TRENDS AND ISSUES IN
HRM
By: Jasmin P Comoda

Introduction



As businesses move forward in 2013 looking for
newer growth avenues in a sluggish economy,
leaders are increasingly banking on talent to
achieve this growth.
While business demands, margin pressures,
declining budgets, HR technology, social media,
data and analytics are all reshaping the contours of
HR, what is noteworthy is an increase in HR’s focus
on these aspects.
Traditional ways of doing things are
being reexamined as HR leaders look at more effective
ways of managing and aligning talent with the new
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Introduction




The role of HR is changing fast as technology
and the global marketplace.
The positive result of these changes is that HR
professionals have the opportunity to play a
more strategic role in the business.
The challenge for HR managers is to keep
with the latest HR innovations-technical and
legal.
How HR manager can anticipate and address
some of the most challenging issues.
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Overall Framework for
Human Resource Management
COMPETITIVE
CHALLENGES
HUMAN
RESOURCES
EMPLOYEE
CONCERNS
• Globalization
• Technology
• Managing change
• Human capital
• Responsiveness
• Cost containment
• Planning
• Recruitment
• Staffing
• Job design
•Training/development
• Appraisal
• Communications
• Compensation
• Benefits
• Labor relations
• Background diversity
• Age distribution
• Gender issues
• Educational levels
• Employee rights
• Privacy issues
• Work attitudes
• Family concerns
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Current Trends in HRM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Globalization
Technology
Managing change
Human capital
Responsiveness
Cost containment
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Globalization
The trend toward opening up foreign markets to
international trade and investment.

Impact of Globalization
 Partnerships
with foreign firms
 “Anything, anywhere, anytime” markets
 Lower trade and tariff barriers
 NAFTA, EU, APEC trade agreements
 WTO and GATT
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Globalization

Impact on HRM
 Different
geographies, cultures, laws, and
business practices
 Issues:
 Identifying capable expatriate managers.
 Developing foreign culture and work practice
training programs.
 Adjusting compensation plans for overseas
work.
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Embracing New Technology
1.
Use of technology to communicate
with employees

Company intranets

E-Newsletters

Company emails
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Embracing New Technology
2.
A move toward single software platforms

Integrated Human Resource
Information System (HRIS)

PeopleSoft

SAP

Oracle
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Embracing New Technology

Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
 is a system that lets you keep track of all your
employees and information about them. It is
usually done in a database or, more often, in a
series of inter-related databases.
 Benefits:
Store and retrieve of large quantities of data.
 Combine and reconfigure data to create new
information.
 Institutionalization of organizational knowledge.
 Easier communications.
 Lower administrative costs, increase productivity and
response times.

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Embracing New Technology

Specialized applications

Succession planning

Applicant tracking

Job evaluation

Employee performance evaluation

Grievance handling
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Embracing New Technology
3.
Evolution of new technologies
Employee Self-Service and Data Exchange


View context-specific information


Capability to maintain personal data
Initiate benefits transactions
Internet-based tools are quickly becoming the preferred
method for employees to execute benefits transactions
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Benefits of Automated Benefit
Administration

Reducing and eliminating extensive manual efforts
formerly needed to:
Distribute, collect, and process forms
 Test programming required to export/import data
 Administer the periodic data exchanges
 Reconcile data
 Resolve employees’ problems resulting from the time
lag between data collection and processing

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Manage the Changing
Workforce
1.
Increased diversity in the workforce



Creating workplace that respects and includes
differences
Recognizing unique contributions individuals with
differences can make
Creating work environment that maximizes potential
of all employees
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Manage the Changing
Workforce
2.



Work-life balance
Employees experiencing burnout due to
overwork and increased stress – in nearly all
occupations
Rise in workplace violence, increase in levels
of absenteeism as well as rising workers’
compensation claims
Causes range from personal ambition and the
pressure of family obligations to the
accelerating pace of technology
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Manage the Changing
Workforce
Work-life balance

According to study by Center for Work-Life Policy,
1.7 million people consider their jobs and work hours
excessive

50% of top corporate executives leaving current
positions

64% of workers feel work pressures are “selfinflicted”, and taking a toll

In the US, 70%, and globally, 81%, say jobs are
affecting their health.

