Organization Rewards Employees For Past Performances example essay topic

What is a good organization? We could define a good organization as one that strives to meet the aspirations of its stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders, and the communities of which it is a part of). A good number of us believe we work for good organizations. Also, we believe we are doing good things for the stakeholders. Yet frequently, our newspapers are full of stories about organizations that are getting themselves in trouble.

Their reputations are damaged and their employees are embarrassed and their morale suffers. Why bad things happen to good organizations - A view from the Human Resources Department? There are unlimited numbers of reasons why bad things happen to good organizations. One important reason is not having a Human Resources Department which is a strategic partner. For the HR Department to be a strategic partner it needs to help the organization: attract, retain and develop a premier and diverse workforce; provide a safe work environment and reduce the risk of liability; anticipate trends and provide strategic solutions and comply with federal, state and local regulations. Failure to do so will increase the likelihood bad things will happen to the organization.

Attract, retain and develop a premier and diverse workforce To be able attract, retain and develop a premier and diverse workforce, organizations need to create a work environment that is open to communication, provides fair treatment, identifies workers needs, provide a sense of ownership, is interesting and exiting, makes available the opportunity for growth, etc. One way to supports employees work and non-work activities is by implementing "work / life " balance programs. "Work / life " balance programs support diversity and are effective recruitment and retention tools. Building a diverse workforce rests on an employer's ability to attract and retain female and minority employees who may not be able to work without flexible scheduling or benefit programs designed to help them meet personal needs and family responsibilities Two examples of "work / life " balance programs are: flexible work schedule, which allows an employee to determine his or her own schedule within the limits set by the organization and compressed work schedule in which the biweekly basic work requirement is scheduled by the organization for less than 10 workdays. Managers need to ensure that employees have the necessary skills to perform current and future jobs.

Because of new technology and the continued search for productivity, quality and effectiveness many organizations are redesigning work so that is performed more efficiently. As a result management and employees need to develop new skills to be successful in the technologically advanced environment. To achieve this objective the organization needs to maintained a well trained workforce. By recruiting from within, an organization rewards employees for past performances and sends a signal to other employees that their future efforts will payoff, while capitalizing on previous investments made in recruiting, selecting, developing, and training its current employees Until organizations build a supportive organization-wide culture that identifies and understands workers needs, the talent pool will most certainly remain underutilized and diversity may be difficult to achieve Provide a safe work environment and reduce the risk of liability There are a large number of lawsuits challenging the employer's safe work environment practices. Per David Ray (2000), there are four general causes of action employers are exposed to: negligent hiring, negligent retention, failure to warn and failure to document behavior. The organization could be guilty of negligent hiring when a plaintiff suffered damages caused by an employee in connection with his or her employment.

The plaintiff must prove that the employee was unfit and that the employer knew or should have known that the employee was unfit. The most common employer mistake that leads to liability for negligent hiring is the failure to adequately investigate the background of an applicant when hiring certain types of employees. In a negligent retention situation, an employer may have conducted proper pre-employment screening but then failed to take action when the employee later engages in improper behavior. In this situation, the employer becomes aware after the hiring that the employee is potentially dangerous but retains the employee anyway. In this type of situation, the organization will minimize the risk of liability if it took reasonable action once it became aware of the danger. An employer has a duty to warn those in danger once the organization has been put on notice that the possibility for risk exist.

But it is most critical when the risk would not be evident without a warning. Courts have held that an employer may even have a duty of care after the termination of a dangerous employee. Failure to document behavior usually arises from a supervisor's reluctance to document poor performance. Often the natural human reaction of any supervisor is to disregard a risk in the hope it will go away.

The organization should develop sound background-checking policies, human resources management practices, and related training for all employees that could reduce both the workplace violence and minimizes liability. Anticipate trends and provide strategic solutions An organization will be more efficient if it can prevent the need for layoffs or panic hiring. By having a workforce plan, the Human Resource Department will be able to manage shortages and surpluses. By understanding business cycles and tending to talent development and current talent inventories, HR can be proactive and act, instead of just react to surprises. "Workforce planning is a systematic, fully integrated organizational process that involves proactively planning ahead to avoid talent surpluses or shortages.

