People Management in France - Essay Example

People Management in France It is interesting to see how people are being managed in France, which is notable for being employee-oriented and envied for providing a work-life balance to workers. Let us take a look at some aspects of their practices, such as diversity, labor laws and immigration, and staffing management. In an article in SHRM online, “French Face Tough Diversity Challenges,” which was published in February of this year, senior writer Bill Leonard talked about the challenges that the French government, and subsequently the rest of the nation, is facing with regards to diversity in the workplace. What is good to note in this article is that Sarkozy and his government are taking steps to shake up the status quo and make some reforms with regards to the issue, particularly in matters of workplace and social inclusion. He did this by appointing officials from different races and ethnic backgrounds after his election in 2007. He created a new government post called “diversity and equality commissioner” and appointed Yazid Sabeg, foreign-born and known all throughout the country for his extensive work in “promoting diversity and workplace rights” (SHRM.org, 2009). The government had no other recourse but to make these drastic changes because of the riots that happened in one of the suburbs of Paris, particularly in the low-income, immigrant areas. The country, as Sabeg announced, is on the brink of a social civil war, and if nothing changes, then it could only get worse. It remains to be seen how the people will react to the efforts instituted by Sarkozy. In another article from the same website in January 1, 2006, Jeremy Josephs wrote about how the 35-hour work week is dividing the workforce. On one hand, economists and legislators supported the policy because they contended that it will result in greater productivity and will create more jobs. On the other hand, workers are starting to realize that “the atmosphere at work also changed. People became clock-watchers" (Josephs, 2006). Because they were working less in a week, the supplemental income coming from overtime work vanished, which left workers with families lost and desperate. The debate is still open as to whether the 35-hour week is the best way to go. How is the French workforce coping with the recession? In a recent article on June 5, 2009, two researchers from the Human Capital Institute (HCI) wrote about a growing trend in staffing management that is geared towards saving labor costs and at the same time increasing workers’ productivity. HCI, in conjunction with SuccessFactors, a talent management company, conducted a survey of employers in eight countries, among them France, to look at how effective two measures are in managing labor costs and increasing productivity: a flexible approach to workforce mobility to ensure a fit between the employee and the job location, and the use of contingent/contract workforce to reduce labor costs (Jones & Schweyer, 2009). France stood out in the survey because of its below than average scores in the Workforce Mobility Index and the Contingent Worker Index. This means that most French organizations don’t support workers who want to work at home, and that they don’t often use contingent workers, and if they did, they do not integrate them into the workforce but instead treat them informally. In contrast, Sweden scored higher than average on both indices, indicating that because they use more contingent workers and do allow their workers to telecommute, there is overall greater productivity, the workers are less likely to leave, and management saves on overhead costs (Jones & Schweyer, 2009). HR MAGAZINE, October 2009 Release HR Magazine is the official publication of SHRM, or Society for Human Resource Management, a global organization catering specifically to HR professionals. For its October 2009 release, its cover story, ‘Salaries Looking Up,’ tackled how there is the possibility of freezes on salaries being lifted, but this is highly dependent on the stability of the economy in the next few months. For its Profile section, it highlights Wegmans Food Markets, a major regional supermarket company, whose HR executives are looking for ways to become one of the best companies to work for by making a science out of making their employees happy. This magazine, in relation to the course, is very relevant because it discusses current issues and provides objective arguments for and against proposed resolutions. This magazine reflects the kind of HR professionals that we have today because they discuss issues in the workplace that are highly pertinent to today’s HR practice. It is also very well-rounded, integrative, and all-encompassing in its treatment of the different areas of technology, diversity, employment and staffing, legal trends, and management tools that HR professionals will find useful in their own contexts. In addition to this, the magazine also provides HR-related news, court reports, and new updates that most may not be aware of. It also provides a suggested list of references and books that readers might find interesting and important to improve their personal skills or widen their horizons in terms of coping with the realities of the workplace. It also has pages where certain companies advertise, may it be schools for further studies in HR, recruiting and staffing agencies, or capability enhancement seminars. For me, what is especially interesting in this magazine is that there is a section on HR jobs, which is absolutely helpful to somebody who is trying to get a foot in into the industry, or for those who are changing careers, or even for those who want a better job and a better work environment. Overall, HR Magazine is important to have for somebody working in the industry because it helps a lot in terms of providing up-to-date information, insights, and best practices for HR professionals. Recruitment, Selection, and Human Resource Planning Processes There used to be a time when HR professionals went hardcore with supplying the demand for talent. According to our lectures, that was when recruiters would just fill the positions and ensure that there is no void in the organization. On the other hand, a more recent ‘soft’ approach indicates that recruiters would look at the total picture and look for ways to integrate manpower into the overall organizational dynamics; however, the downside to this would be that there would be no clear focus and thus, the pull of HR in terms of owning the recruitment process is lost along the way. The ideal situation, for me, would be to take the best out of the two approaches and integrate them into a process wherein HR is the owner of the whole recruitment and selection cycle, but the line managers would be