What is HR?

What I Learned About Myself

After taking the coping and stress management skills test, my result showed that I use “problem-focused strategies” in order to cope with stress. The Type A Personality Test states that most of the time I am characterized by warmth and tolerance but occasionally react with impatience and hostility. Often when I am stressed or frustrated I lash out at others but this is rare. I am willing to open up to others emotionally and I value relationships greatly.

Steps to Manage Stress

• Address the Cause of Stress
• Exercise Daily
• Eat Well
• Practice Relaxation
• Prioritize Activities
• Confide in People You Trust

Stress/ Mental Health in the Workforce

Job Stress is defined as the tension people feel when they are facing or enduring extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities and are uncertain about their ability to handle them effectively (Swift, 2022). There are multiple negative outcomes of stress that include Psychological (depression, anxiety), Physiological (fatigue, high blood pressure), Behavioral (alcohol and drug use, compulsive behaviors), and Job-Related (lower performance and job commitment). Kaiser Permanente states that employees are the heart of the company which means that keeping them happy, healthy, and engaged is the goal of HR. As a result of COVID-19, there was a 40% increase in US employees who reported depression or anxiety, which led to an untreated depression cost of $9,450 per employee (Kaiser, 2022). According to Kaiser, four out of five workers with mental health conditions say shame and stigma have prevented them from seeking mental health care. This being said, Employee’s mental health must be prioritized.

What Kaiser Permanente is doing to Prioritize Employee’s Health

Kaiser Permanente has developed a four-step process to better employee mental health and discusses how it benefits a business.

1. Prioritize a psychologically healthy workforce. This can be done by showing empathy, being vulnerable, validating what people are feeling, allowing for flexibility, and reducing stigma.
2. Be aware of the mental health stigma. Provide employees with helpful mental wellness resources in one place, wellness tools that are easy to access, mandated breaks to reduce burnout, and mental health coverage in your organization’s health insurance policy.
3. Let your employees know it’s OK to ask for help. Kaiser suggests offering employee assistance programs, wellness champions, training for managers, and employees resource groups
4. Go deeper into social health. Help employees understand the resources offered, offer robust caregiver benefits, help navigate leave-of-absence policies, and leverage financial services.

Final Thoughts

“57% of employees say they feel more loyal and productive… if their employer supported workforce mental health” (Kaiser, 2022). The first priority of a manager should be their employees and the mental health of those employees. Mental health is something that should not be pushed aside and taken lightly. It is crucial now more than ever that employers prioritize the overall health of their employees. I would suggest that the organization follow the same four-step process that Kaiser Permanente followed to ensure that employees’ mental health is prioritized and taken care of. 

Resources:

Managing stress. NAMI. (n.d.). Retrieved July 27, 2022, from https://www.nami.org/Your-Journey/Individuals-with-Mental-Illness/Taking-Care-of-Your-Body/Managing-Stress

Swift, Michele. Health and Safety Lecture. (2022, July 27). https://canvas.oregonstate.edu/courses/1878136/pages/week-8-learning-materials?module_item_id=22230160

Understanding mental health. Mental health & wellness | Kaiser Permanente. (n.d.). Retrieved July 27, 2022, from https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/mental-health

Written by: Kalli Carley

Compensation & Benefits

The two motivating factors in job decisions are compensation and benefits. Compensation has two components Extrinsic and Intrinsic Rewards. Extrinsic rewards include monetary rewards such as base pay, incentives, and benefits. It also includes Non-monetary rewards that consist of recognition, employment security, and challenging work. Benefits are a form of compensation that proves security for employees and their families (Swift, 2022). Those benefits consist of things such as life insurance, disability insurance, retirement, and paid time off.

Why do compensation and/or benefits motivate individuals?

The role of benefits is to attract, retain and motivate employees (Swift, 2022). In order to be attracted to a job, there must be an incentive for people. In other words, individuals want to know “what’s in it for them.” Which I believe is valid. An individual should know how a job is going to impact them, whether it’s a positive or negative impact. When trying to retain and motivate employees it is important to think of the factors that might influence turnover. Some factors that influence turnover are work environment, morale of employees, and pay offered. By providing a positive work atmosphere, showing appreciation to employees and having competitive pay can help boost morale and reduce the turnover results.

What effect compensation and/or benefits have on individuals? 

From personal experiences, I can attest that benefits and compensation have a great impact on whether or not an individual accepts or declines a job, leaves or stays at a job, and how much effort is put into the job. A couple of years ago I got offered a job at local business. This business had a great environment and the pay was great. However, there were no benefits included in the job. I had taken the job under the assumption that I would be able to work my way up to a position that included benefits. I soon found out that was not the case. I ended up putting my two weeks notice after working there for six months. It was hard because I enjoyed the people that I worked with and the environment but finically I needed a job that would provide me with benefits or give me the opportunity to work to get them.

End Thoughts

Compensation and benefits greatly incentives behaviors. In other words, they can “make or break the job.” It is important to remember this when in an HR position. People often are more willing to have lower pay and hirer benefits than they are willing to have lighter pay with no benefits. It is also important to know the audience. for instance, if you hire a majority of individuals who have families or are married they are going to prioritize benefits very high. On the other hand if you hire mainly high school/ college aged individuals higher pay will be more important.

