Hr Roles and Responsibilities

HR roles and responsibilities paper

For some the Human Resource Department and managers are to fulfill a few specific duties. Among the duties that the human Resource Department has fulfill are to ensure tat the State and Federal laws are followed, managing the benefit packages of the company, handling worker compensation issues, handle the paperwork needed to hire/fire employees, handle payroll, and maintain employee records. Today more companies are looking to the Human Resource Department to do more, such as training, staffing, managing the employees to help optimize work performance and ensure job satisfaction. As companies look toward the future trends so will the human Resource Department, such trends that will be briefly discussed will be globalization, diversity, E-business, technology, and ethics.

Globalization

“Companies are finding that to survive the must compete in international markets as well as fend off foreign competitors’ attempts to gain ground in the United States. To meet these challenges, U.S. businesses must develop global markets, keep up with competition from overseas, hire from an international labor pool, and prepare employees for global assignments…value on employees requires the companies to emphasize human resource practices, including rewards for superior performance, measure of employee satisfaction, careful selection of employees, promotion from within, and investment in employee development…for today’s and tomorrows employees, talent comes from a global workforce…small businesses that stick close to home often find that qualified candidates include some immigrants to the United States…despite the risks, many organizations that have hired globally are realizing high returns (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhert, Wright, 2003).” For the Human Resource Department to work globally the personnel in the Human Resource Department must recognize the difference in other countries culture and business practices, along with the employment regulations within the country.

Diversity

Work force diversity is expanding as the work force ages. “In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), an agency of the Department of labor, track changes in the composition of the U.S. labor force and forecasts employment trends. The BLS has projected that from 1996 to 2006, the total U.S. labor force will grow from 134 million to 149 million workers. This 11 percent increase represents somewhat slower growth than during the proceeding decade. As the growth occurs, the composition of the labor force will change because of shifts in the U.S. population. Some of the expected change involves the distribution of workers by age. During the 1996 to 2006 period, the youth labor force (workers between 16 and 24) is expected to grow faster than the overall labor force for the first time in 25 years. However, the fastest-growing age segment will be workers aged 45 to 64, as the baby boom generation (born from 1946 to 1964) continues to age. Therefore, in spit of the growing numbers of young workers, the overall work force will be aging…between 1990 and 20010. The BLS forecasts that by 2015, the number of workers at least 40 years old will exceed the number under 40 for the first time ever (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhert, Wright, 2003).”

The work force is also growing more diverse in ethnic and racial terms, “Another kind of change affecting the U.S. labor force is that it is growing more diverse in racial and ethnic terms…the 2006 workforce will be 72 percent whit 9and non-Hispanic), 11 percent black, 12 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Asian and other minorities. The fastest-growing of these categories are “Asian and other” and Hispanic because these groups are experiencing immigration and birthrates above the national average. Along with the grester racial and ethnic diversity, more women are in the paid labor force than in the past. Since 1994, women have been 46 percent of the U.S. labor force. Three-quarters of them work full-time (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhert, Wright, 2003).” A goal of the Human Resource Department is to fully understand and use the talents of each employee.

E-Business

The Human Resource Department has two problems that may surface when it comes to E-Business. The first