Rai Chowdhary, MS, CQE, CQM, Six Sigma Coach
Introduction
Whether businesses get Enronitis or otherwise, organizations tend to believe that the only department that needs to address the human element is Human Resources. Fact is that the employee spends most of their time with their managers, and peers, therefore to the employee, that is the company. In most cases Supervisors, Managers, and Executives may approach HR only during times of recruitment, layoffs, or when there are other signs of trouble. Does this lead to a perception that the HR department provides a function that is only of a marginal benefit to the company? The answer to that question may lie in the behavior of organizations during times of mergers, or down turns. Percentage wise, the reductions that HR departments face is often the highest. If a department is considered to be a strong partner and contributor to the business, why would it be treated thus?
To learn we must ask questions - and understand that the answers we get will be a direct reflection of what we asked. So, asking the right question is just as important as seeking the right answer.
We will attempt to ask some questions, and provide the underlying rationale for asking these. This paper is not intended to be one that provides the answers - for there can be any number of them. Not only it would be impossible to list all the answers, but what may have worked at one company, is not guaranteed to work at others. So, here are some questions we must begin with:
Question No. 1 - What is our mission / purpose?
If every employee in our department were asked about the mission / purpose of HR department, would they be able to articulate the same clearly? How does this relate to the mission for the company? Are most of the activities of our department in sync with the mission statement?
Question No. 2 - Who are our customers?
Who are my internal and external customers? When was the last time we determined their near term and longer term needs, and wants? Was their voice documented, or just remembered only to be forgotten a few days later? Do we look upon job applicants as customers, job seekers, potential headcount, or resources? Why?
Question No. 3 - What are our outputs and metrics?
What outputs does our department produce? If we cannot define these, why not? How are these measured? How does what we produce match with what our customers need and want? Are the things we measure directly related to the requirements our customers gave us?
Question No. 4 - What are we doing in continuous education and improvement?
What are our continuous improvement goals if any? How many hours of training / continuing education is required of our department personnel? How does this compare with other leading companies? How do we know if it is effective? How do these goals tie in with the organization's goals overall?
Question No. 5 - What is the required skill set inventory for the company?
Is there a listing of core skills that our company needs? Is it documented and easily traceable? Do we know how many have gone through training on these skills? What is their proficiency level? How do we know? Is there a roadmap for skill set enhancement, if so, is it broken down by job family / category, and do the employees know what they are? Beyond core skills, do we have a job specific road map? How does this tie to career growth opportunities for individuals within the company? Is all of this visible to the employees, at all levels in the company?
Question No. 6 - How are we in benefits, compensation, and retirement?
How do we compare with other local companies / businesses when it comes to employee benefits and compensation? Are we above / below / at par? Where should we be? Why? Besides monetary reasons, why would anyone want to work for us? Do our employees understand what percentage of their total compensation package goes in taxes? Do they have a clear picture of how much the company contributes to Social Security, Insurance, etc. for them? What kinds of guidance have we given them with respect to retirement planning?
Question No. 7 - What internal policies and procedures are in place?
Do our (HR) employees have clear cut instructions on how to carry out their jobs? Are they given the opportunity to improve the processes they have to operate? Do we know which employee is supposed to know which procedures? How can we be sure they do? How do they know they are doing a good job? How do they know when they are not? What is the delay between doing it wrong, and finding out it was wrong?
Question No. 8 - How is our performance in safety and security?
Do the employees feel safe enough to work here? Are they secure enough to raise important issues without fear of reprisals? Do they know what information is considered classified? Do they know what the correct procedure is to dispose of company sensitive materials? Do the managers understand what are do's and don'ts when hiring / firing staff? Has an audit been conducted in this regard? What kind of training / communication was provided to employees at different levels? Do they understand that today? How do they keep current on such information?
Question No. 9 - Do our merit / annual reviews motivate or do otherwise?
How do we ensure the reviews work to energize and motivate employees, rather than raise stress levels around those times? Do managers conduct these quarterly, so see if things are progressing as planned, or do year end surprises routinely spring up? Are managers / supervisors having to take days off to complete reviews? Are reviews based on what the manager / supervisor thinks about the employee, or is there objective supporting evidence to back up the statements made? Is a plan for improvement offered to remedy shortcomings or is the employee left on their own to do this? What do we do with marginal performers? How do we know who is marginal? What is being done to encourage strong performers to continue on that path? If all the merit reviews in the company are analyzed, will the data fit a normal curve, or be skewed more towards good / excellent performance? If it is skewed towards good / excellent performance, does that show up in business results - is our company a leader of the pack in the industry?
Question 10 - Do we attract the best and make them productive quickly?
What steps are we taking to ensure the incoming candidates are really a good fit with the company? How well does the job description reflect the actual demands of the job? Are we upfront with employees with regard to the effort required in the job? Is our candidate search method cost effective? How do we know? Are positions filled relatively quickly, or does it take too long? What is the gestation period between an employee coming on board, and becoming productive on the job? How does our employee turn over compare with other companies in the area? Other companies nation wide in similar businesses? What is the cost of this turnover? What means are in place to allow employees to grow internally?
We trust the above questions have been of value / caused you to think about what you can do to improve operations within your department. Your comments are most welcome, please send the same to: rai_chowdhary@yahoo.com
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Posted: March 2002