Resources

Swift, Michele. Lecture 1-3 Compensation & 6-9 Benefits. (2022, July 26). https://canvas.oregonstate.edu/courses/1878136/pages/week-7-learning-materials?module_item_id=22230142

The onboarding process was often defined the formal process of a systematically socializing new employees by helping them become familiar with the organization, their job, and their work unit (Swift, 2022). Often times the onboarding process does not go past the first couple of days or weeks at an organization. This often leads to high turnover rates, poor quality product produced and decrease in employee morale. New research shows that spending up to year helping new employees is essential in building a strong, stable organization. According to The Harvard Business Review, on average companies lose 17% of their new hires during the first three months. Study’s found that the first three to six months are most critical (Ellis, 2017). In order to improve the socialization and onboarding process for new employees, I suggest using one of the four approaches and implement ways to make it more effective.

Four Different Approaches

There are four different approaches that I would suggest the management approach in order to improve the socialization and onboarding process for new employees. The first approach would be to group new employees together. This would help give them a sense of community and make it feel like they are not alone. Another suggestion would be to pair them up with an existing employee who can serve as a role model. Third would be to reaffirm new employees who they are as individuals to help build confidence and assurance. The last approach is to use technology to help them understand the process better. Technology might explain things better to them and be more accessible if they have questions.

Ways to Make it More Effective

• Pair New Hires with Coworker Mentors
• Provide a Realistic Job Preview
• Reinforce Organization Goals, Values, and Expectations
• Help New Employees Identify and Use Their Strengths

The onboarding socialization and socialization of new employees in the workforce can be resolved by grouping new employees together, pairing them with existing employees, reaffirming new employees who they are as individuals, and implementing the use of technology. Doing, so can help to reduce the turnover rate, increase employee morale and improve the quality of work performed.

References:

Ellis, A., Nifadkar, S., Bauer, T., and Erdogan, B. (2017). Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly (Links to an external site.), Harvard Business Review

Swift, Michele. (2022) Training and Development Lecture. https://canvas.oregonstate.edu/courses/1878136/pages/week-5-learning-materials?module_item_id=22230125

Purpose of Job Descriptions

A job description is the analysis of the work and the employee characteristics needed to perform the work successfully (Swift, 2022). There are seven uses for a job analysis.

• Designing or Redesigning Jobs
• Recruiting and Selection
• Compensation Administration
• Performance Management
• Training and development
• Legal Defense
• Writing Job Descriptions and Job Specifications

Potential Problems with Developing & Maintaining Job Descriptions

The senior vice president of HR at SilkRoad, states that having a bad job description is worse than not having one at all (Tyler, 2018). One problem that HR management faces with developing and maintaining job descriptions is how often job descriptions should be reviewed and updated. Experts say that once a year is the minimum but there are circumstances that would require a more consistent update. It is important for employees to know what is expected of them. The issue with consistently having to update job description is that you often have to hire someone who deals with the developing and maintaining of job descriptions. This adds expenses to a companies budget by increasing wages as well as increasing training for employees.

Potential Problems with Not Developing & Maintaining Job Descriptions

If a company has any dangerous jobs, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 requirements state that a company must specify “elements of the job that endanger the health or are to be considered unsatisfactory or distasteful to the majority of the population”(OSHA). In order to prevent any possible legal actions, it is a good idea to provide a job description. By not developing and keep it up to date, it is difficult to opperate a business effectively.

How to Develop & Maintain Job Descriptions

Compliance environment and legal implications make it so that job descriptions must be clear with essential responsibilities. In other words, the clearer the better. in order to develop as well as maintain a well-written job description, there are six topics of information that must be included (Swift, 2022). Those topics are:

• Job Indentation- title, department, position
• Job Summary- reason the job exists
• Task Statements
• KSAOs (Knowledge, Skill, Ability, Other Characteristics)
• Physical Demands- standing, walking, finger dexterity
• Working Conditions- outside, office

If these actions are implemented into a job analysis it will ensure that prospective employees, as well as current employees, fully understand the job and what all it entails.

July 15, 2022

Kalli Carley

What is HR?

Human Resources (HR) is defined by the textbook as, the development of management systems to ensure that human talent is used effectively and efficiently to accomplish organizational goals. There are 4 main responsibilities of the HR department. These are Administrative Experts, Employee Advocates, Change Agents, and Business Partners. The Administrative expert represents those foundation activities that are related to compliance issues and record keeping.  Employee Advocate is a traditional role of tending to the employee issues and concerns. The Change Agent role helps define the strategy relative to human capital and its contribution to the firm results. A Business Partner role is where HR partners with managers to help address business issues. 

How companies like  Veterans United Home Loans (VU), Marriott International, and USAA  practice HR

The employees of Veterans United Home Loans say that they feel good about the ways they contribute to the community, they feel welcome by the company and the  Veterans United Home Loans gives employees the resources and equipment to do their job. Employees at Marriott International say that Marriot gives employees a lot of responsibility, they are honest and ethical in business practices, and they are proud to tell others they work at Marriott International. 

USAA employees state that there is a good working environment and that people within this organization care about each other. Contributing to the community, feeling welcome, proper resources, giving responsibilities, honesty and ethical business practices, a good working environment and empathy are all essential aspects of HR management. 

“98% of Our customers would rate the service we deliver as “excellent.”

Great Place to Work.com/Veteran Home United

Role of Manager

A manager’s role is to design a workplace that ensures employees are able to add value, have the resources they need to perform their job properly and provide guidance and motivation to their employees. They must ensure the company’s values and ethics are being exemplified by the employees.

Challenging Aspects of a Manager’s Role

Challenging aspects of a manager’s role would be keeping employees motivated, dealing with new changes in technology and society, responding to crises, hiring the right employees for the organization, and dealing with underperforming employees.

The overall purpose of HR is to ensure that all employees contribute to company goals in a positive way. The role of an HR director is to appoint the right people to supervise the different department’s employees. To say it is a “team effort” is an understatement. Without all parts of the organization working together and properly the organization cannot succeed.