Functions of (HRM) Human Resource Management - Recruitment & selection (Staffing) - Training & Development - Appraising - Motivating - Compensating & Benefits.

Recruitment of employees is administered by two major sources, which are recruitment of employees through internal sources and recruitment of employees through external sources. Internal recruitment is the process of inviting or giving chance to people relating to concern organization or giving chance to the existing employees.

After the recruitment, employee selection process begins for identifying right person by using written test on relevant subjects, oral tests, group discussions, gamifications, final job interview and background verification for checking the genuinity and credentials of the candidates for filling up of the job which is lying vacant in an organization.

The Top 10 Ways Companies Fill Jobs

Ways of internal recruitment

• 1. As the aim of recruitment is to fill up the vacancies, depending upon organisation to organisation, some may adopt internal recruitment to fill up the vacancies by way of transferring an employee to the place where job is lying vacant if transferring employee is found to befitted for the job position he or she going to take up by way of transfer.

  2. Giving promotion to the vacant position if an employee found to be fitted for the promotion post,

  3. HR hiring Managers Seek for employee referrals from existing employees generally to fill up key posts or to the post which deal with confidential information and to the sensitive positions with a view not to take any risk by handling such positions to unknown persons,

  4. Inviting retrenched employees if they were retrenched or laid off by an organisation due to shortage of working capital, low sales, fall in demand for goods they were producing or breakdown in machinery. It is a rule that has to be followed by an organisation to give first opportunity to the retrenched employees to fill up vacancies if organisation position is restored and if it needs to add staff. Industrial disputes act 1947 is the law which deals with this subject.

  5. Some organisations offer compassionate appointments to the family members of retired employee, deceased employee or total permanently disabled employee as a result of an accident for filling up of vacancies arising out of the said cause. Even governmental organisations offer compassionate appointments to fill up vacancies especially at feeder cader or low level or low grade positions so as to support the affected family members affected employee.

• Internet or online recruitment which has become popular and major source of recruitment since finding or inviting job applicants is easy when compared to other source of external recruitment. Nowadays HR hiring managers are recruiting through social networking and it has become widely popular for finding suitable candidates.[According to TopJobSites.com, the top three job search websites by traffic ranking are Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and HotJobs.com.

• If organization needs well experienced and competent or talented candidate or to fill up key vacancy, in such case HR hiring managers will look at competitor organizations to find and to attract such candidate.

• Employment agencies are the oldest source for finding large number of job applicants as they get enrolled or get registered for employment opportunities.

• Campus or college recruitment is one of the sources of external recruitment from which freshers and talented pool with attitude of learning new skills and knowledge relating to emerging technologies are available. Therefore organizations can have fresh talented people on board for adopting change and to easily impart the skills whatever organization requires.

• Executive search firms or consultancies

• Unsolicited candidates - It is universal truth that rate of unemployment is on raise as educational institutions are generating graduate disproportionately to the rate of employment opportunities in the market. Consequently, job seekers they themselves are desperately approaching companies for finding job openings.

Human Resource Planning

Human resource planning as a function of human resource management, it determines the number and type of employees needed to accomplish organizational goals . Research is an important part of this function because planning requires the collection and analysis of information in order to forecast human resources supplies and to predict future human resources needs. The basic human resource planning strategy is staffing and employee development.

Human Resource Auditing

Human resource auditing (HRA) is a process of systematic verification of job analysis and design, recruitment and selection, orientation and placement, training and development, performance appraisal and job evaluation, employee and executive remuneration, motivation and morale, participative management, communication, welfare and social security, safety and health, industrial relations, trade unionism, and disputes and their resolution. HR audit is very much useful to achieve the organizational goal and also is a vital tool which helps to assess the effectiveness of HR functions of an organization.

The primary objective of HR audit is to annihilate management risk of contravention with the laws, liability exposure, identifying and correcting risk gaps, litigation avoidance, cost avoidance and enhancement of human resource best practices.

The People Matters HR Audits Study 2016 surveyed 72 companies to assess and evaluate the HR Audit procedures in Indian Companies. The findings from the survey revealed that HR Audits are a routine process in a majority of organizations, very few companies employ dedicated resources that support audit procedures. Further, there is a need for companies to proactively use them for business risk assessment and process improvements.

