It is designed to maximize employee performance in service of an employer's strategic objectives. Human Resource Management is primarily concerned with the management of people within organizations, focusing on policies and systems. HR Departments are responsible for overseeing employee-benefits design, employee recruitment, training and development, performance appraisal, and reward management, such as managing pay and employee benefits systems. HR also concerns itself with organizational change and industrial relations, or the balancing of organizational practices with requirements arising from collective bargaining and governmental laws.
The overall purpose of Human Resource Management is to ensure that the organization can achieve success through people. HR professionals manage the human capital of an organization and focus on implementing policies and processes. They can specialize in finding, recruiting, selecting, training, and developing employees, as well as maintaining employee relations or benefits. Training and Development professionals ensure that employees are trained and have continuous development. This is done through training programs, performance evaluations, and reward programs. Employee relations deals with the concerns of employees when policies are broken, such as involving harassment or discrimination. Managing employee benefits includes developing compensation structures, parental leave programs, discounts, and other benefits. On the other side of the field are HR generalists or business partners. These HR professionals could work in all areas or be labor relations representatives working with unionized employees.
HRM is a product of the human relations movement of the early 20th century when researchers began documenting ways of creating business value through the strategic management of the workforce. It was initially dominated by transactional work, such as payroll and benefits administration, but due to globalization, company consolidation, technological advancements, and further research, HR as of now focuses on strategic initiatives like mergers and acquisitions, talent management, succession planning, industrial and labor relations, and diversity and inclusion. In the current global work environment, most companies focus on lowering employee turnover and retraining the talent and knowledge held by their workforce. New hiring not only entails a high cost but also increases the risk of an employee not being able to replace the position of the previous employee adequately. HR departments strive to offer benefits that appeal to workers, thus reducing the risk of losing employee commitment and psychological ownership.
In Popular Media
Several popular media productions have depicted human resource management in operation. In the US television series "The Office", HR representative Toby Flenderson is sometimes portrayed as a nag because he constantly reminds coworkers of company policies and government regulations.
Careers in Human Resources
There are millions of HR professionals worldwide. The CHRO or Chief Human Resource Officer is the highest-ranking HR executive in most companies. He or she typically reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and works with the Board of Directors on CEO succession.
Within companies, HR positions generally fall into one of two categories: generalist and specialist. Generalists support employees directly with their questions, and grievances, and work on a range of projects within the organization. They may handle all aspects of human resources, and thus require an extensive range of knowledge. The responsibilities of human resources generalists can vary widely, depending on the employer's requirements.
Specialists, conversely, work in a specific HR function. Some practitioners will spend an entire career as either a generalist or a specialist while others will obtain experiences from each and choose a path later.
Human Resource Consulting is a related career path where individuals may work as advisors to companies and complete tasks outsourced from companies. In 2007, there were 950 HR consultancies globally, constituting a USD 18.4 billion market. The top 5 revenue-generating firms were Mercer, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Watson Wyatt (now part of Towers Watson), Aon (now merged with Hewitt), and PwC Consulting. For 2010, HR consulting was ranked the #43 best job in America by CNN Money.
HR Data Analysts are professionals who work on employee or Human Resource Data available in the organization to provide useful insights to the management. This is one of the important and growing departments in organizations worldwide and the insights that they provide may include;
Several tools used by HR Data Analysts include;