involved in the final decision-making and would provide invaluable inputs to the HR professional. They are, after all, the customers of the HR department in terms of these processes because they will work with the potential new employees and integrate them into their structure. Thus, it is important that the HR professional be knowledgeable and well-versed with the unique aspects of each role and function as well as the nuances that come along with the positions. The recruitment process has come down to an exact science, with metrics and a scorecard to track the progress of the whole process. This, I think, is important to underline the value that HR adds to the organization and to the goals and bottom line. Today’s recruiters have taken it to the next level and have gone online to ensure effective recruiting by measuring efforts such as time required to fill openings, cost of recruiting, recruiting satisfaction, and other process metrics such as yield ratios, selection rate, acceptance rate, and success base rate (Mathis & Jackson 219-220). By automating the processes, HR professionals are making sure that efforts are being documented to aid in better decision-making in the future, and to rate the success of HR as a whole. This would, in fact, also save the company money because it is more efficient, and with the recruiter to ensure that everything is in place, there would be fewer turnovers. Since recruitment is the first step in an employee’s experience within the organization, it is also the task and role of the HR professional to ensure that policies are being followed, and that the candidate gets the correct idea about the culture of the organization. An elaborate example of this would be in a specific function of the HR recruiter. It is important that the recruiter puts in place effective methods to avoid anomalies in the selection process, chiefly deception from either the candidate or the employer. It is also important to remember that there are severe consequences on areas of the internal organization if deception is in place: staff turnover; productivity; interpersonal relationships with colleagues and managers; emergence of dishonesty; candidate’s expected qualities fail to materialize; discovery of ineligibility; recriminations, retraining, and re-recruitment; and legal implications (Walley & Smith 167-170). Thus, to answer the question of how far and to what extent should HR managers be involved in recruitment and human resources planning process, I should say that they should own the entire process and be deeply involved in ensuring its success. Human Resource Development My takeaway from our module content in terms of HRD is how training and development has evolved into human resource development and how this is mirrored by the evolution of HR from being purely a back-office support to being in the frontline in terms of owning the process. HRD has started to look at HR processes from a strategic standpoint instead of merely coughing up activities to support business goals. It is important to note that HR managers are becoming more and more creative in terms of being able to track down to the exact percentage the effectiveness of a performance metric. Take, for example, the case of Linens-n-Things, a home furnishings retailer in the US. They have incorporated e-learning and automating training and development, especially for new hires, and they have applied this in the following activities: documenting new employee orientations and the on-boarding training regardless of how and where it is done; tracking classroom training and certifications completed by all store employees; automating registration of participants for training and development activities; reporting on completions of training certifications for store employees, and; compiling and reporting the training and development history of individuals for use with career planning and development (Mathis & Jackson 293). Here we can see that talent management, as one of the areas of HRD, has benefited from its evolution and has helped the HR industry move forward in terms of permanently carving its niche in creating organizational value. To answer the question of how strategic is HRD and what can it contribute to an organization, it is interesting to take a look at research being done by the global organization SHRM or Society for Human Resource Management, which has a series on human resource development. Series I defines the role of the HRD function as “to ensure that the current and future knowledge, skills, abilities and performance needs of the workforce are understood and can be achieved within the timeframe required by the organization” (Weatherly, 2004). More specifically, it identified “three ways that the HRD function can have a direct impact on the strategic direction and capability of an organization: 1. By providing the education and training to line management necessary to support the strategic planning process. 2. By participating in the strategic planning process by facilitating, observing, and providing feedback regarding the strategic planning meeting process and how it can be improved. 3. By ensuring that the line of sight between the goals and objectives for the organization and the goals and objectives for the HRD function are in alignment.” (Weatherly, 2004) If we think about the developing countries where HR’s organizational value has not yet been fully recognized by companies - and even by HR practitioners themselves – there is a lot to be done. We even have to start with the basics of motivating managers in this kind of countries and economies where basic hygiene factors are barely met and effective HR practices are almost nonexistent. Since these are countries whose economies are entirely different in nature, with agriculture being the primary means of living, one encounters issues such as high turnover in the Romanian public sector because of low salary and no room for growth (Analoui 17-18). It is therefore an imperative that the value of HRD be seen in developed countries so that the best practices can be replicated in developing countries. Managing and Rewarding Performance It is interesting to note that Workspan, the official magazine of WorldatWork, a global HR association focused on total rewards management, featured an article on the tug-of-war between who should own performance management: compensation or organization development? The author, Carol Anderson, defined performance management as “the vehicle for matching the skills and competencies of the individual to those required for success in the job” (Anderson 17). She further posits that “job definition, performance management, and leadership development together help define and execute organizational effectiveness, and for leaders to become effective