• • 96% of organizations do not have dedicated HR resources for auditing. They are either done by external audit firms or internal HR auditor.

  • And only 52% of organizations perform audits only to establish an “early warning system”

Frequency of HR audits by companies - could be Annually, Quarterly, Trimester and Semester

Job Analysis

Job analysis is the process of describing the nature of a job and specifying the human requirements, such as skills, and experience needed to perform it. The end product of the job analysis process is the job description. A job description spells out work duties and activities of employees. Job descriptions are a vital source of information to employees, managers, and personnel people because job content has a great influence on personnel programs and practices.

Orientation

Orientation is the first step toward helping a new employee adjust himself to the new job and the employer. It is a method to acquaint new employees with particular aspects of their new job, including pay and benefit programmes, working hours, and company rules and expectations.

Training and Development

The training and development is one of the core functions of the human resource management. As it the core function of HR trainer, gives and imparts employees the skills and knowledge to perform their jobs effectively. In addition to providing training for new or inexperienced employees, organizations often provide training programs for experienced employees whose jobs are undergoing change. Large organizations often have development programs which prepare employees for higher level responsibilities within the organization. Training and development programs provide useful means of assuring that employees are capable of performing their jobs at acceptable levels.

• On-the-job Methods

  • • Job Rotation

    • Coaching

    • Job Instruction

    • Committee Assignments

    • Apprenticeship

    • Internship

• Off-the-job Methods

  • • Classroom Lectures

    • Audio-Visual

    • Simulation

    • Vestibule Training

    • Case Studies

    • Role Playing

    • Programmed Instructions

Sensitivity Training

Sensitivity training is about making people understand about themselves and others reasonably, which is done by developing in them social sensitivity and behavioural flexibility.

Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal function monitors employee performance to ensure that it is at acceptable levels. Human resource mangers are usually responsible for developing and administering performance appraisal systems, although the actual appraisal of employee performance is the responsibility of supervisors and managers. Besides providing a basis for pay, promotion, and disciplinary action, performance appraisal information is essential for employee development since knowledge of results (feedback) is necessary to motivate and guide performance improvements.

In order to assess the performance of employees, HR managers have to establish performance standards, communicating established performance standards to their employees, measuring the actual performance of employees by using various methods of performance appraisal and finally comparing actual performance of employees with the established performance standards so as to identify the gaps in the performance of employees. It gives a clear picture of employees performance status thereby HR manager will develop a plan for filling up of gaps in performance of employees by way of providing suitable and focused training for improving the skills in employees.

When it comes to period of conducting performance appraisal of employees, it all varies from organisation to organisation, it could be annually, half yearly, quarterly, monthly and some organisations conduct performance appraisal on regular basis mostly with the support of human resource information systems.

What are the methods of performance appraisal of employees?

There are various methods of performance appraisal of employees classified as modern methods and traditional methods. It all depends on the nature and type of the organization decides what method of performance appraisal system is adopted and some methods of performance appraisal of employees may not be suitable for some sort of organization. One of the most used traditional method of performance appraisal system is confidential report writing which is especially administered in the formal of organizations and governmental institutions like judiciary in order to prepare a report on performance of its employees by their superiors for submitting to the controlling authority which will take corrective actions and measures on under-performing employees and rewarding best performance.

Career Planning & career development

The Concept and idea for Career planning has been developed partly as a result of the desire of many employees to grow in their jobs and to advance in their career. Career planning activities include assessing an individual employee’s potential for growth and advancement in the organization. Career planning is the process of establishing personal career objectives by employees and acting in a manner intended to fulfil their career objectives. HR managers should help employees in knowing their strengths and core competence for placing them in suitable job, guide employees what skills and knowledge should be acquired for attaining higher positions, planning for suitable training in order to polish employees existing skill set and providing good work-life-balance to make right balance between career and personal life, after all, every one work for their personal and happy life.