Between 46% and 59% of workers feel stress is
affecting their interpersonal and sexual relationships.

Males feel there is stigma associated with saying “I
can’t do this”
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Manage the Changing
Workforce
3.
Structural shift from the manufacturing to the
service sector





Growth in part-time employment
Rising prominence of women in the workforce
Gradual aging of labor force with fewer young people
entering workforce and participation rates among older
workers increasing
Growing importance of temporary employment and self
employment
Adoption of flexible working practices, such as job
sharing and the increasing opportunity to work from
home.
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Developing Human Capital

Human Capital
 The
knowledge, skills, and capabilities of
individuals that have economic value to an
organization.
 Valuable because capital:
 Is
based on company-specific skills.
 Is gained through long-term experience.
 Can be expanded through development.
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Developing Human Capital
1.
Managing talent – recruitment,
development, and retention of the best
workers

Employers need to find innovative ways to
“brand” themselves, setting them apart from
competitors and becoming an “employer of
choice”

As talent becomes scarce, development of
current employees for promotional
opportunities
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Developing Human Capital
2.
Labor shortage – finding the right talent

Statistic: By 2020, gap between available and
required skilled workers is projected to be 14
million

Use of e-recruiting and non-traditional labor
pools

Establishing selection system geared to
retention: better skills assessment, knowledge,
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Developing Human Capital
3.
Higher ethical standards

Greater focus on trust and integrity at
all levels
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Responding to the Market
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Total Quality Management
(TQM)
TQM is a companywide effort to
continuously improve the ways people,
machines, and systems accomplish work.
The TQM approach provides guidelines for
all the organization’s activities, including
HRM.
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TQM Core Values





Methods and processes are designed to meet the
needs of internal and external customers.
Every employee in the organization receives
training in quality.
Quality is designed into a product or service so
that errors are prevented from occurring.
The organization promotes cooperation with
vendors, suppliers, and customers to improve
quality and hold down costs.
Managers measure progress with feedback based
on data.
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Mergers and Acquisitions

HRM should have a significant role in carrying
out a merger or acquisition.
 Differences
between the businesses involved in
the deal make conflict inevitable.
 Training should include developing conflict
resolution skills.
 There is a need to sort out differences in the two
companies’ practices with regard to
compensation, performance appraisal, and other
HR systems.
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Reengineering


A complete review of the organization’s critical
work processes to make them more efficient
and able to deliver higher quality.
Involves reviewing all the processes performed
by all the organization’s major functions.
 This
includes human resources management.
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Reengineering

Reengineering affects human resource
management in two ways:
1.
2.
The way the HR department itself accomplishes
its goals may change dramatically.
The fundamental change throughout the
organization requires the HR department to help
design and implement change so that all
employees will be committed to the success of
the reengineered organization.
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Cost Containment

Downsizing


Outsourcing


The planned elimination of jobs (“head count”).
Contracting outside the organization to have work
done that formerly was done by internal employees.
Employee Leasing

The process of dismissing employees who are then
hired by a leasing company (which handles all HRrelated activities) and contracting with that company
to lease back the employees.
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Downsizing

Downsizing is reducing the number of
employees on the operating payroll. Some
users distinguish downsizing from a layoff ,
with downsizing intended to be a permanent
downscaling and a layoff intended to be a
temporary downscaling in which employees
may later be rehired. Businesses use several
techniques in downsizing, including providing
incentives to take early retirement and transfer
to subsidiary companies, but the most
common technique is to simply terminate the
employment of a certain number of people.
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Outsourcing




The practice of having another company (a
vendor, third-party provider, or consultant)
provide services.
Outsourcing gives the company access to indepth expertise and is often more economical
as well.
HR departments help with a transition to
outsourcing.
Outsourcing includes both foreign and
domestic contracting,
and sometimes
includes offshoring or relocating a business
function to another country. Financial savings 2-30

Cost Containment

Hidden Costs of Layoff
 Severance and rehiring costs
 Accrued vacation and sick day payouts
 Pension and benefit payoffs
 Potential lawsuits from aggrieved workers
 Loss of institutional memory and trust in
management
 Lack of staffers when the economy rebounds
 Survivors who are risk-averse, paranoid, and
political
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Cost Containment

