3. A successful human resources strategy complements a company’s mission and goals. The factors influencing HR activities aren’t static: To maximize recruitment and retention, and to minimize employee issues, company marketers must continually monitor internal and external environmental factors and adjust HR strategy accordingly. To do that, it’s important to know what the internal and external factors can consist of:
a. Competition. The extent of competition in an industry affects a company’s ability to recruit qualified workers. Industry giants find that candidates seek them out. There is no need to spend money advertising each recruitment in such a case, because candidates will visit the company website of their own accord. Some companies typically don’t have the same branding power or company reputation, though, and need to actively seek qualified candidates for critical positions. In such a scenario, a human resources department will need to focus on developing recruitment materials and attending job fairs to promote the company and attract applicants. Similarly, HR should develop programs and incentives to retain key employees.
b. Compensation. Labor supply drives the amount of compensation a business must offer to attract employees. In an oversaturated market, when unemployment is high and many more qualified candidates exist than job opportunities, the amount of compensation the company must provide is less than when a shortage of candidates exists and they are competing against multiple other companies to recruit employees. The HR must continually evaluate the compensation structure by conducting industry- and location-specific salary surveys to ensure wages remain competitive enough to attract and retain key staff members but low enough that the business remains financially competitive. HR must also ensure that the internal compensation structure is fair, for example, experienced workers with specialized qualifications should earn more than recent college graduates performing the same tasks.
c. Legislation. Legislation impacts all HR activities. Federal and state legislation typically dictate how long a business must retain personnel records and other employee data, what can be stored, and how. For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act all place obligations on employers to safeguard the confidentiality of employee medical information and to make sure company managers operate within the confines of law. HR professionals must stay abreast of legislation and train managers on their responsibilities.
d. Employee Relations. Internal policies and procedures impact HR activities. For example, if the company is committed to promoting from within, HR must ensure employees receive appropriate training and development to be ready for promotion when the time comes. HR should monitor the number of employees eligible for retirement and ensure potential replacements or other staff members are trained to avoid a sudden departure of business knowledge. If the company is unionized, HR must engage in collective bargaining with the union on matters of representation. External influences, political factors and organizational culture all influence the amount of grievances and complaints HR must respond to.
4. The following are forecasting demand supply techniques that the Noront can do for their company:
Forecasting Demand Techniques:
A. Trend Analysis- A quantitative approach to forecasting labor demand based on an organizational index such as sales. Trend analysis is the process of trying to look at current trends in order to predict future ones and is considered a form of comparative analysis. This can include attempting to determine whether a current market trend, such as gains in a particular market sector, is likely to continue, as well as whether a trend in one market area could result in a trend in another.
B. Managerial Estimates/ Management forecast- this are the opinions or judgments of supervisors, department managers, experts, or other knowledgeable about the organization’s future employment needs.
C. Delphi Technique – This attempts to decrease the subjectivity of forecasts by soliciting and summarizing the judgments of a preselected group of individuals.
*In forecasting demand there are some to consider such as products or service demands, economics, technology, financial resources, absenteeism/turnover, organizational growth, and management philosophy.
Forecasting Supply Techniques:
A. Staffing tables- Graphic representation s of all organizational jobs, along with the numbers of employees currently occupying those jobs and future (monthly or yearly) employment requirements.
B. Markov Analysis- A method for tracking the pattern of employee movements through various jobs.
C. Quality of fill- A metric designed to assess how well new hires are performing on the job.
D. Skill Inventories- Files of personnel education, experience, interests, and skills that allow managers to quickly match job openings with employee backgrounds.
E. Replacement charts- Listings of current jobholders and people who are potential replacements if an opening occurs.
F. Succession Planning- The process of identifying, developing, and tracking key individuals for executive positions.
*In forecasting supply there are some external considerations such as demographic changes, education of workforce, labor mobility, government policies, and unemployment rate.
During short run, organization can utilize overtime, add full- time workers, add part-time workers, employ contract workers, recall employees, outsource work and or reduce employee turnover.
NorOnt must continually forecast both the needs and the capabilities of the firm for the future to do an effective job at strategic planning. Consider, for a moment, the high costs of not forecasting or forecasting poorly. If job vacancies are left unfilled, the resulting loss in efficiency can be very costly, particularly when the company will consider the amount of time it takes to hire and train replacement employees. On the other side, accurate forecasting provides the kind of information managers need to make sound decisions. It helps them ensure that they have the right number and kind of people that could value the organization.
5. The company includes factors within the organization that impact the approach and success of the operations. The external environment consists of a variety of factors outside the company doors that is typically don’t have much control over. Managing the strengths of an internal operations and recognizing potential opportunities and threats outside of the operations are keys to business success.
Here are some factors to consider before making decisions in downsizing in the plant:
a. Organizational Direction. The role of company leadership is an important internal business factor. As a leader, his style and the styles of other company management impact organizational culture. The positive or negative nature, level of family-friendliness, effectiveness of communication and value of employees are cultural implications that result from leadership approaches. Companies often provide formal structure or direction with mission and vision statements. These are forward-looking statements that provide the business for company decisions and activities.
b. Other Internal Factors. The strength of a company employee is another crucial internal business factor. Motivated, hard-working and talented workers generally produce better results than unmotivated, less-talented employees. Your business processes and relationships within and between departments and employees also significantly impact business effectiveness and efficiency. In a high-performing workplace, employees not only have talent, but they work well together and collaborate on ideas and resolutions.
c. External Competition. One of the most critical external business factors is competition. Whether a company operates in a concentrated industry with a few major competitors or a large industry with many competitors, the company needs to know the competition. Many companies do competitive analysis to compare their offerings and prices to those of competitors. When developing business philosophies and products, it is helpful to use strength in quality production, customer service or operational efficiency to build competitive advantages that benefit your customers.
d. Other External Factors. Other common external factors fall into several categories, including socio-economic, legal or ethical, political and technological. Socio-economic factors relate to the values, attitudes and concerns of a company target customers and their economic abilities to afford your products. The legal, ethical and political environments generally relate to the company need to abide by business laws and to meet the ethical or social responsibility standards of their customers and communities. In some industries, technological evolution drives the need for companies to adapt and constantly research for improvements.
