QUESTION: What role can good human resources management play in corporate success?
Even as the world moves more towards technology and the use of robotics and artificial intelligence, it is still generally acknowledged that an organisation’s human resources (HR) holds the key to its success.
But are companies fully aware and fully utilising the benefits of sound HR management in achieving overall corporate success? Or is the HR department considered separate from a company’s achievement of profits, and managing its overall performance?
And what role do HR metrics play in all of this? HR metrics are essentially those things which organisations use to measure the cost and impact of programmes and processes related to their employees. These include the rate of absenteeism, productivity, the percentage of employees who are managers, and employee satisfaction.
Increasingly, companies are using such metrics, and others, as they seek overall success. Barbados Employers’ Confederation labour management advisor Brittany Brathwaite addressed the issue recently, She advised companies: “The utilisation of human resource metrics, measurements used to determine the value and effectiveness of human resource strategies, are on the rise and if your company does not employ these types of systems you should.”
Brathwaite added: “Human resource metrics, if accurately and articulately used, should aid in informing not just human resource professionals within a company, but serve as dependable indicators of emerging trends and likely problematic areas.
“Every day that passes, your organisation loses information which could guide its decision making processes. An employer should aim to be as well informed about all areas which could impact…business and the human resource aspect is a central function.”
In a new report released late last year, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) said: “HR metrics have not reached pre-recession levels, although they are moving in that direction.
“But reaching past results could be elusive. A new normal may exist whereby organisations will continue to work with a lean workforce, placing more emphasis on doing more with less.
“Devastating revenue losses that forced organisations to cut operating expenses and shed staff have stopped. Out of the tumult, however, many HR professionals report that their organisations now employ business strategies adopted during the recession to improve the company’s financial health. Are key HR metrics such as employee turnover…number of persons hired etc. back [normal]? Not quite yet – although they are moving in that direction.”
Uemployment remains a concern, both in the public and private sector, public sector workers have not received a pay increase for several years, allowances (including on pensions) have been cut, and there remains major concerns about low productivity. The extent to which workers are truly engaged in their jobs is a concern also highlighted by entities such as the National Initiative for Service Excellence.
It is possible that several key HR metrics the experts employ to gauge performance in the workplace and whether employee-related programmes are working have not returned to pre-recession levels either.