It is based on the premise that a company can be staffed more efficiently if it forecasts its talent needs as well as the actual supply of talent that is or will be available". (Sullivan J.) Per David E. Ripley (1995), work-force planning involves two important activities. One is the development and analysis of data that identify the organization's HR needs. This will include such data as future gaps and surpluses in the work force, diversity statistics, population demographics, health and safety statistics, turnover rates and causes, and employee-opinion survey results. The organization's mission, values, strategic goals and business objectives must also be considered, as should federal and state laws and regulations. The other important activity is developing responses to the identified HR needs.

These responses may be action plans (such as recruiting or training plans). Responses normally include both organization-wide activities and programs intended to deal with the specific needs of various organizational units. Per John Sullivan (2002), the most common components of a workforce plan are: forecasting and assessment, succession planning, leadership development, recruiting, retention, redeployment, contingent workforce, potential retirements, performance management, career path, internal placement, environmental forecast, identifying job and competency needs and metrics. One significant impact of workforce planning in an organization is the substantial reduction of surprises.

By having the capability to rapidly figure out positions that are vacant do to turnovers and provide timely talent replacement the organization's production or services should not be significantly affected. Employees should be continually groomed for new opportunities that fit their career interests and capabilities. These employees should transition without difficulty and rapidly to the new opportunities. Work-force planning will allow the organization to develop the capability to reduce labor costs without the need for large layoffs of permanent employees. Comply with federal, state and local regulations The legal environment for HR management is quite comprehensive. The HR professional needs to be aware and understand the implications to the organization created by federal, state and local regulations.

Some of the regulations include: Family and Medical Leave Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, Child Labor Requirements in Nonagricultural Occupations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), American with Disabilities (ADA) and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) regulation. Also, organizations need to keep in mind that for every federal regulation there is also its state-law counterpart, which in some case is more restrictive than the federal regulation. HR management is greatly affected by the broad coverage of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) regulation. The EEO provides workers protection from discrimination based on race, color, creed or age. With an increasing number of age discrimination suits, organizations need to develop sensitivity to age issues and policy specific to older employees. For example, organizations must ensure that pre-employment interview questions do not seek information other than that which is essential to evaluation of an applicant's qualifications for employment.

It is, therefore, in an employer's own self-interest to carefully review all procedures used in screening applicants for employment. Employee benefit plans that are regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) require special attention. Organizations must be prepared to provide resources that not only offer such plans but also manage those employee benefit plans. Failure to do so will lead to subsequent lawsuits by employees challenging plans that are out of compliance with ERISA disclosure, reporting and fiduciary standards Per Rob Gilmore (2003), some of the biggest employee-related mistakes employers make these days include: failing to establish an effective sexual harassment policy, failing to pay overtime to nonexempt employees, failing to complete I-9 forms for new employees, failing to take and document disciplinary actions, failing to quickly discharge poor performers, failure to ensure that laying off a group of employees has no disparate impact on any protected group, failing to get a signed release from a terminated employee, conditioning employment offers on medical exams and failing to retain labor and employment counsel to avoid making the first eight mistakes. Conclusion To minimize the risk of bad things happening to "good" organizations, HR management should be more than maintaining personal functions.

It should be an evolutionary process which combines the human resources functions, policies and strategies, with the organizations strategies and takes into consideration all stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders, and the communities of which it is a part). For the Human Resources Department to be a strategic partner it should be able to match up the abilities and desires of the employee with the needs of the business so that the corporate objectives can be met. Organizations need to have proactive policies to attract and retain the right type of people and in this ever changing and uncertain economic climate the management of employees takes on an even greater role. For the HR Department to have a positive impact upon the organization strategies HR policies should address a number of factors such as; the economic climate, government legislation, trade unions, competitors, clients and employees.

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