Saturday, 7 February 2015

Managing Human resources - Keep it simple


Human resources are the greatest asset for any organization. As employees are always seek great opportunities in terms of exposure as well as perks retaining right talent in the organization could be the biggest challenge for any organization. Maintaining a balance between the two could be a brain storming job for the employers especially for the start ups as they already face challenges to get right employee who could show the passion for work at that initial stage.

Here comes the role of a good Human Resource Manager (HRM) who could hire the right person for the right position. It is not mandatorily required for a human resource manager to attain a high qualification to become a good manager. A blend of optimism, right attitude towards the people around him and leadership skills is sufficient to attract the employees and retain them for a longer period of time. But this is not it. This position comes with great responsibilities including recruiting, staffing, implementing company’s policies, training, developing and retaining the employees.

Here are some attributes which a Human resource manager can implement at his workplace to be a better manager and leader.


1.       Communicate Well
Be it in professional relations or personal ones, proper communication helps in solving majority of the issues. Hence in an organization communication of the terms and policies of the company in an effective manner at the initial stage makes a great impact and hence employees get a clear view of the organizational structure. This leads to less confusion and more understanding of work culture at the end of an employee which boosts the employee’s confidence at the workplace.


I would like to share my personal experience. In my recent job nobody from the HR department came to give me an orientation session when I joined. This led to lots of confusions about the company’s policies and unawareness about the culture of the company which was far different from which was followed in my previous organization. No doubt moving from service industry to manufacturing industry was a challenge for me and on the head of that I was not made aware of the terms and policies of the company. It took me 6 months to actually feel confident enough and work comfortably here. For every query I had to especially go to the HR department to ask individually which gradually led to frustration at work.


Hence better communication is the first and foremost requirement to make an employee feel comfortable in the organization which helps him/her to grow in the organization to make the organization grow.


2.      Approachable and proximity
It is very important to make employees feel comfortable about the proximity of the HR Manager. Employees must feel they can approach the HR manager with their problems. They want to know that HR Manager truly listens to them and will help them find viable solutions to their issues. If an employee has a problem at work, it will likely affect his job performance. If the HR manager seems unapproachable and lacks compassion the employee will be reluctant towards him/her and won’t trust him/her for the problem. This is particularly important to employee retention and productivity; workers often quit or become de-motivated when they feel that HR or management doesn’t care about them.


3.      Listening
To become a successful HR Manager it is very important that you listen to your employee and give your ears to them. This can boost the confidence of the employees as well as the will surely feel more secure in the environment because they would know that the HR Manager is always there to listen to and solve the problems in the organization.


4.      Leadership
Not only as a HR Manager but in any profession great leadership skills are required to achieve the set targets. A good leader inspires his employees. He sets favorable examples for his employees to follow. For example, an employee who is admonished for frequently being late by a manager who is usually tardy himself can view the manager as hypocritical. HR managers are not exempt from company policies; if the manager follows them, the employees will be inclined to do so. An effective leader is also trustworthy. HR duties require confidentiality and the ability to keep employees’ personal information private. Your HR manager should have all the qualities of a good leader.


5.      Motivation
Every employee has different goals and objectives to achieve. Successful HR Managers are committed to motivate. Successful HR Managers know and understand what motivates employees and strive to give it to them.


Success is not achieving a set target. Success is an ongoing process which we need to chase on daily basis by learning something new everyday.