Benefits of a No-Layoff Policy
 A fiercely loyal,more productive workforce
 Higher customer satisfaction
 Readiness to snap back with the economy
 A recruiting edge
 Workers who aren’t afraid to innovate,
knowing their jobs are safe.
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Issues in HRM
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An Aging Workforce




HR professionals will spend much of their
time on concerns related to retirement
planning, retraining older workers, and
motivating workers whose careers have
reached a plateau.
Organizations will struggle with ways to
control the rising costs of health care and
other benefits.
Many of tomorrow’s managers will supervise
employees much older than themselves.
Organizations will have to find ways to
attract, retain, and prepare the youth labor
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A Diverse Workforce

Workplace diversity refers to the variety of
differences between people in an organization.
That
sounds
simple,
but
diversity
encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age,
personality,
cognitive
style,
tenure,
organizational function, education, background
and more. Diversity not only involves how
people perceive themselves, but how they
perceive others. Those perceptions affect their
interactions.
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A Diverse Workforce

For a wide assortment of employees to
function effectively as an organization, human
resource professionals need to deal effectively
with issues such as communication,
adaptability and change. Diversity will increase
significantly in the coming years. Successful
organizations recognize the need for
immediate action and are ready and willing to
spend resources on managing diversity in the
workplace now.
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Benefits of Workplace
Diversity



An organization's success and competitiveness
depends upon its ability to embrace diversity and
realize the benefits.
Increased adaptability
Organizations employing a diverse workforce can
supply a greater variety of solutions to problems in
service, sourcing, and allocation of resources.
Employees from diverse backgrounds bring
individual talents and experiences in suggesting
ideas that are flexible in adapting to fluctuating
markets and customer demands.
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Benefits of Workplace
Diversity




Broader service range
A diverse collection of skills and experiences (e.g.
languages, cultural understanding) allows a
company to provide service to customers on a
global basis.
Variety of viewpoints
A diverse workforce that feels comfortable
communicating varying points of view provides a
larger pool of ideas and experiences. The
organization can draw from that pool to meet
business strategy needs and the needs of
customers more effectively.
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Benefits of Workplace
Diversity


More effective execution
Companies that encourage diversity in the
workplace inspire all of their employees to
perform to their highest ability. Company-wide
strategies can then be executed; resulting in
higher productivity, profit, and return on
investment.
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Challenges of Diversity in the
Workplace




Communication
Perceptual, cultural and language barriers need to
be overcome for diversity programs to succeed.
Ineffective communication of key objectives
results in confusion, lack of teamwork, and low
morale.
Resistance to change
There are always employees who will refuse to
accept the fact that the social and cultural makeup
of their workplace is changing. The "we've always
done it this way" mentality silences new ideas and
inhibits progress.
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Challenges of Diversity in the
Workplace


Implementation of diversity in the
workplace policies
This can be the overriding challenge to all
diversity advocates. Armed with the results of
employee assessments and research data,
they must build and implement a customized
strategy to maximize the effects of diversity in
the workplace for their particular organization.
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Skill Deficiencies of the
Workforce

Today, employers
are looking for:
 mathematical

skills
 verbal
skills
 interpersonal skills
 computer skills

The gap between
skills needed and
skills available has
decreased
companies ability to
compete.
They sometimes
lack the capacity to
upgrade technology,
reorganize work,
and empower
employees.
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Social Issues and HRM

Changing Demographics
 Shrinking pool of entry-level workers
 Productivity
 Individual differences
 Retirement benefits
 Social Security contributions
 Skills development
 Use of temporary employees
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Social Issues and HRM

Employer/Employee Concerns
Job as an entitlement
 Right to work
 Whistle-blowing
 Employment at will
 AIDS
 Comparable worth
 Concern for privacy
 Mandated benefits

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Social Issues and HRM

Attitudes Toward Work and Family
 Day care
 Flextime
 Job sharing
 Alternative work schedules
 Elder care
 Job rotation
 Parental leave
 Telecommuting
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