I agree with mandy. Agree that HR needs to do all the things that seniors has mentioned above. But what if the management / Boss / Owner of the company is not ready to do any activities?. What if they do not have budget for the employee engagement activity? In small firm HR's main function is recruitment and once it's been done all the other formalities is been done than again it comes ideal time for HR. Appraisal is also yearly most of the time.

All the employee are so busy in projects with tight dead line that Boss refuses to pursue any employee engagement activity (outing, movie, dinner / lunch, fun games etc.).

Personnel Administration like Time Office-attendance, leave payroll, compliance and record keeping does not take much time. And what if all the policies, regulation, rules everything is been set and on that no recruitment is going on!!! Only cite hr left to dig more and more and get knowledge from the valuable seniors.

I am not saying that HR is not valuable. It is the most important part of the organization and I have seen that in many big organization but of course in small firm (10-20 employee) HR do not have much to do.

Regards

Meghna

From India, Ahmedabad
In small organisations, there may not be many HR related activities. Certain activities could be cyclical in nature. But do not waste your time. Sit with your immediate superior and explore ways and means of enlarging your responsibilities, especially during lean / free time. Use theni opportunities to learn new things, or involve in the activities of other departments, with the approval and consent of your boss. Or, better still, pursue higher studies and enhance your knowledge and qualifications further.
Best wishes

From India
I would firstly like to acknowledge the in-puts from everyone on this thread for their fine contributions and thoughts shared.

Dear Mandy,

I make my bit to this with my thoughts, which compliments the thoughts shared by (Cite Contribution).

In most of the young organizations, or start ups the top management tends to view Human Resources (HR) as the department of fulfilling an administrative function. HR is often viewed as the organization’s “cop”, ensuring that benefits are properly administered and hiring/firing is handled to the letter of the law. In contrast to the HR administrative function, strategic HR practices are more contemporary concepts. What gets measured gets done and/or receives the authority to contribute to an organization’s strategy. In circumstances where HR is included in the strategy of an organization, its alignment does not go beyond a forecasting function. The main reason that HR is not aligned with the strategy of an organization is that it does not hold a seat at the strategic planning table. The irony with HR being left of out of strategy planning is that by its nature, HR is about people, which is the core of an organization and its strategic plan.

contemporary concepts.

I remember reading this very long time ago reading an article on Sales and Marketing:

It seems Bata Shoe Company sent a Salesman to explore business in country in Africa.

The Salesman on his arrival walked down the road, and saw the people there who were mainly tribal.

Shocked as he was after seeing this he sent a telegram to his boss, "EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO SELL FOOTWEAR WHERE NO ONE WEARS ONE."

He was asked to return back and another sent in his place.

This Salesman on his arrival too did the same thing and walked down the same road.

He too, saw the same thing that people, who were mainly tribal, walked barefooted.

He was too excited and rushed to the post office to send a telegram to his boss.

"IMMENSE POTENTIAL NO ONE WEAR ANY FOOTWARE HERE, A HUGE MARKET AWAITS US, AWAIT MY NEXT TO RUSH SUPPLIES."

I take this analogy to convey that I see a huge challenge - A need to align HR with strategic planning, meaning aligning HR with organizational strategy.

An emphasis on HR leads to understanding the role HR plays in strategically building a competitive advantage. There is a link between strategy and HR. The greater the congruence between strategy and HR, the more effective the organization will be.

1. Strategic Competencies: It'll be good to understand what competencies needed, available, and plan to close the gap.

* Strategic Talent Gap

* Strategic Key Employee Retention

2. Build Leadership: Create a leadership pipeline - a growth path

* Bridge the Leadership Gap

3. Build Culture: Ensure that HR internalizes a shared vision, aligned with strategy.

* 100% of personal the understand strategy

4. Alignment of goals : Personal goals linked to organization goals.

5. Learning/Knowledge: Sharing of knowledge and experience needed by the strategy.

Different strategies require different skills.

Alignment between HR activities and strategy planning can be formed by HR. By increasing the

competencies of HR personal, the department will increase its creditability and be

integrated into a strategic role. In its purest form, HR is best suited for leveraging an organization’s personal that implements the organization’s strategic plans. In other words, HR resources are what drive an organizations’ strategic process. When HR measures itself from a business perspective and by the value it brings an organization, top management will find it very difficult to ignore HR in the strategy process. On the contrary top management will welcome HR input because it will have a clear understanding of how HR affects the bottom line from a business and/or strategic standpoint. By inter-locking HR measures with items concerning the ongoing business, HR becomes aligned with strategy through dependent tasks that are accounted for interdependently.

In summary, an organization’s people and their skills ultimately determine the effectiveness of strategic plans, and its implementation.

From India, Hyderabad
Dear Garima Singh,
Of course you are absolutely correct.In actual picture main importance goes to technical and marketing as they seems to generate the business to run the organization. Our department mainly seems expenditure to organization.(Labour cost is indirect expenses in the terms of finance but this is real investment in terms of HR) But practically many organizations according to my experience HR Department does not get recognizance directly and easily but without proper HR functions ultimately effect the Organization in many organizations.Only we are illustrating theories for Motivation,HR department as back bone to the organization. Many HR s are not at all satisfying at all and no job satisfaction i have observed.

