1.4 Emerging Issues and Trends in HRM
Learning Objectives
Explain why the HR industry is moving toward a balanced approach that focuses on employee engagement, while also achieving organizational goals for competitive advantage, productivity, and profitability.
Recognize how a societal interest in sustainability and corporate social responsibility impacts HR practices.
Describe how advances in data analytics and artificial intelligence are improving decision-making in HRM.
Discuss the skill-shortage problem in the U.S. and other developed countries and the impact on business location decisions.
Employee Engagement
The HR industry is undergoing a shift from focusing solely on the employer perspective, to a more balanced approach that focuses on employee engagement and work-life balance, while also achieving organizational goals for competitive advantage, productivity, and profitability. The National Study of the Changing Workforce, conducted by Families and Work Institute and SHRM, is a major study of the U.S. workforce that takes a comprehensive look at employees’ lives both on and off the job. The study examines components of the work environment that benefit employers and employees, and has led to the development of SHRM’s Effective Workplace Index (2018), which consists of the following seven components: job challenge and learning opportunities; supervisor support for job success; autonomy; culture of respect, trust, and belonging; work-life fit; satisfaction with wages, benefits, and opportunities to advance; and co-worker support for job success.
One of the features of this book is a balanced approach that focuses on employee engagement while also achieving organizational goals for competitive advantage and profitability. You will learn theory and techniques to enhance recruitment, retention, and performance, and will be prepared to create a culture of respect and autonomy, which are important in creating an effective workplace in a diverse environment.
Catbert: The Evil HR Director
A humorous take on the role of HR in supporting employee development.
HR in the Real World: The Case of Billy Bad
Human resources is not only the realm of people with HR in their job title. Anyone who has people reporting to them does some HR. One of the most challenging aspects of management is holding them accountable for performance expectations and compliance with work rules or procedures while doing so in a way that treats them with dignity and respect.
In a previous position as vice-president for finance and administration, I was responsible for all of the office staff, including individuals who handled inbound calls from customers and vendors. The work hours were 8 to 5, and it was critical that these employees be at their desk, ready to work and start answering calls at 8:00 sharp. I had one employee who had a habit of showing up about five minutes late. Then it became ten minutes late, then fifteen, and then twenty. I counseled the employee and put her on a three-strike process, the official company policy for handling employee disciplinary actions. The first strike (in this case, an incidence of being tardy) resulted in an oral warning, the second strike would lead to a written warning, and the third strike would result in immediate termination. The employee eventually was late a third time. She rode a local bus to work, and had fallen asleep on the bus. She called me to let me know what had happened, and I advised her to take the next bus back to the company, and then to come to my office. She finally arrived to work at 11:30 and came to my office. I had already gone to the payroll department and had her final check prepared. I told her that in keeping with the three-strike policy, she was terminated immediately. I then escorted her to her work area, where she put her personal belongings into a box, and she was escorted out of the building. I later found out that some of the employees were referring to me as Billy Bad, which I was not exactly proud of. But it did send a message that the company was serious about being at your work area and ready to work when your shift begins, and no one showed up late for at least a year.
But there is more to the story. As she was walking out of the building with her box of belongings and getting ready to walk back to the bus stop (which was five blocks from our building, and on a hot summer day), something didn’t seem right to me. I didn’t want her to have to walk that far, carrying her things, so I gave her a ride to the bus stop. I had been coaching this employee for some time and had developed a positive rapport with her. We talked about how this could be a learning experience for her. I also emphasized that we all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them. Before she got on the bus, she turned back and gave me a hug. Perhaps the moral of the story is that you can hold people accountable, and send a message when you need to, but at the same time treat people with dignity. One of my favorite quotes on managing human resources is from Anne M. Mulcahey, former chairperson and CEO of Xerox Corporation:
Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility
The word sustainability has come to have many different meanings. Sustainability has become a popular buzzword among the business sector, government, and the nonprofit entities, and business leaders find themselves wondering if this is just the latest management fad or a concept that will fundamentally change how businesses are managed and measured. Sustainability A business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental, and social developments. is a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental, and social developments. Simply put, when a business adopts a sustainable approach, they are not just driven by business profits but consider the human and environmental impacts of their actions.
The Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, United Nations, 1987) is generally credited with introducing the word sustainability in their report Our Common Future. The report states that humanity has the ability to make development sustainable—to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Thus, the term originally was coined in reference to sustainable development, and the purpose was to encourage development that had a dual focus on reducing poverty and taking into consideration long-term ecological impacts. The concept has expanded since 1987 and now includes a focus on economic profits, social impact, and the environment. The term triple bottom line, or TBL, was coined for this tertiary focus by Elkington (1998) in his book Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business. Elkington also refers to the triple bottom line as the three P’s: People, Profits, and Planet.
Organizations are no longer assessed only on traditional metrics such as financial performance, or the quality of their products or services. Rather, organizations today are increasingly judged on their relationships with their employees, customers, and communities, transforming them from mere business enterprises to social enterprises. As more companies, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies implement sustainable solutions to the problems of society, it is apparent that the notion of sustainability and corporate social responsibility is more than a fad, but rather is creating a permanent shift in the way that businesses view their responsibilities to stakeholders.
In the context of HR, social responsibility includes creating and maintaining a workplace culture that respects everyone equally, and in which all individuals and groups are treated with dignity and respect. This means that the workplace should be free of any type of harassment or discrimination, and decisions regarding any of the terms and conditions of employment (hiring, promotions, compensation, etc.) should be made fairly and justly.
A socially responsible organization ensures that all employees conduct themselves in an ethical manner and maintain high standards of integrity. HR managers play a crucial role in making sure that new hires understand the organizational code of ethics and values, and providing a process whereby potential violations of ethics or harassment can be reported.
Talent Analytics
Increased capabilities in data analytics and artificial intelligence are transforming the practice of HR by automating many of the mundane functions and providing the tools for HR managers to make data-driven decisions. The technology for talent recruitment, onboarding, compensation, performance management, and talent development continues to accelerate. This includes human resource information systems (HRIS), applicant tracking systems (ATS), and learning management systems (LMS).
Talent analytics are introduced in more depth in Chapter 2, Section 5 “Introduction to Talent Analytics”.
Because talent analytics has become such an important component in almost every aspect of modern HRM, each chapter in this text will include a feature box that illustrates an example of how data and analytics are used in the real world by actual HR managers.
Figure 1.2 Ten Trends in Talent Analytics
Show long descriptionLong Description
1. From snapshot to pulse. 2. From cumbersome data gathering to automated analysis. 3. From confidential to transparent. 4. From individuals to team focus. 5. From descriptive to predictive analytics. 6. From intuition to data-driven. 7. From past-tense to future-focused. 8. From measurement to benchmarks. 9. From HR-focused to organization-focused. 10. From tactical to strategic.
Key Takeaways
The HR industry is undergoing a shift away from human resource management solely focused on the employer perspective, to a more balanced approach that focuses on employee engagement and work-life balance, while also achieving organizational goals for competitive advantage, productivity, and profitability.
Sustainability is a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental, and social developments.
In the context of HR, social responsibility includes creating and maintaining a workplace culture that respects everyone equally and in which all individuals and groups are treated with dignity and respect.
A socially responsible organization ensures that all employees conduct themselves in an ethical manner and maintain high standards of integrity.
Increased capabilities in data analytics and artificial intelligence are transforming the practice of HR by automating many of the day-to-day functions and providing the tools for HR managers to make data-driven decisions.
Business location decisions today increasingly are made based on the presence of a workforce with the appropriate skills.
What Do You Think?
How do you feel when you work for a company or an individual who does not seem to care about your work-life balance or your personal well-being?
What companies do you think do a good job of being socially responsible? What are these companies doing that gives you this impression?
How has technology impacted the way that you learn new knowledge and skills?
Have you ever quit a job, and if so, what was the reason?
What company initiatives and programs make you want to stay with a company?