The Importance of an effective, relevant human Resources

Policy & how to it can be made successful

The Project outline :

A-Human Resources Policy Definition

B-Subjects covered by Company HR Policies
C-Advantages of Formal Human Resource Policies
D- Creating the Link between the Company and HR Function
E-How to get an effective Relevant HR Policies
F-How to make the HR Policy successful

A-Human Resource Policies Definition :

The formal rules and guidelines that businesses put in place to hire, train,
assess, and
reward the members of their work force

These policies, when organized and disseminated in an easily used form—

such as an employee manual or large postings—can go far toward eliminating
any misunderstandings between employees and employers about their rights
and obligations in the business environment.

Human resource policies that are inconsistently applied or based on faulty or

incomplete data will almost inevitably result in declines in worker morale,
deterioration in employee loyalty, and increased vulnerability to legal
penalties.

So,. it is important to maintain a written record of its HR policies and of

instances in which those policies came into play .Also, wit will be very helpful
to have a record too of the updating of these policies over time and who have
done the change with a preplanned forms and steps for the changes and the
levels of those who insert of approve the change.

B- Subjects covered by Company HR Policies:

The following basic human resource issues when putting together their
personnel policies:
• Equal Employment Opportunity policies
• Employee classifications
• Workdays, paydays, and pay advances
• Overtime compensation
• Meal periods and break periods
• Payroll deductions
• Vacation policies
• Holidays
• Sick days and personal leave (for bereavement, jury duty, voting, etc.)
• Performance evaluations and salary increases
• Performance improvement
 • Termination policies

In addition, a broad spectrum of other issues can be addressed via human

resource policies, depending on the nature of the business in question.
Examples of such issues include promotion policies; medical/dental
benefits provided to employees; use of company equipment/resources
(access to Internet, personal use of fax machines and telephones, etc.);
continuity of policies; substance abuse and/or drug
testing; flextime & telecommuting policies; pension, profit-sharing, and
retirement plans; reimbursement of employee expenses (for traveling
expenses and other expenses associated with conducting company
business); child or elder care; educational assistance ;employee privacy;
dress codes; parking; mail and shipping; and sponsorship of recreational
activities.

C- Advantages of Formal Human Resource Policies

Many observers have pointed out that even the best policies will falter if the
business owners or managers who are charged with administering those
policies are careless in doing so. But for those businesses that are able to
administer their HR policies in an intelligent and consistent manner, benefits
can accrue in several areas:

Curbing litigation. Members of the legal and business communities agree

that organizations can do a lot to cut off legal threats from disgruntled
current or ex-employees simply by creating—and applying—a fair and
comprehensive set of personnel policies.

Communication with employees. A good, written human resource policy

manual can be an enormously effective tool in disseminating employer
expectations regarding worker performance and behavior.

Communication with managers and supervisors. Formal policies can be

helpful to managers and other supervisory personnel faced with hiring,
promotion, and reward decisions concerning people who work under them.

Time Savings. Prudent and comprehensive human resource management

policies can save companies significant amounts of management time that
can then be spent on other business activities, such as new product
development, competitive analysis, marketing campaigns, etc.

D- Creating the Link between the Company Strategy &

HR Function :

In nowadays organizations the HR as a function is very critical in the

accomplishment of the company targets and Business Plan, HRM is
facing a lot of challenges that necessitates this collaboration between
the company targets and HRM as a function facing the following
objectives /challenges :

a. To Attract People People will be interested to join any organization if it is

providing them quality working environment, attractive benefit and
opportunities to excel in future. Keeping in view the opportunities in the
market, the first issues will be to attract good people for your organization.

b. To Develop People Development is related to provide the opportunities

for training and development to match the skills to job in particular areas. It
requires careful need assessment for training and selecting effective training
methods and tools. After attracting/selecting, continuous development of
workforce of the organization leads towards development of the organization.
So that they will start playing their important role in the organization.

c. To Motivate Motivation means to influence performance of others and to

redirect the efforts in desirable direction by using different motivational tools
that can help in fulfilling the mission of organization. Third important
issues/concern will be to keep your workforce motivated so that they should
keep on delivering effectively.

d. To Keep Talented People This is related to retention of workforce in

organization and to take steps that can prevent undesirable detachments of
talented and motivated workers from the organization.

