroll laws, which are essential for ensuring that they use the provision to ensure organizational compliance (Miller & Gordon, 2014). Different professionals, some of them being specialists that work in particular areas, work towards the achievement of organizational success through implementing best practices in the different functional areas.
Four Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Laws
One of the federal equal employment opportunity laws is the Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). This law could be considered as the most inclusive federal civil-rights statute that protects the rights of individuals with disabilities. The reason for arguing from this perspective is the idea that it affects people’s access to employment, transportation, and access to public accommodation, among other provisions. It would be possible to posit that this law has influenced a significant number of public and private organizations to accommodate more employees with disabilities. Accor Group is one of the organizations that have taken significant steps in ensuring that the company follows this law. In the year 2003, the company included a non-discriminatory statement in its recruitment charter (ILO, 2010), which is an indication that it is took a huge step to ensure the inclusion of individuals with disability in its workforce.
The other federal law is the Equal Pay Act (1963). The fundamental provision of the Act is the need to prevent employers from discriminating against female employees in terms of the ensuring equal pay among the men and women. In this regard, organizations use this law to pay the employees that work in the same establishment equal pay for the equal work they do. The compensation should be based on the skills possessed by the employees, their responsibilities, efforts, and the working conditions. In the organization that I am currently working for, gender representation is evident and the organization pays every employee, regardless of gender, equally.
The third federal employment law considered is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). This law forbids organizations from discriminating against employees that might have reached forty years old or older. The employers covered are forbidden from discharging employees based on their age. However, this law does not protect certain types of employees, including public health care personnel (ILO, 2010). When an organization discharges an older employee to hire a younger one, the employer will not be protected from discrimination, which is a provision that compels most organizations to abide by the law. I have not experienced such an occurrence in my place of work, which means that the company adheres to the legal provision.
The final federal law is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). This law protects working and prospective employees from being discriminated against based on their genetic information. Organizations are prohibited from using the genetic information of an individual to make decisions that include the hiring of a candidate, firing a working employee, or providing privileges to an employee based on their genetic information. The policies in our organization do not support the use of this information to make decisions regarding an employee.
Three significant trends that are affecting organizations today
The ageing workforce is one of the trends that are affecting different organizations in the contemporary business world. The most significant effect of this trend is the idea that a considerable number of employers are working towards retraining top-quality individuals. The other challenge presented by this trend relates to the provision that a large percentage of the ageing individuals are looking forward to earning their retirement money. Regardless of this provision, Gartner (2012) argues that a considerable number of organization are suffering from skills shortage, which is an element that also characterizes my workplace. The talent crunch is not only affecting the energy as well as the health sectors, but it is slowly affecting the scientific and technical fields. The organization that I was working for was frequently training technical staff since the organization could not cope up with the competitive rates that rival companies were offering individuals with such expertise.
The other trend considered is the element of diversity. The diversity landscape in the contemporary business society is changing rapidly. Firms are continuously changing their policies to accommodate cultural and racial diversity, which are fundamental to the exclusion of discriminatory practices. The idea that increasing diversity in the workplace, especially in healthcare settings, is essential since it enables different companies to embrace different cultures, consequently improving both the satisfaction of the workers and the clients as well. In my organization, the increasing trend of diversity can be realized since the management frequently set up diversity training programs that should be attended by all employees. The training also involves customer relations provisions, which is vital for ensuring the provision of good quality services.
Skill deficiency in the workplace constitutes the other significant trend that is affecting a considerable number of organizations in the contemporary society. An individual could argue that the deficiencies might be a derivative of the widening gap between the older and the younger employees. Numerous organizations invest large sums of their revenue on training new employees, which has a significant impact on their profitability. Conversely, taking note of the idea that companies are changing their strategies of operations, the differences between their mode of operations differs with the one offered in educational institutions. For instance, in my former workplace, training new employees was fundamental to ensuring that they become well versed with the new technology in place, which was not only time-consuming, but cost the company significant resources.
Workplace flexibility
The adoption of a strategic approach that would ensure workplace flexibility is fundamentally considered as a vital organizational issue. One of the ways through which the organization I was working for would have responded to the need for workplace flexibility would be through the development of a flexibility strategy. In this regard, the organization was seeing issues from the organizational point of view rather than at the individual level. For this reason, the management would have focused on developing an understanding that such issues were to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner, taking into account each part of the organization. My former organization would have considered the implementation of a comprehensive strategy that would embrace ongoing learning to change flexibility provisions in the entire organization. The rationale for implementing the strategy emanates from the provision that it would assist in the promotion of health principles.
The other way through which the organization I was formally working for could view workplace flexibility would have been through the lens of the improvement of productivity. In the contemporary business society, employees are subjected to long working hours, which calls for the need for organizations to consider ensuring that their employees maintain a healthy work-life balance. There is a possibility of arguing that when a person is healthy and happy, they are likely to become more productive. According to Butler et al., (2009) workplace flexibility programs are essential for improving the positivity of individuals since they will be eager to go to work and perform their duties for the achievement of desired results. For this reason, I believe that this organization could have considered the need to implement organizational-level workplace flexibility programs to ensure that the employees acquire high job satisfaction levels (Butler et al., 2009). The satisfaction level is not the only provision that would influence the organization to implement the program, but the idea that it could have assisted in ensuring employee retention. Given the high employee turnover in the organization, the implementation of workplace flexibility program in the organization would have assisted in ensuring the success of the company.
References
Butler, A. B., Grzywacz, J. G., Ettner, S. L., & Liu, B. (2009). Workplace flexibility, self-reported health, and health care utilization. Work & Stress , 23 (1), 45-59.
Gartner, M. (2012). A Risky Talent Shortage. Waste Age , 43 (3), 30-31.
International Labor Organization (ILO). (2010). Disability in the Workplace: Company Practices (Working Paper No. 3). Geneva: ILO.
Miller, V., & Gordon, M. (2014). Meeting the Challenge of Human Resource Management: A Communication Perspective . Routledge.
