Human resource (HR) management is the management of employees in the company. According to Dessler and Chhinzer (2017), “Human resources professionals are responsible for ensuring that the organization attracts, retains, and engages the diverse talent required to meet operational and performance commitments made to customers and shareholders” (p. 2). Their job is to find skillful workers, provide them with quality working conditions, develop their talent, and continually monitor them.
There are eight HR functions found in many Canadian organizations which are HR planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and benefits, performance management, health and safety, employee rights, and labor relations. This essay will examine each HR function’s roles and objectives in Canadian educational organizations, the relationship between them, how these functions support employees, and the importance of alignment between HR programs and strategy.
HR planning is an active process of planning to achieve optimum exploitation of quality employees. This HR function’s role is to make the equilibrium between employees and job and workforce shortage or surpluses (Dessler & Chhinze, 2017). The process is used to evaluate the needs of the company in terms of the supply of employees. For example, the role of the HR planning team in a Canadian bilingual charity, Kids Code Jeunesse, ensures that instructors, curriculum developers, and facilitators fit the job description and can perform the job qualitatively. Thus, to meet the objectives, the HR planning team in every Canadian education institution has to find skilled employees, train and reward the best candidates, and cope with conflicts and absences.
Recruitment and selection are some of the main parts of successful management. This HR function’s role is to examine the needs of the job, recruit employees, and advertise recruiting positions (Lievens & Chapman, 2019). Finding an appropriate person for a particular area is one of the main objectives of this function. Taking as an example Kids Code Jeunesse, the working team consists of recruiting specialists who are looking for teachers and instructors. The main principle of this company is to provide potential candidates with equal opportunities. As it says on their website, “All applicants will be considered without attention to race, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status” (Kids Code Jeunesse, n.d.). Thus making sure that there are no biases and prejudices in the recruitment and selection processes is crucial in a company’s success.
Training and development is an HR function that is designed to organize performance and improve competence among employees. The company will not be successful if its employees are not equipped with knowledge, skills, expertise, and ability. Training and development should be the primary objective of each organization to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of human resources. Educational organizations in Canada provide specialists with skills development to meet the demands of learning seekers.
To care about employees’ well-being, employers provide compensation and benefits, which is one of the functions of the HR department. Rewards and benefits can be monetary or non-monetary payments that increase employee motivation and improve performance. The role of this HR function is to develop pay structures, benefit offerings, and incentive plans. According to the Make a Fortune (n.d.), website created by the British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association, “public education employees enjoy a comprehensive and generous assortment of benefits.” Among these benefits are paid vacation, maternity and paternity leaves, and pension. Thus, the HR function ensures that workers are compensated promptly and get deserved profits.
Performance management refers to one of the HR functions responsible for employee performance analysis and identifying factors that contribute to sustained performance over time. Employees’ compensation and benefits structure depend on their performance, so it is crucial to find the keys behind successful performance and train staff accordingly. HR specialists in this department in Canadian educational institutions ensure that employees feel comfortable doing their job qualitatively. If it is an online school, managers make sure that tutors start the lessons on time and provide students with feedback.
The role of the health and safety of HR discipline in the workplace is to eliminate any potential hazards and risks of illness and injury to employees. The company’s most valuable assets are its people. It is essential to provide them with a safe working place and compensation in case of illness (Introduction to human resources discipline of safety and security, 2017). According to the Canadian Labor Congress (2020), the rules for sick leave differ across countries. Nationally, the workers in Canada, including those in the education industry, are eligible for five days of sick leave or in case of their family members’ health issues.
Every person in Canada is protected under the human rights legislation prohibiting any unintentional and intentional discrimination towards employees in the company. Every manager responsible for employee rights has to be familiar with this legislation and the legal obligations specified there (Dessler & Chhinze, 2017). HR specialists working in this department have to ensure that employees’ rights are not discriminated against based on social status, religion, age, and race.
HR specialists in labor relations are responsible for preparing information for management that is used in collective bargaining. Having vast knowledge in wage data, economics, and collective bargaining trends, labor relations specialists administer workers’ contracts according to their wages and salaries, healthcare benefits, and employee welfare (Dessler & Chhinze, 2017). The goal of labor unions in Canadian organizations, among which are educational institutions, is to get improved treatments for union members and economic benefits.
The HR functions are in a relationship with each other. HR planning is responsible for forecasting the HR requirements of the company. It has to make sure that employees have the necessary sets of skills and are adequately trained, which is the responsibility of recruitment and selection and training and development departments. Specialists in the performance management department have to monitor employees’ working performance because compensations and benefits depend on this factor. Health and safety and employee rights functions are also interrelated in a way that workers have the right to ask for a leave, and both departments have to be aware of it.
HR programs aim to help employees succeed in their careers in many different ways. Firstly, HR managers can help a worker with career planning by identifying areas where the employees are weak and strong. Secondly, many companies provide their staff with the opportunity for skills development, offering tuition reimbursement, especially if they can benefit directly. Thirdly, if the employee is sick or there is help needed for his or her spouse, HR specialists can help by finding benefit programs that would allow them to take a leave of absence. This would create loyalty and mutual understanding between employees and employers.
It is doubtless that the HR department plays a crucial role in organizational prosperity. To achieve the organization’s goals and objectives, this department has to develop HR programs and strategies that align with each other and focus employees on the aim that drives everyday activities. Aligning HR strategy with that of the organization ensures that HR is a vital part of its future. For example, if the company’s goal is to cut costs, the HR department can provide employees with online learning courses that would reduce costs. After the goals have been established, the company can invest in people by training them and providing regular updates to keep everyone on track. These steps show how aligning HR programs and strategies make it easier to achieve their objectives.
To conclude, HR management is a term used to describe systems for people management in the organization. This essay examined eight HR functions in the Canadian educational organizations, the relationship between them, the way these functions support workers, and why it is essential to align HR programs and strategies to achieve the company’s goals and objectives.
The eight HR functions are HR planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and benefits, performance management, health and safety, employee rights, and labor relations. These functions are interrelated so that to achieve maximum equilibrium in the company and provide employees with quality conditions, all of the HR departments have to work together. HR programs can support employees by, for example, allowing them to take a leave of absence or providing them with other benefits. Finally, if the HR programs and strategies are aligned, the organization can achieve set goals and objectives.
References
Dessler, G., & Chhinzer, N. (2017). Human resources management in Canada. (13th ed.). Pearson.
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Lievens, F., & Chapman, D. S. (2019). Recruitment and selection. In The sage handbook of human resource management (pp. 121-150). The Sage.
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Sick leave across Canada. (2020). Web.