The Success of the Company and Excellent Human Resources

I read this week’s study material on trade unions and looked up their impact on individuals and society. Although I don’t have the proper access to talk to union members or former union members face to face, I still want to talk about unions as I know them.

There are advantages to joining a union. I noticed in this week’s reading that in societies where capital is monopolized, it is a good thing for workers or employees in companies. Because the union’s participation helps them as a powerful group to fight against some of the injustices that are going on in the workplace and the company appropriately so that they can get fair treatment. However, its existence also has a downside. For example, when the union reached its later stage of development, it seemed to become a gathering place of bureaucracy, a disguised vehicle for corporate wealth, which could not achieve the fairness and justice expected by employees, but instead became a kind of exploitation. As a result, the wrong side of unions is exposed. However, I can see from the relevant research I found on the Internet that although the bureaucracy in trade unions is mentioned in the course materials, the number of trade union members has maintained positive growth in general. Even the union membership rate in the public sector is much higher than in the private sector.

For this reason, I’d like to join the union. Considering these terms, the benefits of unions outweigh the costs, especially when I examine how union membership rates in the public sector are compared with those in the private sector. Such a great contrast may be regarded as a commitment and guarantee from the state and the government to some extent.

Sources:

Kasperkevic, Jana. “Why Unions Are so Worried about Right-to-Work Laws.” Marketplace, 24 Feb. 2017, https://www.marketplace.org/2017/02/24/push-nationwide-right-work-law-could-weaken-unions/.

Kristof, Nicholas. “The Cost of a Decline in Unions.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Feb. 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/nicholas-kristof-the-cost-of-a-decline-in-unions.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0.

Stevenson, Mason. “Pros and Cons of Labor Unions.” HR Exchange Network, 28 Nov. 2022, https://www.hrexchangenetwork.com/hr-compensation-benefits/articles/pros-and-cons-of-labor-unions.

I don’t deny that my life is full of pressure from all sides. It became clear to me after completing these tests. However, these pressures are usually at A relatively moderate value for me. My personality, which is more like Type B than Type A, also makes me more tolerant and optimistic about the current pressure.

To better manage this stress and keep me as active as possible in my life and work, I looked up some viable tips on the Internet. On the corporate side, managers can lead by example to encourage employees to exercise physically to keep fit. Provide necessary health care for employees, shape corporate culture and business goals that include personal health goals, and hire experts to promote corporate health programs. Promoting these measures not only helps employees to keep healthy but also helps to release the existing life and work pressure through physical exercise. That’s what some companies are doing.

Some steps to take will also help me with my stress management. First, I need to identify the sources of my stress, determine the different influences on my work and life, and seek appropriate coping methods. Secondly, I must keep some healthy living habits even in the face of tremendous pressure. In other words, not just indulgent or repressed, but proper relaxation. Then, we can separate work and life into two distinct areas to avoid mixing stress and conflict. At the same time, we can enrich ourselves in work and life to prevent the annoyance brought by the constant indulgence of pressure. In addition, when we feel we are not coping, we can talk to our supervisors, health professionals, and friends instead of just pouring out negative feelings. These methods will help me manage stress and maintain a good mental state.

Sources:

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Coping with stress at work. American Psychological Association. Retrieved November 25, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/topics/healthy-workplaces/work-stress#

Berry, L., Mirabito, A., & Buan, W. (2010). What’s the Hard Return On Employee Wellness Programs?. Harvard Business Review, 89(3), 20-21.

One of the things that struck me in my previous work experience was compensation. I used to work for a company that was part of a burgeoning industry in recent years. Because of this trend, competition within the industry is fierce, which makes overtime work more frequent. That is, people often need to work longer hours than their regular 8-hour days to complete the tasks they are assigned. In fact, we have lost the two days of the weekend that were supposed to be the legal holiday. On top of that, there hasn’t been any reasonable increase in people’s wages. Under these circumstances, many of my colleagues have resigned as a result.

Mass turnover is obviously not a good thing, and it does have a serious impact on the functioning of the company. Therefore, the senior leaders of our company took the initiative to come forward and told us that this period of overtime was only caused by short-term busy business, which was an accidental behavior. In addition, he also promised to accumulate overtime pay, or bonus, according to our personal performance and overtime hours, and give us holidays in turn to make up for the previous weekend. If the business volume in this period reaches the ideal range, the company will consider organizing a long trip to comfort the employees at the end of the year. Clearly, in this case, the massive loss of talent taught the leadership the consequences of over-squeezing employees, which is not good for the long-term. Therefore, in response to this situation, the company made compensation.

