Strategic Human Resource Management Blog
My Strategic Human Resource Management Blog -
- keeps you up-to-date on any new Web page on strategic human resource, or amendments to existing Web pages.
- information on the most important activities carried out under the HR function including recruitment, employee engagement and motivation and employee retention.
- important articles and books on strategic human resource management, new theories on HR management, or any survey conducted on human resource management.
- provides insights into the world of HR.
Jul 30, 2010, Finding Gratifying Work
This book by Julie Jansen provides guidelines in finding gratifying work.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Finding Gratifying Work"
Jul 30, 2010, Employee Discipline
Employee discipline or staff discipline as some name it, is a necessary part of human resource management. Failure to act on any perceived misconduct can lead to loss of control and trust.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Employee Discipline"
Jul 30, 2010, Diamond HR Model
The proposed Diamond HR Model of HRM is intended to help you to understand and implement human resource management.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Diamond HR Model"
Jul 30, 2010, Competency Gap
Knowing your employees' competency gap helps you to formulate the right employee training and development programs and effectively manage talents.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Competency Gap"
Jul 30, 2010, Competency Based Human Resource System
In competency based human resource system, your organization's aim is to provide employees with the necessary competencies needed in the effective performance of their jobs.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Competency Based Human Resource System"
Jul 30, 2010, Appointment Procedure
Appointment procedure provides readily available guideline for decision makers on the appointment of new employees and employees selected for promotion.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Appointment Procedure"
Jul 30, 2010, Acting Verses Covering Appointment
Acting verses covering appointment can become contentious if it is unfair. It may not comply with the law.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Acting Verses Covering Appointment"
Jul 23, 2010, Suspension From Work
Suspension from work is a serious and emotional matter whether you are an employee or the employer.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Suspension From Work"
Jul 23, 2010, Education-Employment Fit
An education-employment fit will help not only job seekers but also industries and government agencies.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Education-Employment Fit"
Jul 12, 2010, OSHA Compliance Requirements
Implement all OSHA Compliance Requirements. It can give you peace of mind. It can prevent serious problems that cost a lot of money.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "OSHA Compliance Requirements"
Jul 5, 2010, Free HR Download
The free things in life are there to help you improve your station in life. Free HR download is one. But choose wisely and stay on-course.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Free HR Download"
Jul 5, 2010, World Cup Winning Combination
The FIFA World Cup competition provides opportunities to learn. You, we, and organizations can learn from the world cup winning combination adopted by football teams.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "World Cup Winning Combination"
Jul 2, 2010, Site Build It Affiliate
Get your SBI!, the all-in-one site building and hosting software and become a Site Build It affiliate.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Site Build It Affiliate"
Jul 2, 2010, Problems of HR Managers
These are only some of the problems of HR Managers. Resolving them on time will prevent other problems.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Problems of HR Managers"
Jun 29, 2010, Suspension From Work
As an employee, you do not want such a thing as suspension from work to ever happen to you.
Suspension from work may never occur. If you carry out your work well and follow all the rules and regulations, you have no fear of this ever happening.
But what if, say, something happen that results in your being suspended from work? What can you do?
Existing law and the terms and conditions of employment govern your working relationship with your employer. This includes work suspension.
Read through you appointment letter. And go through the Employee Handbook and the Company's Disciplinary Rules and Regulations. If there are none given to you before this, inquire from the Human Resource department.
Obtain copies of the relevant legislation and try to understand them. Get advice if you are not sure.
Subject to the wordings of the relevant legislation and the company rules and regulations, there is a specified duration during which you are under suspension. This is usually two weeks, with or without pay.
The suspension is not a punishment or a finding that you are guilty or in the wrong. The time is required by your employer to gather all relevant information. Your employer cannot just terminate your service without justification.
After gathering the information needed, your employer may conclude that there is no case against you or issue a show cause letter in compliance with the law of natural justice.
Always aim to avoid circumstances that can strain your relationship with your employer. If not, there may come a time when your employer is forced to issue a letter suspending you from work.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Suspension From Work"
Jun 21, 2010, Human Resources Salary Growth
Research appears to indicate that Human Resources salary growth for 2010 is not encouraging. Now the question arises: "Whither HR?"
