Employee Relations with the Company - Example

Ref: Human Resource Practices Introduction Human resource management is crucial in the organization because it involves the human side of management of the company and employee relations with the company. This deals with the workforce of an organization. The human resource management is concerned with the manpower of the organization so that they give maximum input to the organization. Since the beginning of time, the human aspect of an organization has been the most valuable resource. This is because employees are linked to every part of the organization. The human resource management in any company determines the growth and success of the company. It is involved in organizing, planning schedules, controlling, directing, obtaining, training, utilizing, and maintaining the human resources. The human resource management allows the smooth support of the operations of the organization and also helps to maintain high performance and productivity level by meeting the needs of employees through the organizational procedure. The human resource management also plays a crucial role in compensation management. This is where this function of the organization helps employees get motivated and also get their rights and benefits as per the regulations of the company. Body Problem Identification The current situation in the organization is where approximately half of the female workers take maternity leave within three years of being hired. This makes it necessary for the company to hire cover-off employees to do some tasks. This results in an increase in human resource costs and work overload. An increase in cost is as a result of hiring temporary employees even though the current employees are being paid while on leave. Work overload results from the fact that new employees are not in a position to work as fast as existing employees. They need time to be trained on what is required from them which requires time and cost. According to the employment legislation, a mother who is on maternity leave has the right to have her job reserved until the end of her leave. Another problem that results from maternity leave is uncertainty on whether the new parents will resume their work after their leave or if they will decide to be stay at home parents. Finally, resentment is likely to brow up among other employees if the company decides not to take in temporary staff and instead force the other staff members to shoulder the extra work. The worst is if employees feel that they are not able to complain. This situation brings anxiety, not only on this company but also in other companies around the country. The company needs to come up with ways to solve this issue while considering the interest of the company and the employees. It is crucial to avoid solutions that result in workplace tensions or which will lead to discrimination against young job seekers where women in childbearing years find themselves at a disadvantage when there are new positions. This will also damage the image of the company. Discrimination is mostly seen in work places during hiring of employees, promotion of employees, during giving out of assignments and even in the payment given to employees. These include policies that do not favor one gender like policies relating to mothers or expectant mothers. Proposal When employees announce that they are pregnant, the company should be able to have consistent and legally sound policies and practices that will avoid any potential complication in the future. It is crucial that we consider the anti-discrimination and leave laws and also be able to understand our provincial government which may provide more liberal policies for leave benefits for new parents and pregnant women. It should be noted that this proposal is not meant to discriminate any group of workers. If there is any element of discrimination, there will be a rational connection for its policy. This policy shows an element of good faith where the decision is made so as to protect the company, other employees and its. This policy also shows that element of necessity where it is necessary to have the policy so as to protect company from performing poorly. In order to deal with this problem, a number of changes need to be done in the recruitment and selection process, job analysis, and in the human resource policy. Recruitment and selection This is the process of sorting and attracting qualified people to fill in a position. This is a crucial process in the human resource management because it determines the kind of employees recruited into the company. The process of attracting the right people is difficult because it depends on the image of the company, the recruitment budget, government and union requirements, and the attractiveness of the job (Steen, pg. 10). Through the job analysis process, companies are able to determine the specific needs of a given position. Once the recruitment process is over, candidates are selected through various means in order to make sure that the organization has chosen the right person for the job. Currently the company hires 25 employees per year and the average age of these people is 25 years which is considered to be the child bearing age. 57% of those who are hired are females. This policy needs to change whereby the age of those who are hired should be an average of 35years to ensure that the company also hires people who have passed the child bearing age. It is crucial to note that the average of 25years can already be seen as being discriminatory. This can be an indication that the company does not hire older people which can damage the image of the company. The other change that needs to be implemented at the recruitment and the selection stage is the percentage of females who are hired. This percentage needs to go down so that it is slightly less than 50%. A good percent can be 40% of those who are hired. This will ensure that the company gets more men and at the same time will ensure that the company does not break any anti-discrimination, the employment equity act of 1986, or the Canadian human rights act of 1977 that prohibits discrimination based sex and sexual orientation (Steen, Pg. 47). Overall, 40% of those who are hired will be female and of these females, a good number of them will be women who are not of child bearing age. This will reduce the number of women who are going on maternity leave per year. Job Analysis This is a systematic process where a company collects data in order to determine the skills, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics required to successfully complete a task. This process identifies the behaviors, activities, performance standards, and any personal requirements needed to perform the job. Through the process of job analysis, the company is able to come up with job description, job specification, and job evaluation criteria. A job description needs to accurately show the job content, environment and condition. This is usually in the format of job title, duties expected to be performed, the responsibilities of the jobholder, the authority of the job holder, and any distinguishing characteristics of the job. Job specification is concerned with the minimum qualifications that a person needs to successfully perform the job. Through the job analysis process, companies are able to identify the skills, knowledge, and abilities that are needed to be able to perform a job. Being a medium sized company, we are at a higher risk of employee one person who has unique qualification than the other employees. This is a risk because in cases where this person goes on maternity leave, the company will have a hard time finding a temporary replacement within the company which may still force us to get new employees from outside the company. This means that the company will have the same problem of increase in costs related to training and compensation to these temporary employees. Proper job analysis will help the company get more than one individual with the same qualification so that when one is not available the other can easily cover for her. However, it is crucial to consider providing some form of compensation to employees who cover for others in order to avoid tension between employees. The cost will still be cheaper than outsourcing individuals because there will not be any training cost or loss of time due to training. Human Resource Policy A sound human resource policy is crucial in the growth of any business or company. The human resource policy and procedure manual lays out procedures and policies for developing and managing people. These will also give guidelines to the company on how they can be able to administer the policies. The human resource policies make sure that procedures are well organized to prevent any misinterpretation between the employer and the employees. These policies also help employees save on time and money that can be wasted on resolving human resource issues. Human resource policies and procedure manuals should include issues related to maternity leave. It should be clearly stated that employees who have been in the company for a period of more than six months are entitled to "paid maternity leave". This period is an indication that the employee has successfully passed the probation period of six months and now has been permanently employed by the company. Those who enjoy paid leave should be entitled to the minimum legislated requirement. This is because the company will still have to pay individuals who will cover for those employees who go on leave. The company has a good medical cover for its employees and this is expected to also help employees Conclusion Human resource management is a very crucial aspect of the company that needs to be looked at carefully. This proposal tries to solve the issues related to maternity leave while considering the legal issues affecting it, and its effect on the stakeholders. The proposal needs to be taken into consideration to ensure the smooth running of activities in the company. Works Cited Sandra Steen, Patrick Wright, & Barry Gerhart. human resource management; second canadian edition. Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 2009. Print. 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