Career development is a perennial HR function which is to identify the individual needs, abilities, goals, organization’s job demands, job rewards and then matching their abilities with job demands and rewards through well designed career development program. From the employees point of view, career development is the lifelong process of learning, updating skills and knowledge to match current and future job requirements and to be prepared to occupy higher job positions in an organisation.

Career development does not guarantee success but without it, employees would not be ready for a job when the opportunity arises. HR managers should motivate their employees by way of giving suitable opportunities to grow in their career that could be by promotions to higher positions according to their skills and knowledge and should also give opportunities to employees to learn new skills in the job to grow in their career and guide employees in right career path.

Top preferences for employees in India

* Career development

* Learning and training opportunities

* Good work-life balance

* Good relationship with superiors

Compensation

Alternative names for compensation are payment, salary, wage or remuneration. But grammatically there is difference between those nomenclature like compensation nomenclature is used for payment of amount in case of accident or death of an employee during the course of employment and such employee should not be under the influence of alcohol at the time of accident or death. Remuneration and salary can be used interchangeably when period of payment is monthly to an employee, whereas wage nomenclature is used when period of payment is daily to an employee.

Payment of compensation or remuneration is the fundamental duty of an employer, failure to fulfil his or her duty shall be liable for penal action in the court of law and will be interpreted as exploitation of workers and shall be viewed seriously by the court of law. Similarly payment of compensation or remuneration is the right of an employee for the work done and deprived employee can seek for justice in the court of law. There are employment and labour laws for every country which govern the payment of compensation and remuneration for workers, procedure and methods for payment of compensation in case of accidents and deaths.

According to principles of natural justice, and employer shall pay fair wages or equal pay for equal work which is constituted as fundamental right to an employee.

Compensation or remuneration is the basic motivating factor for any employee, it also acts as primary factor for retention of employees in an organization which is the frenetic task for any human resource manager. Unjustified or improper remuneration will trigger dissatisfaction and sometimes may lead to unrest among the employees which may lead to strikes that will hurt organization badly in all aspects. On top of it such organization will have to face legal action and penalty which is and cost for an organization, consequently it causes damage to the reputation of organization and employer branding which involves lot of effort to build it.

Human resource personnel provide a rational method for determining how much employees should be paid for performing certain jobs. Pay is obviously related to the maintenance of human resources. Since compensation is a major cost to many organisations, it is a major consideration in human resource planning. Compensation affects staffing in that people are generally attracted to organisations offering a higher level of pay in exchange for the work performed. It is related to employee development in that it provides an important incentive in motivating employees to higher levels of job performance and to higher paying jobs in the organisation.

Employee Benefits

One of the core functions of the human resource management is administration and management of benefits of employees. Employee Benefits are another form of compensation to employees other than direct pay for work performed. As such, the human resource function of administering employee benefits shares many characteristics of the compensation function. Benefits include both the legally required items and those offered at employer’s discretion. The cost of benefits has risen to such a point that they have become a major consideration in human resources planning. However, benefits are primarily related to the maintenance area, since they provide for many basic employee needs. Basically employee benefits are classified into compulsory or statutory benefits and discretionary or voluntary benefits. Compulsory statutory benefits must be provided to an employee by his employer without failure. In case if an employer fails to provide statutory benefits to his or her employees such employer is liable for penal action and deprived employees can see court of law so as to claim their right to statutory or compulsory benefits. Whereas discretionary or voluntary benefits purely dependent upon the will and wish of his or her employer, failure of providing such benefits cannot be enforceable in the court of law. Benefits like flexible work, paid vacations, work form home, earned leaves and other employee benefits, Here is a list of voluntary employee benefits provided by the corporates.

Netflix

Work at Netflix and there’s no need to request days off. That’s because there's no vacation policy. Employees have no limit to the number of days they can take off, as long as they get all their work done. And If employees want to wear vacation clothes at work, not a problem; there’s no dress code.

Google

• • When a Google employee die, surviving spouse or partner of a deceased employee 50% of their salary for the next 10 years.

  • Free gourmet food and never ending snacks.