6. Instead of a company making its downsizing decision. Here are some approaches suggested for creating an engaged workforce. Employee engagement can occur when the organizations work on removing the blockades to work which necessitates having a clear understanding of the levers required to improve the key employee attitudes of satisfaction and engagement so as to create an optimally functioning system. There can be more than one way to improve the level of employee engagement in a company. In fact, there are many different things that companies not only can do, but also need to do. Most organization have a range of practices to improve the engagement level of their employees. Best practice recommends starting right at the selection or recruitment stage by having the right employees working in the right jobs and having a strong induction and orientation program in place.
Once the employees become a part of the system, efforts have to be put into place to engage employees to their highest level. This includes giving emphasis on certain areas which go a long way in affecting the level of engagement of the employees and includes:
a. Communication. A proper communication system helps employees in finding out what is going on within the company outside their immediate team. They also help to create an environment of trust and openness within the organizations where they are able to talk openly. Employees who feel they are listened to are able to express dissatisfaction and work together to resolve their causes, without it affecting their performance. The organizations must work towards implementing the communication forums to provide regular feedback to all people, including team meetings and conferences. A company may encourages employees to bring forward their questions or concerns through such programs as let’s talk It Over, Between Us and various internal and external help lines. Besides using the regular employee opinion and satisfaction surveys, an update on the various organizational issues can be tracked by the organizations through the usage of in-house magazines and online communications, including discussion boards by company personnel including the senior management.
b. Reward Schemes. These form an important part of a company’s overall employee engagement program. Studies have long shown that while money in itself is not a motivating factor the absence of financial reward can be a significant demotivator. Thus the roles of reward schemes in boosting employee engagement are to remove barriers to satisfaction in the organization and provide a framework for rewarding everyone in the organization for their performance. This may be achieved through right compensation and benefit programs, stock ownership and profit sharing plans and recognition programs. People want to know if their input matters and that they are contributing to the organization’s success in a meaningful way, for which there must be performance based reward scheme in place.
c. Developing the right culture. The organizations must have clear and humane HR policies and take initiatives to maintain the quality of work life of its employees. Opportunities must be provided for social interaction such as family gathering barbeques, and trips to the cinema or picnics. The company also encourages an open and transparent culture to empower its people and develop entrepreneurs. The organizations must demonstrate a commitment to employees’ well –being by providing opportunities for career advancement and be developing a safe, clean and inspiring work environment for their all-round growth. The employees must be provided with enough resources to solve their day-to-day problems or to do a job well. Culture – building activities are great for generating a feeling of belongings. Giving employees a feeling of belongingness is crucial in creating a thriving organization that people feel committed to and others want to join.
d. Leadership. Effective leaders who help in setting the tone for creating an engaged workforce can really differentiate an organization from its competitors. Everyone in the organization with leadership responsibility must have the emotional intelligence and leadership skills needed to switch and employees on they must act as role models, demonstrate and set high standards to which others can aspire. Good practices include effective performance management and a fair evaluation of performance. The leaders must act as coaches and mentors and must give an honest feedback and guidance to their employees.
8. The fundamental reason to downsize in an organization is to improve organizational performance and to reduce costs of operations. While these chances are expected to fetch significant gains for the companies in the long run, an analysis of corporate experiences of downsizing shows that such measures are not always implemented with careful consideration of all the implications. Downsizing also brings, in its wake, a number of associated hidden costs, which companies tend to overlook in pursuit of short-term gains. The flip side of downsizing is that the organizations lose expertise, skills, knowledge, experience and valuable relationships, which walk out of the door every time somebody leaves. A number of alternative approaches can be implemented to achieve the over-riding goal of enhancing business performance. At the same time, it is true that downsizing in many cases is an inevitable option. However, downsizing should be considered not as the first but the last option. If the axe has to fall, it should be preceded by a careful consideration of the consequences of such a drastic action.
Studies suggest that employee engagement will be influenced by:
a. Employee perceptions of job importance. This study has found that an employees’ attitude toward the job ‘s importance and the company had the greatest impact on loyalty and customer service then all other employee factors combined.
b. Employee clarity of job expectations. If expectations are not clear and basic materials and equipment not provided, negative emotions such as boredom or resentment may result, and the employee may then become focused on surviving more than thinking about how he can help the organization succeed.
c. Career advancement/improvement opportunities. Plant supervisors and managers indicated that many plant improvements were being made outside the suggestion system, where employees initiated changes in order to reap the bonuses generated by the subsequent cost savings.
d. Regular feedback and dialogue with superiors. Feedback is the key to giving employees a sense of where they’re going, but many organizations are remarkably bad at giving it.
e. Quality of working relationships with peers, superiors, and subordinates. If employee’s relationship with their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks will persuade the employees to perform at top levels. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with the boss.
f. Perceptions of the ethos and values of the organization. Inspiration and values’ is the most important of the six drivers in our Engaged Performance model. Inspirational leadership is the ultimate perk. In its absence, it is unlikely to engage employees.
