Contemporary Issues that Influence the Management of Human Resources at Alpine Bank, Rockford - Case Study Example

Contemporary Issues that Influence the Management of Human Resources at Alpine Bank, Rockford Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Contemporary Issues that Influence the Management of Human Resources and Alpine Bank, Rockford Management of human resources is one of the critical areas, which the organizational leadership should concentrate on to ensure it realizes its goals and objective. The success of any organization depends mainly on how the firm manages its employees. The organization requires a competent leader to handle various issues affecting employees to facilitate efficiency and achievement of goals. The person in charge of managing the human resources in the organization should, therefore, understand critical issues that affect workers. Again, the person should have the knowledge on several approaches of getting the optimum output to meet the workplace demands. The management of human resources is a diverse exercise, which starts from recruitment to the retention of employees in the workplace. It is through engaging employees and aligning their efforts to the goals of the organization that the firm makes optimum use of the human resources. Alpine Bank, Rockford, is one of the mid-sized companies in banking industry that understand the value for proper management of human resources. The firm utilizes effective strategies to engage its employees in firm’s activities to enhance productivity. In the same way, the firm’s leadership provides employees an opportunity to share the profit from firm’s business. In this regard, as the leadership demands efficiency and productivity, it allows employees to partake of the same productivity. This element facilitates consistent motivation and loyalty, which propels the bank to successful realization of its goals. Despite the ever-challenging market environment, the bank still flourishes to the point of earning recognition as one of the best-performing mid-sized firms in the United States. From reports for 2016, the bank enumerates employees’ benefits, which may most probably be the driving force towards the desirable performance. The report reflects on benefits that creates employees’ motivation and facilitates performance and retention of human resources in the firm. Employee Motivation In reference to the Employee’s Benefits Summary Plan for 2016, Alpine’s commitment to employees’ motivation is demonstrable. The benefits plan is the reflection of employees’ motivation policy, aimed at boosting productivity and efficiency of the human resources. The management sets aside a certain percentage of its annual profit to reward and compensate employees. Through monetary rewards, the management is able to engage employees and facilitate loyalty to the course of the organization (Ivancevich &Konopaske, 2013). Employees are loyal towards the employer who cares for their needs. When the employer shows dedication to improving the welfare of human resources, employees are more likely to develop positive attitude towards the company. Providing financial rewards is one of the methods firms utilize to create that positive attitude in employees (Elisiva & Sule, 2012). By having the benefits plan in place, Alpine Bank’s management portrays its understanding of the concept of employees’ motivation. In light of the detailed information provided by the annual benefits plan for Alpine Bank employees, the element of monetary motivation is evident. The organization allocates significant amount to diverse financial needs of employees. The management ensures that employees are adequately rewarded hence able to concentrate on realizing goals of the firm. The main purpose of motivation is to enhance employees’ attitude, which is the driving force behind individual productivity in the organization (Ivancevich &Konopaske, 2013). Such aspect increases employees’ concentration on the job and is mostly likely to produce desired outcome. In most cases, employers aim at creating a positive emotional impact to their workers by helping them to meet their financial needs (Elisiva & Sule, 2012). In other words, the growing organizations such as Alpine Bank thrive on employees’ satisfaction, an element that engages the human resource to the workplace. There is evidence linking employees’ satisfaction with the high performance in the organization. Note that Alpine Bank has had a consistent growth over the years and its trend of performance indicates consistent improvement. Employees do their best in their respective areas of work to achieve set targets. From the organization’s records, constant increase of sales revenue is the implication of continuously improving workers’ output. Despite operating in a challenging environment, the bank still realizes performance improvement. At this point, every employee works towards achievement of the firm’s goals. This aspect reflects the reciprocation to the organization’s commitment to the welfare of its employees. In a nutshell, the firm is keen in meeting the needs of its human resources, the initiative that facilitates optimum utilization of employees’ capabilities hence improving overall collective outcome. Monetary rewards facilitate employees’ retention in the organization. The firm seeks to retain its best employees while challenging the underperforming workers to improve. By providing bonuses and allowances to employees, the management intends to impress the human resources and direct workers’ actions towards the desired path. In this regard, the organization uses motivation policy to encourage good performance from employees who may have a challenge in meeting the employer’s expectation (Ivancevich &Konopaske, 2013). It also intends to retain effective employees in the organization to facilitate consistency. In other words, the employees’ benefits plan at Alpine Bank intends to make employees stay with the organization for a long period. The initiative makes the employer competitive in the industry, hence providing a competitive edge in attracting quality employees to the organization. In light of the benefits program for the Alpine Bank’s employees, there are those benefits one starts enjoying immediately upon assumption of official duties and those that are applicable to only those who have gone through probation period. The program is comprehensive in such a way that every employee, both full time and part time, enjoys the benefits of being part of the bank’s workforce. This element contributes to the high level of employees’ satisfaction and motivation, which act as a tool for attracting competitive workforce in the organization. Alpine Bank is among the few organizations that have benefits for employees who are under probation. Benefits that apply immediately upon employment are of various categories; there are those that seek to improve financial welfare of employees and those that cater for social and physical wellness, which is the reflection of the holistic benefits plan. Categories of Human Resource Benefits Financial Welfare There are various provisions under the Employees’ Benefits