From India, Secunderabad
Hi Mandy, whether it is large organization or a small one the HR functions and responsibilities are the same and you need to do a little research on HR metrics to know the various functions, responsibilities, tasks etc for HR.
As, concern as the volume of work for HR, it increase and decrease at the same level like other dept.
Suppose, if you have less no of projects then your developer, designer and other people have spare time like HR but for the Project managers or BDM's it the high time work more to get new projects.
And later, when you got a large number of projects then hiring will start and HR will be too busy in their tasks and the developers, designers and other team members have lot more work to keep them busy and sometimes need to work for extra hour.
So, in this way its routine and up and down in the volume of work happens in all dept. and the same with HR. and you need to work accordingly.

From India, Lucknow
I agree with Meghna & Mandy. What if management / Owner of the company is not ready to do any Employee engagement activities due to budget constraint? Also all the employee are so busy in projects with tight dead line that Boss refuses to pursue any employee engagement activity.
HR’s are left with only routine work like attendance, leave payroll, compliance, record keeping etc.. This does not take much time. And what if all the policies, regulation, rule everything is been set and on that no recruitment is going on!!!
Only option left is to surf internet / other usefull websites for knowledge enhancement. But when it comes to reviewing your performance / importance of your role, it is not respected like others !
Can our seniors suggest what can be the best way to handle such situations ?
Regards,
Barkha

From India, Pune
Dear Ms. Barkha Sukhani, Ms. Meghna, Mandy,



I really appreciate everything you've projected, and can even empathize with you, however, as one who has been through mill at some point in time, I am trying to relate with you all with these thoughts, that might sound philosophical, but to ignore it would be your risk.

What do a dripping faucet, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and a career in HR all have in common?

Power.

Harness this power and rivers transform into sources of electricity or words spring to life with meaning. Because it often goes unnoticed, water seems to be a humble entity.

A leaky faucet can drip for days even weeks before someone says enough and calls a plumber or fixes it himself. Yet this same drip, drip, drip hides a singular strength.

Thanks to eons of s-l-o-w leaks in caves, this power creates sculptures of rare beauty called stalactites and a constant drip can also wear away stone or crack boulders. Combine those drips into a stream of water the size of just one millimeter in diameter, then compress it under seventy-five pounds of pressure, water becomes a tool for better health in the skilled hands of a dental hygienist. (By the way, one millimeter is the size of the tip of a pointed toothpick).

Speaking of cutting and eons of persistence, water also roared through land that we now call the Grand Canyon making it one of the worlds greatest natural wonders.

The characteristics of compression and persistence are hallmarks of waters power. Could these two ideas also be lesson one for a career in HR ?

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” ― Ovid

Yes! I believe it is persistence that'll pay off. Any growing business can't remain static, and we just can't judge things in the future with the way things happen now. You must believe that things can change, in fact, I would say work to bring about a change. The only mantra for that is to keep on increasing your wisdom base.

Even with years of experience behind me, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't face situation like this before. I did, and all that I was doing at times like that is to keep plugging away.

Follow this for additional reading on Change Management and inspiration:

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” ― Ovid « dreamabiglife

I end this with a small quote, "It's the nut that believed in itself, that it hung to the ground despite all odds, and weathered many a storm before becoming an oak today." - Anon

Best wishes.

From India, Hyderabad
HI,

The question may depress many HR guys definitely, but need not to worry. I hope you will be finding all the Accounts,Finance and Marketing guys in your organisation are busy. It is certain. There is a lot of work for HRD. They have to comply with PF,ESI,Labour Departments every month for existing Staff. Ofcourse, now the computer environment made every thing easy and all these can be done by sitting infront of the computer. An accountant may be busy with his pending work. A fiance person may be busy with his bankers in obtaining loans. A marketing person may be busy due to enhanced targets. But HR guys work is only in regard of existing manpower. I, personally experienced being a finance and accounts man that the smoothly running Accounts and Finance Department will be shattered by the professionals of department. Their mind is set to Condition Apply ( I think you know about these professionals). They show the cats as Tigers and makes the Accounts Department to walk on knife. In simple words they make the things complicated which are very easy . If you go to a lawyer, he says so many things before filing a suit in court. Doctors ask many reports viz. scaning, x-ray, blood test etc. An egineer says about planning , autocad etc. Every profession is made full of fun and game. I am not forcing you to make the things complicate. Just think about the departments.

From India, Guwahati
Mandy you are right its common i faced the same situation many times people thought hr karta kya .........but there are lots to i suggest you study cite hr and always do changes in something like forms etc so u can make your self busy many company keep to people for hr and admin but one person is sufficent for all the stauff
be creative change almost everything salary format attendance format ,induction etcccccccc
wish u gud luck

From India, Delhi
Dear Mandy,
Human resource is always core part of any company try to start initiative new thing in spare time
1.Monitor Marketing& sales team, try to find out who is giving less business to company & try to find why discuss with those
make incentive plans.( can check grievance, Stress management )
2. Start competition mapping with same business industry. (Will improve company's vision)
3. Count your own company's Dept. & draw same structure with same company find same designation employees in other companies to whom they report make all flow chart. (It will help you & your company in head hunting)
4. Make your company page on linked in, Twitter & Facebook & ask office employees to follow those.(Free Marketing)
Note:-First ask CEO & Top Management for these all they wont say no to you they will like your ideas.
All the very Best.
Aarin Ratnesh Sorathiya
Sr. Hr Executive
Aspee Gruop Mumbai
(You can add me on LinkedIn for better career prospect)

From India, Imphal
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