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Coping with massive change and turmoil and dealing
with restructuring/downsizing and insecurity due to mergers, competition,
etc. is perhaps the greatest challenge of all managers, including
HR managers. There are personal issues as well as professional ones
that these massive changes cause.
The links below highlight some of the solutions for dealing in the
"new world of work":
Job Security
Many HR managers are genuinely concerned about keeping their own jobs!
You are not alone.
Career and job security are high on the minds of HR managers as more
and more senior executives are perceived to view HR as a low or non-value
added function and a candidate for cost cutting. There is no easy
answer for this one, but it is a legitimate issue and is growing in
importance because a by product of mergers, acquisitions and consolidation
is the elimination of administrative support functions -- one of which
is human resources.
The best defense is a good offense. Make your HR function an important
and proactive part of the management team at your location. Find value-added
ways to serve the key "line" functions. Encourage all of
HR to become the counselors for management and hourly alike. Become
an expert in your professional trends, techniques and practices. Stay
knowledgeable of local situations, competitive conditions and get
involved in community development.
The key is not to think in terms of "coping." Think in terms
of "capitalizing on change"! Staying informed and up to
date, both technologically and professionally, is the best, safest
thing to do. Flexibility is borne of competence and the confidence
that one can change and adapt to changing conditions and market needs.
This is all based on personal and professional development.
Subscribe to the top periodicals in your profession. Belong to the
proper professional organizations. Be aware of what the thought leaders
are saying and doing in high-level management and leadership areas.
Read the best business books. Stay abreast of your industry by attending
trade shows and/or subscribing to and reading industry periodicals.
Be computer literate and Internet comfortable (or better yet - an
Internet expert!). Constantly be searching for the new horizons in
your field and be an active participant in the strategic and tactical
thinking and efforts of your division, plant or company.
Mergers & acquisitions are rampant and new owners often consolidate
and cut indirect support functions like HR in order to achieve cost
economy-of-scale objectives. The key here is to be one of the survivors,
which means being the one who is most up-to-date, most competent and
runs an outstanding HR function. In baseball there is an old saying,
"if you can hit, they'll find a place to play you." Be sure
you are "a hitter"!
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Stress
Stress is the human body’s reaction to threats, uncertainties, and
pressures of all kinds. The stress and time pressures of jobs, threats
to job security and conflicting time pressures of family and personal
life are enormous. Management of stress is rooted in feelings of control.
To the greater extent you are in control of your life, the less stress
you feel. No one can eliminate stress -- it is a given in life. Too
many things are outside of any person’s control.
But job-related stress is a growing issue. Reengineering, downsizing,
new technology and consolidations have resulted in one person doing
what were previously the jobs of several people. Time pressures of
an "instant everything" society makes stress worse. The
key to managing stress is to be selective about what you can (and
can't) control, and to consider the worst consequences of possible
outcomes along with the likelihood of them happening.
HR managers must be conscious of job-related stress, which leads to
conflicts, burnout, and potential worker’s compensation claims. This
means that HR must help workers learn how to deal with the causes
of stress by reducing anxiety causing uncertainty (as much as possible).
Nip worrisome rumors in the bud. Have open forums in which employees
can question leaders about concerns. Train leaders to avoid creating
undue stress by their inconsistent behavior, crash projects, crisis
management, and unnecessary secrecy.
Worrying about things over which one has no control is stress creating
and counterproductive. Will you miss the plane connection? Maybe --
but is there anything you can do about it if the plane you are on
is late arriving. Once you have considered all of the alternatives
and found no reasonable course of action -- stop stressing out and
go with the flow. What is the worst that can happen? You may miss
that big meeting ... but it’s not your fault
Stress is unavoidable, but when in doubt, recall the alcoholics anonymous
"serenity prayer: "May God give me the courage to change
the things I can change, the strength to endure the ones I cannot
change and the wisdom to know the difference."
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Loss of Loyalty
Creating loyalty to the organization can only be done by establishing
a new social contract and then finding every possible chance for the
company to be loyal to employees in an increasingly turbulent competitive
world. Consider the social contract of employment as a partnership.
Whether you are the employer or the employee, partners build trust,
share information openly, are honest with each other (even if the
news is bad), work toward common goals that have something in it for
both parties, and have balanced risks and rewards.
The days of lifetime employment are gone forever -- killed by vicious
global competition. Loyalty is an act of trust -- which takes a long
time to build and is easily and quickly destroyed. When trust seems
to be breached, the only hope is rapid honest explanation of the circumstances
-- in hopes of restoring some level of trust.
Open and frequent, truthful and honest communications is one of the
best trust builders. The only social contract that can survive in
the new millennium is a partnership based on trust. Remember that
a fair deal is one you would take either side of. The Golden Rule
is the only rule needed. "Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you." Then loyalty will follow.
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Globalization
The rapid spread of work around the globe with the accompanying multi-cultural,
multi-national and competitive differences have made this a much more
complex arena. The internet and the rapid spread of global communications
and air travel have made the earth a much smaller place - geographically
-- that is. But, competitive conditions vary by continent, by country,
and even by region of countries.
HR must be familiar with cultural and social (and even political)
environments in the countries where they have employees. Combining
the use of nationals from that country with expatriates is an effective
solution -- if the nationals are not perceived as second-class members
of management.
Visits to foreign offices ands branches are an important part of gaining
the understanding needed. Homework on cultural and language nuances
must be done. Even dialects of the same language differ enough to
lead to some large communications errors. Pay and benefit programs
that seem right for U. S.-based companies may be badly wrong for foreign
branches due to differences in inflation rates, social conditions,
etc. Know the differences!
Laws and regulations differ -- know them too. Get local help if necessary
(and it usually is!). Finally, be considerate about time zone differences
when calling long-distance meetings and don't make foreign branches
show up for conference calls at 4 AM or expect them to go from 24
hours of air travel directly into critical meetings with a case of
severe jet lag! Warn "home office" people to consider these
issues when they travel as well.
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Work Schedules and Conflicts
In an era when more and more companies are trying to maximize their
use of resources, work schedules have become a major problem. Scheduling
work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year puts enormous
pressures on the workers and the management. Retail businesses encounter
this problem constantly. Factories that run processes, which cannot
be easily shut down, do too. Now, many other service centers, distribution
centers and plants are facing the problem. This problem is greatest
in more developed countries.
The most common solution has been to create a rotation of 4 days on
and 3 days off, with the days consisting of 11-12 hours shifts. This
covers the entire schedule, but fatigue sets in on such long shifts
affecting productivity, and the alternation disrupts personal/family
lives by making weekend work commonplace. Further, if two parents
in the same household work at the same facility the conflicts are
even worse. Day care providers do not usually cover 12-hour timeframes.
It may be necessary to "invent" new work scheduling practices
if a company is to sustain good productivity, quality and employee
relations/retention. Proposals include forming four "teams"
which divide the 168-hour (7x24) workweek on a flexible rotation that
fits their needs. This yields a 42-hr. work-week. A five team approach
reduces that to just under 34 hours -- which is a more common workweek
in some European countries.
There is no pat solution to this problem. Creativity and enlisting
input from employees usually lead to the best, most acceptable solution.
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