Plan that seek to improve the financial wellbeing of employees immediately they start working for the organization. These provisions include free bank services for all employees, which include free access to checking account, waiver on different types of checks, and payroll direct deposits. There are also services that the bank provides at subsidized rate such as loan installments. The organization provides an incentive bonus for employee referral. When the employee refers a successful job applicant, s/he is entitled to this bonus. There are also allowance for each mortgage referral, incentives for performance, and potential annual bonuses. These benefits contribute to monetary motivation, which the firm provides to entice employees’ towards performance. Social Welfare Alpine Bank also provides benefits that seek to improve the social wellbeing of the employees. It is through these provisions that the firm is able to facilitate non-monetary motivation, which plays a crucial role in employees’ satisfaction. These benefits include holidays’ allowance, purchase of personal items from selected firms such as Microsoft and Dell among others, and facilitation of group social events. From these provisions, it is clear that the firm has a concern for social wellbeing of employees. There is also an insurance coverage for employees where the bank pays for medical covers, long term, and disability insurance plans. Again, employees are also entitled for the supplemental policy from the date of employment. Physical Wellness Alpine Bank provides benefits aimed at facilitating physical wellness of its employees. The organization pays for half-price health and wellness program to employees. Some of the wellness and health provisions covered under this program include the smoking cessation sessions, personal trainer, and nutrition classes. The firm also pays for the screening programs for employees without compromising their privacy. It also caters for wellness programs such as virgin pulse and wellness bucks to a certain extent. These provisions facilitate the physical wellbeing of employees, an element that contributes to individual productivity. Other Benefits The organization has other benefits for employees after going through the probation period. The program consists of the Dependency Care Plan, the provision that caters for immediate family members who depend on employees’ income for survival. The firm provides the maximum of $ 5,000 to each employee to cater for the needs of dependents. There is also an Employee Assistance Plan (EAP), which the firm provides the maximum of $ 300 every year. These provisions aim at enhancing the financial wellbeing of employees. The bank also provides personal loans for employees without interest to assist in purchasing items such as computers or down-payment of a vehicle. Again, the organization allows paid leaves on issues such as funeral or when the employee falls sick. To enhance commitment among employees, the organization has a stock ownership program where it assists workers to acquire shares. The ownership plan is part of the retirement program for employees. The organization helps employees to contribute sufficient funds towards their retirement package, thus facilitating commitment. The Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is usually 7 percent of the worker’s annual income. Alpine Bank pays in full for all eligible employees, hence relieving them from the deduction towards the program. Besides, employees are entitled to paid vacation for varying duration for different categories of workers, which depends on time one has worked for the organization. The organization also pays a maximum of $ 2,550 each year as a medical cover for all eligible employees. After completing two years in the organization, employees can access funding for purchasing a house. Interview with the Senior Vice President for Alpine Bank Besides having an exclusive benefit plan for employees, Alpine Bank applies other strategies to enhance the workforce performance. After lengthy interview with the manager in charge of human resource division, it is clear that the firm’s leadership values the role of employees in the growth of the organization. The HR leader recognizes employees as the key driving force behind the consistent growth of the company. In this regard, the manager ensures the overall wellbeing of the workforce is taken care of by the organization. He cites the employees’ benefits plan as a clear demonstration of firm’s commitment towards improving the wellbeing of the workforce. The HR team engages employees in different fronts, helping them to achieve the set target. It is through this element that the firm is able to record constant growth in terms of profitability. The organization values teamwork, which increases the total output of all employees. The Senior Vice President indicated that the bank has a culture of teamwork, which is among its core values. The top management does not emphasize too much on the position of the employee but his/her contribution to the realization of corporate goals. In addition, the leader of the HR function stated that the organization creates an environment where employees work together for the common good of the firm. All managers work hand in hand with junior employees to ensure efficient realization of set goals. It is through the spirit of teamwork that workers improve their skills and share ideas on various issues affecting their respective area of operation. The management allows employees to raise ideas that would improve workplace efficiency. In this regard, the HR team facilitates creativity and innovation among employees, an element that defines the organizational culture of success. Conclusion Motivation is one of the critical elements, which the management uses to enhance performance among employees. Alpine Bank is one of the organizations, which recognizes the impact of employee motivation to the overall outcome of the firm. The firm has a team of leaders who initiate programs that aim at motivating employees. Through the employees’ benefits plan, Alpine Bank caters for various needs of all employees, hence encouraging commitment as well as facilitating retention. The benefits plan seeks to provide the monetary motivation, which boosts satisfaction and loyalty towards the organization. After having an interview with the HR team leader, it was clear that the organization does not only provide monetary rewards and benefits but also values the psychological satisfaction of its workforce. To realize this end, the organization cultivates the culture of teamwork, which enhances consistent interaction among employees. The concept of teamwork also fosters innovation and creativity, which ensures that the firm realizes the long-term performance in the volatile environment. References Elisiva, A. R., & Sule, E. T. (2012). Influence of competitive strategy analysis on improvement of organizational performance. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(5), 1406-1420. Ivancevich, J. M. &Konopaske, R. (2013). Human Resource Management (12ed.). McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Read More