  • 24/7 in-house tech support from their TechStop service Dogs are welcome into the office

  • Employee s given 'massage credits’ for a job well done

  • The 80/20 rule allows Googlers to dedicate 80% of their time to their primary job and 20% on passion projects

  • Xoogler alumni support for the rest of their lives

Facebook

• Free food

• $3,000 reimbursement for childcare

• 21 days PTO, 11 paid holidays, and unlimited sick days

• Four months paid maternity/paternity leave

Compulsory or statutory benefits for employees

• • Provident fund

  • maternity leave

  • Bonus minimum for employee

  • Workmen compensation in case of accidents and death of employee in the course of employment

  • Employees State insurance provides following benefits to the employees whoever got covered according to The Employees State insurance Act 1948. The existing wage limit for coverage under the Act is Rs.21,000/- per month (w.e.f. 01/01/2017).

Contribution

The contribution payable to the Corporation in respect of an employee shall comprise of employer's contribution and employee's contribution at a specified rate.

• Sickness benefit:

  • Medical benefit:

  • Disablement benefit:

    • Temporary disablement benefit (TDB)

    • Permanent disablement benefit (PDB)

  • Dependents Benefit (DB)

• Maternity benefit:

  • Unemployment allowance:

• Funeral Expenses :

Motivating employee

Employee motivation is the basic feature of the human resource management, as it is one of the functions, HR managers should identify the factors which causing demotivation of employees and convert them into factors which motivates employees. According to a study, employees who are motivated or feel motivated are tend to work more when compared to unmotivated to employees. We have listed major factors that motivates employees.

Pay and benefits

having justified payment is the right of an employee for the work done to his or her employer and payment of salary or wage is the fundamental duty of employer. Having handsome salary motivates employees, indeed it acts as a retention factor also. Employee benefits are additional to the salary of employees, employee benefits are classified into voluntary benefits and statutory benefits which include social security benefits which are compulsorily provided to employees. Few examples of employee benefits are paid vacations, free food, dependent benefit, medical benefit, maternity benefit, paternity benefit, payment of bonus, payment of gratuity and provident fund.

Working conditions

Maintaining and providing good working conditions not only motivates employees but also prevents employee from facing legal action by the court of law as they are mandatory according to labour laws. Good working conditions includes providing flexible timings to work, giving correct workload to avoid stress, maintaining healthy environment and HR managers should see that there is work life balance to their employees. Having all those will definitely motivates employees to work efficiently and also avoids distraction from work.

Company policies

whatever the company policies made by an organization, they should not be in conflict with the labour laws and principles of natural justice. The very purpose of having policies or making policies is only for making employees feel comfortable and to treat them undiscriminating. Having good company policies will drive employees to dedicate themselves to the organization and to reach its goals and objectives.

Employer brand and reputation

who don't want to work in well reputed and brand value organizations like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Qualcomm, Intel Corp and NASA. It is all because of the pride one will feel working in such organizations and keep employees motivated. Employees in order to retain and have foothold in such organizations, one will try to stay motivated and it is effort and is job. Building employers brand and reputation is a continuous process in which organization should try to be best in all aspects compared to its competitors.

Career development

Career development or career growth is one of the top 10 motivating factors for employees. No employee wants to retain in same position in a job for a long time, he or she wants to move forward or higher-level in their career by taking promotions in-time, which makes any employee feel happy and motivated as taking promotion in a job is most happiest and memorable moment for any employee. Besides HR managers should give opportunity to their employees to develop their skill set and knowledge for career development.

Job security

Job security standards in the top list of preference of employees. For any employee job security is the first and foremost important factor before taking up any job. Having job security in a job will make an employee to overlook all other benefits. The sense of security in job will develop confidence in employees which will make themselves to push forward while handling critical in tough situations in the job, in other words job security acts as a motivating factor.

Recognition

Providing employee benefits to their employees is not just enough to keep them motivated, staying unrecognized make employees feel themselves no value to organization and makes them demotivated.

Giving recognition and appreciating employees in the job will make them feel their importance and value to the organization and make employees stay motivated.

