ISSUES ON HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
ISSUES ON HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Apart from facing challenges in managing human resource
as discussed in the previous topic, organisations must also be aware of issues
relating to human resource management such as:
•
Diversity in the work force
•
Employee age distribution
•
Women and dual income families
•
Increase in education level
•
Employee rights
•
Personal issues
•
Attitude change towards work
•
Balance between career and family
(a) Diversity in the Work Force
This strategy is able to give a
distinct effect on an organisation. Normally, an organisation that practices
this particular strategy is seen as an organisation that performs social
responsibility, and thus acquires satisfying returns on the products and
services offered to its customers.
However, diversity in the work force
does not affect human resource management in terms of strategic planning,
recruitment, training and health. There are no ideal methods or formulae when
it comes to managing diversity in the work force.
(b) Employee Age Distribution
The fluctuation of birth rates causes
a change in the employee age distribution pattern in the labour market. For
example, in the United States of America, the number of employees (aged 55 and
above) that are supposed to retire is increasing and is believed to reach 15.2%
in 2006. On the other hand, in the same year, the number of younger workforce
(16 to 24) is expected to slip to 16%. This will cause a gap in the labour
force for that particular year. An unbalanced employee age distribution in the
labour market will complicate human resource management processes, especially human
resource planning, recruitment, training and career development.
(c) Women and Dual Income Families
Women’s involvement in the working
world has shown a drastic increase. Statistics have shown that two thirds (2/3)
of married couples come from dual income groups. This phenomenon gives a big
implication to working couples and employers in aspects of recruitment and
placement. In other words, one party’s career change will affect the other
party’s career. For example, if the husband is transferred to another place due
to promotion, the wife has to decide whether to follow the spouse or remain in
her workplace, thus forcing them to live apart.
Apart from that, most working women
have toddlers and they need the services of a nursery. This forces employers
especially human resource management department to prepare suitable amenities
to fulfil the needs of the women workers as well as arranging certain
programmes such as:
•
flexible working hours;
•
handling sexual harassment issues; and
•
equal pay without discriminating gender.
(d) Increase in Education Level
The education level of the labour
force has shown a drastic increase with the presence of an improved education
system. Highly educated employees often have high hopes on employment and opt
for careers that are challenging and interesting. Therefore, the management
team has to carry out continuous evaluation to ensure employees’ talents and
abilities are fully utilised, and jobs offered are challenging and employees
are given the opportunity to develop their careers.
(e) Employee Rights
From time to time, authorities will
give serious attention to employee rights. A number of rules and laws have been
enacted to ensure the rights of employees are looked after. Some of them are:
•
Employment Act 1955;
•
Employees’ Social Security Act 1969; and
•
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.
As a result, the human resource
management team needs to be careful in any legal actions taken so that the
organisation will not face any legal actions.
(f) Personal Issues
Personal issues are starting to get
attention from employees and their employers. It is the responsibility of the
manager and staffs from the human resource management department to manage all
employee information well so that employees’ personal information is not
circulated and misused by irresponsible people.
(g) Attitude Change towards Work
Employees nowadays value lifestyle
satisfaction that can be achieved by balancing between challenges and rewards
rather than the relationship between work and lifestyle. Apart from that,
employees are also more attracted to interesting jobs, and the opportunities to
use and develop themselves through the tasks appointed to them. This change has
affected human resource management to come up with ways on how to manage and motivate
employees. Consequently, the roles of human resource management are becoming
more complex as opposed to previous situations whereby employees are only
concerned with the economic values of their jobs to support their families.
(h) Balance between Career and Family
The issue of balance between career
and family is more looked into by employees nowadays. Employees are no longer
willing to do overtime even though they are offered higher pay. This is because
they would rather spend time with their family. As a result, ‘family-friendly’
concept has been introduced by many organisations by offering more
family-friendly options. Among the family-friendly programmes introduced are
part-time jobs, work-sharing, maternity leaves, flexible working time, child
tending leaves and telecommunication services. However, these programmes are
not well received by single employees as they do not get to enjoy any of the
perks and benefits from the programmes.
ISSUES ON HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Reviewed by Kamaruddin Mahmood
on
1:32:00 PG
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