Human Resource Functions and High Performance

Human Resource Functions and High Performance

Job design

One of the important elements of employee retention is making sure the job is well designed. As stated in the book, Manager's Toolkit, "Nothing is more soul-deadening for an intelligent employee than a job that is too repetitive, too isolated, insufficiently challenging, or downright unpleasant," (Press, 2004, p. 54).

If a position has high turnover than it is time for the company to examine the position and consider redesigning the job. Some of the more mundane, repetitive jobs may be outsourced or may be eliminated altogether . Another tip for job design is to look for ways to cure the dissatisfying elements of the job. For example, if exit interviews indicate that the job is boring than a more challenging element could be added to the position.

In the textbook, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, an example is given that shows very effective job redesign. The members of the staff of at ThedaCare Health Clinic in Wisconsin wanted to decrease the average length of an office visit from one-hour to 30 minutes. The first step was to draw a chart showing the typical steps involved in serving a patient with pneumonia. The staff discovered that of the 68 steps indentified, only 17 are considered valuable. By making a few simple changes, the time patients spent waiting decreased from 30 minutes to nine minutes (Gerhart, 2008, pp 477-78).

Recruitment and selection

This human resource management function consists of the following activities: defining job requirements, recruiting, interviewing, evaluating the candidates, and making a decision and offer. The company should design the content of each step so the people involved in hiring decisions can answer two questions about its candidates, "do we have enough information to make a decision?" and "which of these people do we want working for us?" Recruitment and selection is more than just finding the most qualified candidate, but also the best fit for the company's vision, mission, and values.

According to the Manager's Toolkit, personal referrals from current employees are a highly favored method of expanding a candidate pool. The reason for this is that an employee is not likely to refer someone who is not qualified or who would be a bad employee. In addition to using employee referrals, a company should use targeted, relevant channels. Good examples include recruiting agencies, referrals from colleagues, trade publications, and professional associations (Press, 2004, p. 24).

Once a company has a large enough pool of qualified candidates, they must sort through resumes and schedule initial interviews. The Manager's Toolkit recommends using a two-pass process when sorting through resumes. On the first pass, the hiring professional should eliminate all candidates who do not meet the basic requirements of the job, such as on-the-job experience or education. On the second pass, the hiring professional should look for signs of achievement and results, a career goal in line with the job being offered, and a strong construction and clean appearance. The book discusses some important red flags to look for such as a lengthy description of the applicant's education or too much personal information, both of which may indicate the candidate has not had much job experience.

Interviewing should provide the interviewer and the job candidate with more information in order for both parties to make the best decision. The Manager's Toolkit recommends using a combination of structured interview questions and unstructured interview questions. It is important that the interviewer be flexible in their questions but that all interviewers respond to a core set of questions.

The Manager's Toolkit also illustrates the importance of checking references. One useful suggestion the book gives is to call references during regular lunchtime hours and hope to receive a receptionist or voicemail. The message left for the reference should be simple and should include this phrase, "please call me back if the candidate was outstanding." References who liked working with the candidate will be eager to be helpful and will likely call back right away.

The final step in this process is selection. Throughout the process of the evaluating the resume, interviewing the candidate, and checking references, the company should be able to objectively select candidates based on his or her education, previous experience, job accomplishments, skills and knowledge, and personal attributes. The most effective decision is to hire candidates whose goals and skills align with the company's vision, mission, and values.

Training and development