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Human Resources Salary Growth"
Jun 21, 2010, BP Safety Experts
BP Safety Experts. Where are they?
Permalink -- click for full blog post "BP Safety Experts"
Jun 18, 2010, Skill
Using your skill will sharpen it apart from the benefits resulting from it including improving the quality of your work and the service that your employer is providing.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Skill"
Jun 18, 2010, Recruitment Policy
Recruitment policy is that framework by which you conduct recruitment exercise that achieves your staffing objectives.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Recruitment Policy"
Jun 17, 2010, Compensation Impact on Organizational Effectiveness
Compensation Impact on Organizational Effectiveness is the result of implementing a fair and just pay framework. Pay satisfaction results in positive work attitude and behavior among employees.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Compensation Impact on Organizational Effectiveness"
Jun 16, 2010, Human Resource Trends
It is not always easy to determine Human Resource trends. HR people need to be alert to changes that can affect the role played by Human Resource.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Human Resource Trends"
Jun 15, 2010, Goal Setting
Goal setting helps you to focus on what you want to achieve, be it personal, or related to your career or work.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Goal Setting"
Jun 15, 2010, First Step in HR Strategy
Taking action in achieving something worthwhile is never easy. Taking the first step in HR strategy formulation and implementation is the same. To Lao Tzu of China, taking that step is very important.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "First Step in HR Strategy"
Jun 14, 2010, Books From Amazon
Read the best books on HR management, personal development and on other subjects that inspire and empower. Among these are books from Amazon.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Books From Amazon"
Jun 11, 2010, Staffing
You need staffing strategies in order to respond to changing work environment.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Staffing"
Jun 11, 2010, Employee Selection
Follow a strict plan in conducting employee selection to ensure you get the people your organization needs.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Employee Selection"
Jun 11, 2010, Demotivation
Refrain from doing or saying things that increase employees' demotivation.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Demotivation"
Jun 10, 2010, Shift Work Appointment Letter
If you are going to work on shift from the beginning, you can call your appointment letter as a "Shift Work Appointment Letter."
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Shift Work Appointment Letter"
Jun 10, 2010, Absence of Appointment Letter
Absence of appointment letter can have negative effects on employee-employer relationships.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Absence of Appointment Letter"
Jun 10, 2010, Appointment
Use specific terms when speaking about appointment to a job.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Appointment"
Jun 9, 2010, Competency Profiling
Through competency profiling, you identify what skills, knowledge and behaviors are required to perform the job well. This adds value to human resource.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Competency Profiling"
Jun 7, 2010, Amazon Books
Amazon books are online books that you can purchase to advance your career, enhance your life's goal or for your reading pleasure.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Amazon Books"
Jun 2, 2010, Discipline
As a manager, you cannot avoid the issue of disciplining subordinates who fall short of the rules or the requirements of the employment contract.
You can say that discipline is like what people describe as a necessary evil. No manager enjoys taking disciplinary action against any of his or her subordinates.
And very few employees ever want to break the rules or to breach any of the terms and conditions of employment.
Your To Do List may look like this. - Take Proactive Approach to Employee Discipline
Be alert. Understand each and every employee answerable to you. You can be friendly to your people but maintain a reasonable distance at the same time.
- Nip any Problem in the Bud
Take the necessary action once you notice that something is beginning to go wrong. Do the same when you see that work performance is slacking which is against the employment terms.
- Face any Disciplinary Problem Head-on
Do not sweep any indiscipline or performance problem under the carpet. Immediately call and talk to the employee concerned. If not, the problem will become worse.
- Seek Advice from HR
If you are not from HR, seek help from people there. This presupposes that HR people have the expertise and the department has the capability.
- Seek Legal Advice
If you are still unsure whether a certain disciplinary action that you want to take is right, refer to an in-house lawyer or an appointed legal adviser.
Preventing any form of indiscipline is one of your prime concerns as a manager. This is more important and easier to do than taking disciplinary action against any employee.
This also saves money for the organization.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Discipline"
May 28, 2010, Executive (CEOs) Compensation
Compensation has always been of great concern to organizations and employees alike.
Executive compensation is of particular interest to CEOs as well as organizations' Boards of Directors.
