HUMAN RESOURCES JOB AND THE NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE

 

“When HR is considered a partner to the business, it can vastly effect the organization's ROI (Return on Investment). So why aren't all HR departments thought of like this? Learning how to make your department more strategic is a way to place this function on the footing it needs to be on”

During the 1980s, personnel departments were responsible for handing out applications, providing employees with insurance enrollment forms and processing payroll. The role of the personnel department was mainly administrative. Over the next two decades, the role of personnel administration became more involved with overall business goals. Companies began to recruit human resources leaders who were capable of managing the department from a more strategic position. Personnel administration, therefore, evolved into a business now referred to as Human Resources Management.

Despite the tremendous evolution that has taken place in the human resources world, practitioners in Nigeria still struggle for its acceptance and involvement in strategic decision making. It is necessary for HR to also sit at the same table with the company’s strategic team in order to get adequate understanding of the organization’s strategic goal, this knowledge will help the department to reposition for the task ahead on how to effectively utilize the available human resources in an organization, attract high flyers to the company, develop and retain the talents, manage performance and reward performance and plan succession among other key human resource functions.

Recently I was forced to liken the human resources management job in Nigeria to the Nigerian Police Force, this is because just like most Nigerians hardly respect the police force obviously because of the actions and inaction of the bad eggs in the force. HR employees also receive similar treatment from some company’s top management and colleagues who seems to forget that HR people are first employees before being an HR person.

In the HR job in my country Nigeria, it is still a case of “he that pays the piper dictates the tone”! This is because you either do the bidding of the top management or have your job taken over by another who is more than ready to do just that!

How many heads of human resources department in Nigeria has been bold enough to look his/her management in the face and disagree with them? You will hear stuffs like “my children are still young and in school” of course they are saying the truth! because our environment is not yet mature enough because if you leave your job as a result of this, someone will be very glad to take it, but we are getting there gradually.

However, there are some people who are really trying but the bulk of them are found among the multinational organizations. Some indigenous companies are also trying but we are not yet there!

At any gathering of the industry practitioners, leaders are always quick to advise that one should quit by resigning when top management is requesting that you do what is seen as “contrary to HR best practice” and because such advice is easier said than done, my question is how many of such leaders had left their employment as a result of this or are we just paying lip service to the issue?

Again, some employees does not even know what job the HR department does; hence questions like “aside keeping employee files, hire and fire; what else does the HR department do?” usually arise. Some even refer to it as Admin even when in most cases the two departments are widely separated from each other!

Funny as the question above may sound, such people asking those questions forget that the salary they receive for doing their job comes from HR department, contact HR on all their/family medical related issues, talk to HR when they want to go on leave, these however are all mundane/routine human resources role.

For the sake of such people, let me highlight below some of the strategic roles played by the Human Resources Department in an organization:

1.      Recruitment and Selection

Employee recruitment and selection is as much a part of employee relations as it is a separate discipline unto itself. Therefore, a human resources manager's strategic role is to combine elements of employee relations into the employer's recruitment and selection strategy. Integrating employee recognition programs into promotion-from-within policies is an effective form of employee motivation that combines the employee relations and recruitment and selection areas of human resources.

2.      Industrial/Labour Relations

Strengthening the employer-employee relationship is the strategic role of a human resources management. However, there's more than meets the eye to doing this. Human resources managers formulate workforce strategy and determine the functional processes necessary to meet organizational goals. Their job requires expertise as an HR generalist, which means they must be familiar with every human resources discipline.

3.      Workplace Safety

Creating a work environment free from unnecessary hazards is a strategic role of every human resources manager. Strategic development for workplace safety entails risk management and mitigating potential losses from on-the-job injuries and fatalities. Employee Compensation Act (ECA) is an area in which a strategic plan helps lower company expense for insurance coverage. Reducing accidents through training employees on the proper use of complex machinery and equipment is one of the functional tasks associated with creating a safe work environment.

4.      Compensation and Benefits

An employer's compensation and benefits structure partly determines the company's business reputation and image. In addition, the decisions that human resources managers make regarding pay scales and employee benefits can impact employee satisfaction, as well as the organization's ability to recruit talented workers. Job evaluation, labor market conditions, workforce shortages and budget constraints are factors that HR managers consider in a strategic plan for pay and benefits. In addition, a strategy includes weighing an employer's choices between satisfying its workforce and pleasing the company's stakeholders.

5.      Employee Training

Human resources managers' strategic role with respect to employee training and development prepares the workforce for future positions within the company. Succession planning, promotion-from-within policies and performance evaluation factor into the human resources manager's role. Training and development motivate employees, and in some cases, improve employee retention.

6.      Employee Relations

Some human resources managers believe that strengthening the employer-employee relationship rests solely in the employee relations areas of the HR department. This is not true. Nevertheless, employee relations is such a large part of every discipline -- including salaries, benefits, safety, training and employee development -- that sustaining an employee relations program is an important element of human resources strategy. Implementing a workplace investigation process and enforcing fair employment practices are two components of an employee relations program. The strategic role of a human resources manager is to determine how to identify and resolve workplace issues, as well as how best to attract a diverse pool of applicants through effective recruitment and selection processes.

In conclusion, Human Resources Management is responsible for developing strategic solutions to employment-related matters that affect the organization's ability to meet its productivity and performance goals.