5 things every HR manager should know
Whether you’re a freshly minted HR professional or a manager with years of experience, the unpredictable world of human resource management is sure to keep you on your guard at all times. Step up your game and sharpen your skills with these 5 tips from JobsDB.
1) Keeping Your Door Open
As the ears of the organization, HR professionals function as the bridge between an organization and its employees. From conducting outreach programs and training sessions to addressing serious complaints, HR professionals are often the first point of contact for employees looking to address an issue or raise a complaint.
The ability to communicate with employees is without a doubt important, however HR professionals also need to be able to listen to their employees. You can be a great motivational speaker or a master presenter but you can’t solve any problems if you can’t hear what the problems are.
Work towards being a good listener by keeping an open door policy and listening to what is really bothering the members of your organization.
2) The Importance of Impartiality
HR professionals are expected to be impartial and neutral when assessing a situation, this is to ensure that all decisions made are well rounded, balanced and free from bias. In any office situation, it is often part for the course that friendships will be formed with co-workers.
However in the future, HR professionals, may be called upon by the management to make tough decisions that will affect their co-workers. Having a biased view can affect the decisions made by HR professionals which can prove detrimental to an organization. As can be seen from this instance, the disciplinary report produced by a biased HR department resulted in an employee being unfairly terminated. Consequently, the organization in question was successfully sued by the employee for unfair dismissal.
The HR department has to be counted on to remain impartial and neutral under all circumstances. Only then, can effective and fair decisions be made.
3) Understanding the Organization
In order to successfully motivate and engage employees, HR professionals are required to possess an innate understanding of the organization and the people, processes and culture affiliated with it. Imagine starting work in an organization and immediately laying down a new set of processes and rules which employees are expected to adhere to. The results would most certainly be disastrous!
By improving organizational awareness, HR professionals are able to earn the respect of their colleagues and garner the influence needed to affect positive changes within the organization. Start by conducting HR outreach programs and one-to-one sessions with employees in order to get a feel for the organization.
4) Making Exit Interviews Count
When an employee has chosen to resign from an organization, the HR department needs to step back and evaluate the reasons why the said employee has chosen to leave. Exit interviews are a very useful means of obtaining feedback from the employee in order to improve the organization and better improve management practices.
As an HR professional, the exit interview should be conducted in a relaxed, unbiased manner. Plan out the interview beforehand but avoid reading from a written script to prevent the interview from being seen as just a fixed formality. Avoid slander or gossip at all costs and focus on the employee’s experience and how the organization can be further improved. Finally, treat departing employees with respect and gratitude, as former employees may recommend potential employees and encourage usage of the organization’s products and services.
Exit interviews should always be treated as opportunities for additional learning and development that will help an organization reduce its turnover and improve its ability to compete with competitors.
5) Learn to Give and Take Feedback
HR Management or HRM is a continuous learning process in which managers and professionals need to constantly improve themselves to remain relevant. Organizations with outdated HR Management techniques often find themselves unable to retain top performing employees and often have a high rate of staff turnover.
By providing feedback to its employees, an organization is able to guide their employees in the right direction and improve their performance. Always remember that feedback should be constructive and aimed towards constant improvement. Never provide feedback with the explicit aim of simply putting an employee down.
Also, the HR department needs to be open towards feedback received from employees, the old adage that management is above reproach has to be abandoned and will only lead towards dissatisfied employees. Feedback is a two way road and any feedback received from employees should always be used to improve the management process. In conclusion, HR Management is a fluid process which is constantly changing with the times. HR professionals need to constantly improve their skills in order to remain relevant and to succeed in their careers. Always remember that employees are the greatest asset of any organization.
This article is either written or edited by JobsDB HK. If you would like to publish it on other website or publication, please contact us by email: [email protected]. JobsDB reserves the right to take legal action against any person that infringes the copyright.