A CEO wants to see that he or she is paid a salary commensurate with the heavy responsibilities. At the same time, he or she must oversee the effectiveness of the compensation plan for all other employees.
Good governance requires Board of Directors to ensure that the CEO is not given excessive pay and must see to it the no form of compensation or benefit can be enjoyed by any ex-CEO long after he or she left (or sacked.)
Things are fine when the organization is doing financially well. It is when times become difficult that decisions on compensation come under close scrutiny. If bad decisions had been made, hard decisions must then be made.
It irritates people lower down the hierarchical ladder when executives including CEOs receive high pay yet may escape any blame, what more prosecution, when they cause the downfall of organizations. Some still get paid compensation even after it becomes clear that they are the real culprits.
Of course, there are many CEOs and executives who carry out their jobs in a responsible and ethical manner. They deserve their pay for dedication to making their organizations successful. They deserve the compensation as provided for in their terms of appointment.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Executive (CEOs) Compensation"
May 26, 2010, Absenteeism
Whether you are an employer, an employee or a supervisor, absenteeism concerns you.
Whatever the cause of or reason for the absenteeism, it needs to be eliminated or at least reduced to the minimum.
As an employer, your business activities are adversely affected by absenteeism.
As a supervisor, you cannot cope with what your section is required to accomplish for the day.
As an employee, you will face disciplinary action for being regularly absent, the most serious being termination or dismissal.
Absenteeism costs money and actions taken to control or eliminate it further add to the overheads.
It leads to personal hardships in cases of termination. Family members will also experience the hardship when income earning members lose their jobs.
Absenteeism is a value-reducing occurrence.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Absenteeism"
May 21, 2010, Globalization
Among many of the effects of globalization, one of the important ones is on people management.
With globalization, organizations have no choice but to learn how to deal more effectively with a diverse workforce.
The business environment has also become more competitive.
Although globalization presents a lot of new opportunities, it also brings with it new challenges and risks.
As leaders in an organization, you may not have foreseen some or most of these and thus have not made the necessary preparation how to face them when and if they occur.
There are a number of occasions when this happened. Even big corporations were not spared. (Of course, people also play a role in the success or the fall of an organization.)
Ways of handling such a situation may include being always on the lookout for tell-tell signs that events are heading in a certain direction. When this happens, immediately convene a meeting to discuss and decide on an action plan to take care of the new development.
One of the most unfortunate things that can happen is that you fall into the trap of inaction, despairing that there is not much that you, or anyone for that matter, can do in the circumstances.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Globalization"
May 20, 2010, Education and Continuous Learning
It is said that there are many people who are not successful in life although they are qualified. This is sad.
However, you need not understand this to mean that getting a diploma or a degree is not necessary or is not important. This is not to forget the thousands of people who have no degree yet are successful in life through hard work and determination.
Obtaining a higher education or a more specialized qualification will offer better career prospects for you.
Having the right qualifications can help you to have:
- better skills and greater capability for work
- higher level of expertise
- wider scope of knowledge and perspective
- better employment prospect and opportunity
- higher productivity
- greater earning power
- better career progression
Get higher education whenever possible. Attend short relevant courses. Improve yourself all the time. Learn from every event whether at work or in life.
This will help you to continuously improve yourself and keep up-to-date.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Education and Continuous Learning"
May 12, 2010, Compensation Key Elements
It is essential that you know the compensation key elements.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Compensation Key Elements"
May 12, 2010, Compensation and the Law
Awareness of the inter-relationship between compensation and the law will help you to exercise caution in formulating your compensation system.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Compensation and the Law"
May 8, 2010, Terms and Conditions of Employment
As an employee, your relationship with your employer is governed by the terms and conditions of employment.
Most of these are found in your appointment letter. The rest are found in the Employee Handbook and the HR Policy Manual, provided these are incorporated in the appointment.
If you are a union member the terms and conditions are found in the collective bargaining agreement.
Whether you are a union member or not, get to know the terms and conditions well. If you find some provisions "vague" ask people in the Human Resource Department.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Terms and Conditions of Employment"
May 8, 2010, Appointment Letter
The appointment letter is a very important document.
It comes as no surprise if you become concerned when you are not given an appointment letter.
As an employee you want to know and to understand clearly what the terms and conditions of employment are.