From the above content, on the one hand, material compensation such as money and vacation can make employees feel that they are treated fairly. On the other hand, the personal intervention and active communication of senior leaders make employees feel that they are valued, so that they stop leaving and work harder, which is a kind of spiritual compensation.

I have participated in some training related to internship and courses. Some of these trainings are effective and some are not. Obviously, there are some internal factors that lead to the difference in the final results of these trainings.

In my opinion, an effective training experience is one that is provided for a period of time prior to formal entry to familiarize us with the working environment and other aspects. First of all, I trained my department manager to interact effectively with our new employees and laid a good foundation for our future cooperation. Secondly, he taught us the basic skills related to the job and explained to us the mistakes that might occur when using these skills in our daily work. Finally, in order to test our training results, the company tested our skills in practice and encouraged us to be good at solving problems through cooperation with others. There is no doubt that I have learned a lot in such training, and it is very effective.

I also encountered some ineffective job training. After the interview, he directly told me that due to the time arrangement, there would be no fixed training, but that the old staff would guide me to get familiar with the relevant work tasks. In fact, older employees already have heavy workload and often don’t have time to respond to my questions in a timely manner. As a result, the progress of my familiar work slowed down greatly. I also believe that such training is hardly effective.

Based on this, I think there are the following factors that affect the training effect. First, the trainer needs to know about the candidate’s personal information other than the job in order to increase their loyalty and trust in the company. Secondly, whether the content of the training has a beneficial impact on the long-term development of the staff. Finally, the different participation of different roles in the training and the establishment of cooperative relations are conducive to the smooth progress of the subsequent work.

In conclusion, training is not just a simple onboarding process, it is of great significance to the long-term development of the entire company and individuals.

Sources:

Ellis, A., Nifadkar, S., Bauer, T., and Erdogan, B. (2017). Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly

At Walmart Academy, Training Better Managers. But with a Better Future?

When I looked at “2020 Fortune Best Companies to Work For”, it provided information on how a good company manager can achieve ultimate success through effective human resource management. Among these messages from different companies, these three companies caught my attention and helped me figure out what kind of HR I wanted to be. Here are my thoughts on this.

Hilton

Hilton is one of the world’s leading hotel companies. I had heard about it for a long time, but I had never really paid attention to its human resource management model. Ninety-seven percent of Hilton employees say it’s a great place to work. From this point of view, I can see the company’s efforts to succeed. The first is to create a homelike working environment for employees, which makes them want to stay here. Second, the management has the ability to retain talent, recruit new talent, and allocate human resources properly, which enables the company to operate normally according to fixed procedures. Finally, the friendly attitude and good character of the management towards the employees of the company are also one of the important ways for the successful practice of HR, which makes the employees willing to trust the company and the management, and willing to voluntarily stay and serve the company. So humanization is the first trait that I want to be a good manager. 

American Express

American Express is a global integrated payments company with a 94% positive rating from its employees. As a company closely related to our daily lives, I would love to learn about its efforts behind such high employee satisfaction. First, in addition to the humanized management mentioned by the previous company, its facilities contribute to a good working environment. It means a highly specialized work environment. Secondly, people here are given a lot of responsibility. In other words, giving employees a sense of responsibility is conducive to the formation of a sense of team, more conducive to the rational use and balance of their time and create maximum benefits for the company. This can also be considered an effective HR practice in which management gives employees maximum autonomy to stimulate their talents. This kind of trust in employees is also what I hope to achieve in the process of becoming a manager.

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

Eighty-nine percent of employees at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants think it’s a great place to work. The reason for this, I think, is a sense of belonging. They are considered full members here, regardless of their position. This inclusive corporate culture will help to form employees’ determination and responsibility to build a good company and provide better service. This belief is not passive but active, and the formation of such an atmosphere cannot be separated from the efforts of management. I hope to be able to do that when I become a manager.

In a word, a professional, humane and caring manager is what I want to be. But as a novice, I undoubtedly faced many challenges. Such as lack of confidence and experience, maintaining a balance of approachability but authority among employees, and much else. However, I believe that with the advancement of HR practice and continuous learning from external experience, I will be able to achieve my ideal goal.

Works Cited

Buckingham, M. & Coffman, C. 2016. First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.

Fortune 100 best companies to work for® 2020. Great Place to Work®. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://www.greatplacetowork.com/best-workplaces/100-best/2020