Human Resource Issues Facing Companies

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Challenges Facing the Human Resource Department
Evidence Gathering Procedures
Issues Facing the Human Resource Departments
Recommendations for the Government
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Human resource is the group of individuals who build up the work force of a company, a business or an organization. This is the team that helps steer an organization to success. The human resource department is the division charged with the responsibility of seeing to it that this team is fully effective.

It is also expected to maintain a good relationship among employee. Issues causing tension between leaders of an organization and employees are also handled by this department.

The department is also charged with other responsibilities such as interviewing, attracting, selecting, training, assessing and hiring employees. This is so as to ensure stable work flow in an organization and also avoid unnecessary delays in line of duty.

Workers’ welfare and grievances are also looked into by the department and necessary recommendations made to the management. The human resource department is vital to a business regardless of how big or small the business is (Merkle 2006).

This paper seeks to analyze factors affecting the human resource department. The paper will take as its case study human resource departments in New Zealand, a country that was hit by the Christchurch earthquake. This had devastating effects on the native businesses and to the economy at large.

The human resource sector was not spared. This is largely due to the massive displacement of population. Recommendations will also be made on possible measures to mitigate these effects. Government efforts in trying to control the situation will also be discussed.

Challenges Facing the Human Resource Department

Despite its importance to an organization, the department faces numerous challenges. The major problem facing the department is talent shrink (Guyton 2009). As explained earlier, human resource is the actual workforce that drives a company or business.

Without talent and skills, dismal performance is likely to be recorded by a business (Mayo 2008). Lack of talent also lowers the level of expertise exhibited by workers in an organization. The Christchurch earthquake forced many people to migrate from their homes and places of work. This caused brain drain with many businesses and companies left with few workers.

Work negativity among employees is also a major challenge facing the human resource departments in many companies. Lack of job satisfaction among workers creates negativity. This may also be as a result of unfavourable environmental conditions.

Natural disasters such as the Christchurch earthquake instil fear among workers and kill their morale. This fear leads to unfavourable working conditions. This trauma greatly reduces the efficiency of the workers and the businesses’ output. Workers also lose faith in the business’ success since they feel all their hard work would be in vain in case a future disaster destroys the business.

Managing demographics has also proved to be a difficult task in the human resource department. This is the inability to balance the population of both young and old in the workforce. The young population is believed to harbour great ideas while the old population is considered to be knowledgeable and experienced.

It is therefore important to integrate the two in equal measures to reap maximum benefits. Natural disasters displace populations especially the young and able. This is because they have lesser ties and are more flexible. Such people move to more secure regions in search of jobs leaving their old posts vacant.

The old are left behind to run the affairs of the business in the absence of their young counterparts. This young population would also serve as future leaders of the businesses. Such businesses have no future in the market.

Increased cost of labour is also a major problem facing the human resource departments. When a disaster occurs (as was the case with Christchurch earthquake), businesses are faced with brain drain as a result of migration. This causes an increase in the demand for labour.

Those experts left behind resort to hiking the cost of their services to replace the departed ones. Additional salaries for workers increase the operating costs for these businesses resulting to a decline in turnover. A scenario arises where businesses pay more to workers yet they are making less than before. This can at times lead to the collapse of these businesses (O’Brien 2009).

Evidence Gathering Procedures

The article uses New Zealand as its reference point. Having being hit by a natural disaster, the area was more vulnerable to problems facing modern business firms and settings. Focus is more likely to be on the human resource departments since they are the ones charged with restoring order in the businesses. There was need to restructure the human resource so as to prevent more damaging outcomes.

Businesses used in the research are chosen randomly and the research team immediately embarked on the study. The researchers analyzed the performance of the businesses prior to and after the earthquake and documented their findings.

Human resource department leaders were interviewed and their views as to the state of affairs before and after the Christchurch earthquake recorded. Those who sought anonymity were assured that their identity will not be revealed.

Issues Facing the Human Resource Departments

The first blow to the human resource department was talent shrink as earlier indicated. This is however a common problem in the department. It results to poor working skills and is injurious to a business since it signifies deficiency in expertise (Ulrich 1996).

This phenomenon was common in the case of New Zealand whereby many people moved out of the country to seek alternative jobs in an attempt to escape the effects of the earthquake. The workforce left behind comprised of less experienced and talented people who found it hard to reverse the downward trend.

Because of this demand for workers, the cost of labour shot up. This meant that the businesses would pay more for labour provided to them despite their losses and the diminishing returns. Migration of the country’s population also robbed the businesses of the much needed market for their goods and services. This triggered more problems than solutions for the businesses some of which closed down due to diminished returns.

Work negativity is also a great problem facing the human resource department in many businesses. Considering the case of the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, billions worth of property was lost. Those who suffered lost the morale to work hard and felt that their days of hard work had gone to waste.

Some of the workers lost their homes and jobs due to tragedies such as collapsing of houses. Scores of people lost their lives during the tragedy and left their loved ones disoriented. Such uninspired workers are likely to produce diminishing returns that are of no economic importance (Towers 2007).