So what do you do if such an important document is not issued to you?
Do not delay any further. Ask your employer for it.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Appointment Letter"
May 8, 2010, Definition of Strategy
This is the respective definition of strategy by a number of writers. This can shed some light on the meaning of this word under different scenarios or applications.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Definition of Strategy"
May 8, 2010, Definition of Management
It is essential to understand the definition of management in the different context it is used. This helps us to understand more about human resource management.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Definition of Management"
May 5, 2010, Appointment Policy
A clearly defined appointment policy leaves nothing to chance and this helps your organization to effectively conduct recruitment.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Appointment Policy"
May 4, 2010, Effective Leadership Skills
Equipping your key executives with effective leadership skills ensures that good decisive decisions are made each time and every time.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Effective Leadership Skills"
Apr 21, 2010, Diamond Edge General Services
Consultancy services in career planning, HR and training are some of the services provided by Diamond Edge General Services, a firm located at Donggongon, Penampang in Sabah, Malaysia.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Diamond Edge General Services"
Apr 19, 2010, Does Your Compensation System Lead to Higher Employee Satisfaction and Motivation?
You may want to know how to make your compensation system effective so that your employees are satisfied and continue to be satisfied and motivated.
Most probably you know that compensation consists of cash and non-cash compensation. Some call the latter as benefits.
The cash compensation consists of such items as salary, allowances and bonus.
Paying employees salaries that they perceive as fair can make them more satisfied and motivated.
However, pay can only motivate people for a certain period of time. This is usually up to the time when they expect to get an increase. Also, according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory, money is not found at the highest level.
In order to at least maintain the satisfaction and motivation level of your people, regular pay increases are necessary. There are times when you cannot do this.
What happens when you do not have the additional money? What other ways can you adopt to ensure that your employees continue to be satisfied?
One way is to offer your employees the best combination of benefits. Ensure that their retirement benefits are intact. It is found that this approach can result in higher employee satisfaction.
Some organizations are already offering what is called 'cafeteria benefits' where employees have the option to choose the benefits that they prefer.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Does Your Compensation System Lead to Higher Employee Satisfaction and Motivation?"
Apr 17, 2010, Contract
It is easy to forget that life is, in most cases, governed by contracts.
What is a contract?
It is a legally binding agreement. An example is an employment contract stating the terms and conditions of employment.
It also refers to document in which the agreement is contained. This can be your appointment letter, the agreement signed between you and the employer or the collective bargaining agreement or a combination.
The terms of a contract depends on what the parties had agreed.
Some terms are implied and are still binding even if these are not stated in the contract. Legislation may provide that certain employment terms are included even if not stated or the parties agree to exclude such legal provisions.
Take the social contract for example. A social contract is an agreement for mutual benefit between a member of society or group and the government or community. The terms of the social contract is not contained in one single document.
There are at least two parties to a contract. For example, in an employment contract, the parties are the employee and the employer.
Consideration given by either party makes the contract binding. As an employee you agree to work for the employer while the employer agrees to pay you your wages for the work done.
Whether you are an employee or an employer, stating clearly the terms and conditions of the employment contract will help create a good working relationship.
Click on the link below for more explanation of an employment contract.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Contract"
Apr 15, 2010, Appointment Letter
The appointment letter referred to here is that letter issued to you as an employee. It specifies the terms and conditions of employment. It is an employment contract governing the working relationship between you and your employer.
There are some organizations that do not issue appointment letters to new employees. They may do it sometime later. They may forget.
It is common - in fact, it is a good HR practice - for appointment letters to be issued before new employees report for active duty.
You know the importance of having an appointment letter. So ask for it if your employer has not issued one to you.
The appointment letter is a very important document. Read through it and ensure you understand every term and condition and their implications. If you have some doubts ask for explanation from the human resource department.
Make a copy of your appointment letter and keep the original at a secure place. Refer to your appointment letter every time you ask for a review of any of the terms and conditions or when your employer attempts to review any or some of the terms and conditions.
If you are a union member, most of the terms and conditions of employment are found in the collective bargaining agreement. The appointment letter issued to you is subject to the terms and conditions contained in the collective bargaining agreement.
Check out the sample appointment letter at the link below.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Appointment Letter"
|