Healthy relationships

Consisting of good relationships with superiors and colleagues in organization is a priority for any employee since improper communication and misunderstandings with superiors and colleagues lead to psychological stress which makes employees demotivated and shows effect on work life. Having healthy relationships with superiors and colleagues will help and have support in getting things done easily and also keep employees happy at work that boosts their energy levels and make them to stay motivated.

Welfare, healthy and safety measures

Maintaining welfare, healthy and safety measures of employees is not just function but they are mandatory to maintain by the human resource management department. Failure of performing said functions or failure of maintaining said measures, organization shall be liable for penal action by the law.

Employee welfare: includes providing good canteen facilities, first aid or medical facilities, restrooms, lunchrooms and childcare facilities.

Employee healthy measures: maintaining cleanliness at workplace, disposal of waste and its management, providing healthy working environment, washing and cleaning facilities with freshwater etc.

Employee safety: looking after safety of employees so as to avoid workplace injuries accidents to employees , since employer shall be made liable for such incidents at workplace or during the course of employment.

Labour Relations

Maintaining labour relation is an art and one of the most important functions of human resource management in order to maintain peace and harmony in an organization for avoiding conflicts and smooth running of an organization. There are no hard and fast rules for maintaining labour relations since it is an art and should be managed according to the situations and circumstances. Without maintaining proper labour relationships there was no organization that did its business smoothly. The term “labour relations” refers to interaction with employees who are represented by a trade union. Unions are organization of employees who join together to obtain more voice in decisions affecting wages, benefits, working conditions, and other aspects of employment. With regard to labour relations, the personnel responsibility primarily involves negotiating with the unions regarding wages, service conditions, and resolving disputes and grievances.

Record-keeping

The oldest and most basic human resource management function is employee record-keeping. This function involves recording, maintaining, and retrieving employee related information for a variety of purposes. Records which must be maintained include application forms, health and medical records, employment history (jobs held, promotions, transfers, lay-offs), seniority lists, earnings and hours of work, absences, turnover, tardiness, and other employee data. Complete and up-to-date employee records are essential for most personnel functions. More than ever employees today have a great interest in their personnel records. They want to know what is in them, why certain statements have been made, and why records may or may not have been updated.

Personnel records provide the following:

1. A store of up-to-date and accurate information about the company’s employees.

2. A guide to the action to be taken regarding an employee, particularly by comparing him with other employees.

3. A guide when recruiting a new employee, e.g. by showing the rates of pay received by comparable employees.

4. A historical record of previous action taken regarding employees.

5. The raw material for statistics which check and guide personnel policies.

6. The means to comply with certain statutory requirements.

Personnel Research

All personnel people engage in some form of research activities. In a good research approach, the object is to get facts and information about personnel specifics in order to develop and maintain a program that works. It is impossible to run a personnel program without some pre-planning and post-reviewing. For that matter, any survey is, in a sense, research. There is a wide scope for research in the areas of recruitment, employee turnover, terminations, training, and so on. Through a well-designed attitude survey, employee opinions can be gathered on wages, promotions, welfare services, working conditions, job security, leadership, industrial relations, and the like. Despite its importance, however, in most companies, research is the most neglected area because personnel people are too busy putting out fires. Research is not done to put out fires but to prevent them.

Research is not the sole responsibility of any one particular group or department in an organization. The initial responsibility is that of the human resource department, which however should be assisted by line supervisors and executives at all levels of management. The assistance that can be rendered by trade unions and other organizations should not be ignored, but should be properly made use of.

Apart from the above, the HR function involves managing change, technology, innovation, and diversity. It is no longer confined to the culture or ethos of any single organization; its keynote is a cross-fertilization of ideas from different organizations. Periodic social audits of HR functions are considered essential. HR professionals have an all-encompassing role. They are required to have a thorough knowledge of the organization and its intricacies and complexities. The ultimate goal of every HR manager should be to develop a linkage between the employee and the organization because the employee’s commitment to the organization is crucial. The first and foremost role of HR functionary is to impart continuous education to employees about the changes and challenges facing the country in general, and their organization in particular. The employees should know about their balance sheet, sales progress, diversification plans, restructuring plans, sharp price movements, turnover and all such details. The HR professionals should impart education to all employees through small booklets, video films, and lectures.