In the end we will look at this interaction between the HR as a function and
Organization meaning that effective HRM equals to effective organization.
E- How to get an effective Relevant HR Policies:

How to have an effective relevant HR policies requires the complete

and systematic approach as outlined in the following diagram

Also, it is recommended to look at HR Policy as a tool that has input

and supply form various functions within the organization such as :

- Production - R& D - Finance -

Marketing

In addition to the other HR functions such as :

← - Staffing (HR planning, recruitment and selection)

← - Human resource development
← - Compensation and benefits
← - Safety and health
← - Employee and labor relations
← - Records maintaining, etc.
← - HR research (providing a HR information base, designing and
implementing
← employee communication system).
← - Interrelationship of HR functions.
So, it is important to have this wide spectrum view in order to create
HR policy that fulfills the company target in attracting , developing ,
motivating & keeping the manpower at the company to get the
targeted advantage edge.

HR Policy should have a checklist to get the policy produced as needed

concerning :
- People Retention
- Company targets
- Attracting new candidates
- Creating the company image
- Creating the company competitive advantage
- Saving the time and efforts for the staff and
managers
- Achieving customer satisfaction
- Exceeding expectations
- Having the lead
The Quality Assurance approach is required to be applied in order to
get the targeted objectives from the HR policy/policies.

We have to look at HR as strategic partners and consequently the

product exemplified
in HR policies as a tool.

F-How to make the HR Policy successful

To make a successful HR policy you , it is recommended to keep in

mind the following new trends which necessitates the importance of
having a successful HR policy
a. Education
b. Work time
c. Standard of living
d. Expectations & demand
e. Diversity and gender issues at work place
f. QWL
g. TQM
a- Education: Now a day organizations are available with the opportunity of
having more knowledge and skilled workers, increase in the education level
of society’s continuously providing the highly educated work force in the
organizations.

b-Work time: Flextime—the practice of permitting employees to choose,

with certain limitations, their own working hours. Compressed Workweek—
any arrangement of work hours that permits employees to fulfill their work
obligation in fewer days than the typical five-day workweek. This approach
adds many highly qualified individuals to the labor market by permitting both
employment and family needs to be addressed.

c. Standard of living: High employment rate, low inflation and Steady

economic growth provide opportunity and rising living standards.
Technological advance has enabled the world’s population to grow with
improved living standards for most.

d- Expectations & demand: People's expectations that their employers will

behave ethically are increasing, so much that many firms and professional
organizations have created codes of ethics outlining principles and standards
of personal conduct for their members. Unfortunately, these codes often do
not meet employees' expectations of ethical employer behavior. These
negative perceptions have worsened over the years.

e-Diversity and gender issues at work place: Managing diversity means

planning and implementing organizational systems and practices to manage
people so that the potential advantages of diversity are maximized while its
potential disadvantages are minimized. Managers are striving for racial,
ethnic, and sexual workplace balance as a matter of economic self-interest. A
study found that cultural diversity contributes to improved productivity,
return on equity, and market performance.

f-QWL: High quality of work life is related to job satisfaction, which in turn is
a strong predictor of absenteeism and turnover. A firm's investments in
improving the quality of work life also payoff in the form of better customer
service. We discuss issues covering job design and their effects on employee
attitudes and behavior.

g-TQM: Many companies are implementing total quality management (TQM)

initiatives, which are programs designed to improve the quality of all the
processes that lead to a final product or service. In a TQM program, every
aspect of the organization is oriented toward providing a quality product or
service

Success factors for HR policy are :

- Matching the people needs ( Staff)
 - Achievement of company targets
- Improving the company image
- Creating a favorable environment
- Advance in gaining success for the company and its
position in the society

In the end , we have to look through systems approach to the HR

policies in order to reach a policy /policies that keep the staff , achieve
the company targets and leads to the anticipated success and create
the formula of Win/win between the company ans its staff.

Written by
Mohsen Saleh