Great demographic variations are also a common problem facing the human resource department. General imbalance between the old and the young in a business is injurious to the business. This inhibits flow of ideas in the business. It also puts the life and future of the business at risk because the young are supposed to replace the old upon their retirement.

The old also gives guidance to the young because of their accumulated knowledge and experience in line of duty. It is not surprising to see that many businesses partner the old with the young to facilitate flow of ideas.

In the case of New Zealand, the earthquake claimed the lives of some of the dwellers while others migrated to avoid this disaster. This left a void in many businesses. Majority of those who fled the effects of the Christchurch earthquake were young individuals who sought to find better living and working conditions without fear and risks.

Native businesses had to start employee recruitment exercises to fill the vacant positions. A lot of time and other resources were also used before the workforce could start functioning properly.

Problems facing the human resource sector can be compared to a chain reaction where one action gives rise to another and the chain keeps repeating itself. Efforts to mitigate the effects of one action indirectly lead to a new reaction. As explained earlier in this paper, one problem leads to another. Talents shrink causes demand for skilled labour. Rise in demand for labour thus results to rising costs of labour (DeGraff 2010).

Increasing cost of labour will also lead to inflation. Inflation triggers increased spending and workers loose morale since every penny earned goes into settling of bills and into household consumption. Work negativity arises and workers loose the urge to work hard because of unfavourable returns. Growing dissatisfaction then results to workers moving out of the country and out of jobs to work in areas with better rewards.

The migration of workers in search of better working conditions leads to demographic imbalances in the business. This demographic imbalance threatens the life of the business. This means that the ratio of old to young workers is unfavourable.

This may be as a result of worker migration. This leads us back to the beginning of the cycle that is talent shrink. This is what happened in the case of New Zealand. Attempts to stabilize the economy by offering loans to members of public led to inflation. The inflation makes living standards intolerable and the country’s population resort to moving out of the country.

The migration of the country’s population also results to talent shrink that triggers a demand for labour that leads to an increase in the cost of labour (Wright 2011). Inflation leads to work negativity which makes people to move out in search of better returns. Migration also triggers demographic imbalance further aggravating the situation. The cycle repeats itself over time. Measures should be devised to try and change this turn of events for the better.

Recommendations for the Government

To try and change the situation, the paper makes some recommendations on what governments should do to normalise the situation. These measures would be aimed at preventing the recurrence of the negative effects and to change the economy once and for all.

The governments should start by initiating policies that will reduce the flow of money in the economy. This will be made possible by suspending lending of money to the businesses. The economy should be given an opportunity to heal itself gradually.

Research has shown that pumping more money into an already ailing economy is not beneficial. To stop financial institutions from lending, the government will resort to measures such as increasing its lending rates to the banks. People should also be sensitized on the negative effects of borrowing (Conaty 2011).

The government can also discourage brain drain through imposing policies that discourage travelling out of the country (Esbon 2010). The government could also impose penalties to individuals going to work outside the country and encourage the spirit of patriotism. People should be encouraged to focus on the bright future ahead rather than on the dull present (Ziment 2008).

The government should also import skilled labour if possible. It should also resort to training its own citizens to curb shortage (Elwood 1996). Expertise can be said to be the driving force behind prosperity. The government can also intervene and help in the reconstruction of destroyed structures. This does not necessarily mean pumping more money into the economy. Unskilled labour can be mobilized to undertake the reconstruction exercise.

Conclusion

It is a fact beyond doubt that human resource departments are the driving force behind any successful business. The department should therefore be strengthened and its recommendations implemented fully. Factors facing the human resource department also affect the entire economy (Esbon 2010). The government should be at the forefront in implementing policies that would strengthen the economy thus aiding the human resource department.

References

Conaty, Bill. 2011. The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers. New York. Crown Publishing Group.

DeGraff, Jonathan. 2010. The Changing Environment of Professional HR Associations. Boston. Harvard Business School Press.

Elwood, Hellwood. 1996. Trends Toward a Closer Integration of Vocational Education and Human Resources Development. New York. Crown Publishing Group.

Esbon, John. 2010. Insight on human resource development. New York. Free Press.

Guyton, Hall. 2009. Human Resource. London. McGraw-Hill.

Mayo, Elton. 2008. Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company. Boston. Harvard University Press.

Merkle, Judith A. 2006. Management and Ideology. California. University of California Press.

O’Brien, Michael. 2009. HR’s Take on The Office Human Resource Executive. California. California University Press.

Towers, David. 2007. Human Resource Management Essays. California. University of California Press.

Ulrich, Dave. 1996. Human Resource Champions. The Next Agenda for Adding Value and Delivering Results. Boston. Harvard Business School Press.

Wright, Patrick. 2011. CHRO Challenge: Building Organizational, Functional, and Personal Talent. Boston. Harvard Business School Press.

Ziment, Peter. 2008. Managing Human Resource in Disasters. New York. Free Press.

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