performance managers, they need a core set of competencies and the opportunity to learn and practice” (Anderson 17). She then proceeds to explore how these two can cohesively share ownership of performance management so that it will effectively address business needs. She presented the Total Rewards Model of WorldatWork which identifies the total rewards strategy which will serve the purpose of attracting, motivating, and retaining employees, which will lead to job satisfaction and employee engagement, which will then ultimately lead to remarkable performance and tangible business results. If we tie this in to the slides in the lecture, it will be noted that this is similar to the four stages of a typical performance management system, albeit at a macro level, and that it is more important to note that performance management, although individual, should also bring together the various components of the organization, and the challenge is how to effectively integrate all of these so that it all makes sense. I think that, in equal parts, it is important to establish in the beginning the strategy to be used, and to clarify the job descriptions because all aspects of performance management from then on forward will be based on how employees’ jobs and roles are defined. Another good thing to note about how people perform vis-à-vis their evaluation is that there should be a balance among the different areas of their functions, hence the balanced scorecard. One area should not be overemphasized so much so that all the other areas are undermined. To give a concrete example, a sales manager whose staff members are evaluated based on their sales and productive calls should not be rewarded her bonus at the end of the year just for hitting the sales target alone. That manager should also be rated according to the total productive calls of her team, so that if she needs to make decisions, there will be no conflict of interest between her bonus and the health of her organization. This is the goal of the balanced scorecard, and HR managers should keep in mind that it is very important that all employees understand this and that everybody is on the same page. In creating a total rewards model, I found that it is important to keep these six reward principles in mind: create a positive and natural reward experience; align rewards with business goals to create a win-win partnership; extend people’s line of sight; integrate rewards; reward individual ongoing value with base pay, and; reward results with variable pay (Zingheim & Schuster 339). If these are not in place, or are not behind any total rewards model, then performance has not been managed well because we have to always emphasize that people have to see the total picture, and not just their own circumstances, when they think about how their work are evaluated. At the end of the day, paying people fairly and accordingly will make happy employees, and thus a happy organization. Managing the Employment Relationship An aspect of the employment relationship which I really find very interesting and fascinating is the existence of labor unions. Much can be said about what labor union leaders do – and don’t do – for their members, but the dynamics and interaction between management and union is increasingly important in this day and age when the way we work is being redefined and changed, what with globalization and technology preeminent in this century. In a chapter by C.S. Venkata Ratnam in the book Human Resource Management: Perspectives for the New Era, he identifies some conceptions and practices that have been brought about by globalization: the changing geopolitical map, convergence to mixed economies, democratization, ownership changes, structural adjustment pressures, new human resource policies, diverse trends in labour-management relations, and national industrial relations (IR) systems. He posits that the IR models to be found in different countries in Asia lead to a wide range of principles and strategies that, although implemented in some cases, have not really been thoroughly evaluated for usefulness or applicability. Thus, there is a vast diversification in terms of applying and interpreting laws and policies with regards to labour-management relations. (Venkata Ratnam 62-68) I have always been in awe of what labor and employment specialists can do. I think that it is a highly specialized field, and that whoever wants to concentrate on this area needs to understand and speak not only the language of law, but more importantly of the human person. In Dave Ulrich’s Human Resource Champions, becoming an employee champion is part of the role of an HR professional. He mentioned some resources that should be looked at to eliminate differences and how all interests can be served at the end of the day (Ulrich, 134). This is taking a proactive stance on the whole issue of labour relations, and a preventative stance rather than firefighting, where communication plays a big part. Sources: Analoui, Farhad. “Motivating Managers in Developing Countries and Economies.” Effective Human Resource Development: A Challenge for Developing Countries. Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 1999. Anderson, Carol. “The Performance Management Partnership between Compensation and Organization Development.” Workspan. WorldatWork, October 2009. HR Magazine. Published by the Society for Human Resource Management. October 2009. Jones, Ross and Schweyer, Allan. “Measuring Countries Workforce Mobility and Contingent Workforce.” SHRM online, June 5, 2009.  http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/staffingmanagement/Articles/Pages/WorkforceMobilityContingentWorkforce.aspx Josephs, Jeremy. “France Bids Adieu to ‘Jobs for Life.’” SHRM online, January 1, 2006. http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/global/Articles/Pages/CMS_015380.aspx Leonard, Bill. “French Face Tough Diversity Challenges.” SHRM online, February 23, 2009. http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/Diversity/Articles/Pages/FrenchFaceTough.aspx Mathis, Robert L. and John H. Jackson. Human Resource Management. 12th ed. Thomson South-Western, 2008. Ulrich, Dave. Human Resource Champions. Harvard Business School Press, 1997. Venkata Ratnam, C.S. “Labour-Management Relations and Globalization.” Human Resource Management: Perspectives for the New Era. Ed. Debi S. Saini and Sami A. Khan. Response Books, 2000. Walley, Liz and Mike Smith. Deception in Selection. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. Weatherly, Leslie A. “Human Resource Development Series Part I: HRD and the Organization.” SHRM online, December 1, 2004.  http://www.shrm.org/Research/Articles/Articles/Pages/Human_20Resource_20Development_20Series_20Part_20I__20HRD_20and_20the_20Organization.aspx Read More