Work-life balance programs are fast gaining popularity in developed countries. Work-life balance programs can be defined as any benefits, policies or programs that help employees find ways to manage the demands of the workplace and life outside work. In other words, work-life balance programs are designed as a two pronged approach to achieve meaningful achievement and enjoyment in everyday life. There are many forms of work-life balance programs such as flex-time, child-care facilities at work, gyms and concierge services and paid vacations. Many reasons are cited for the introduction of work-life balance programs at the workplace, the most common being that it increases productivity as well as employee loyalty. While these are all valid justifications, the costs of having work-life balance programs should not be ignored. Therefore, do the benefits of work-life balance programs outweigh the costs? Going further, should these programs be considered a cost or an investment to Continue reading
Human Resource Strategies
The Importance of Human Resources Management in Organizations
The functioning of modern organizations is highly dependent on the effectiveness of human resource management, which affects consistently organizational development. In actuality, human resources comprise important assets of any organization. In such a situation, many organizations are concerned with the improvement of the performance of human resources through motivating employees and developing effective approaches to human resource management. Traditionally, human resource management played an important role in the effective functioning of an organization. At the same time, the present epoch is characterized by the development of numerous human resource challenges which were practically unknown in the past. In such a situation it is extremely important to clearly identify the problem or problems and their major causes in order to be able to cope with the HR challenges and maintain the normal functioning of organizations. In this respect, it should be said that the wide implementation of new technologies is one Continue reading
Employee Participation and Organization Performance
In the first instance is necessary to define both employee participation as well as what is meant by performance. Employee participation may be defined as the process by which employees are involved in the decision making process of a business rather than merely being expect to following instructions and as such this forms what is referred to in HR as empowerment. Performance on the other hand can be considered from two perspectives, firstly there is the performance of the individual in question and how their personal performance is affected by the concept of employee participation. Secondly there is the performance of the organization as a whole to consider and how this will change with varying degrees of employee participation. Approaches to Employee Participation Traditional views of the organization and approaches to management have seen a clear distinction between the tasks of managers and those of the grass roots level employee. Continue reading
Best Fit and Best Practice Approaches in Strategic HRM
The concepts of ‘best fit’ and ‘best practice’ are two well known approaches to human resource management. The ‘best fit’ perspective claims that HR strategy become more and more efficient when it is linked to its environment of the business. It explores the close link between strategic management and HRM by assessing the extend to which there is a vertical integration between an organizations business strategy and its HRM policies and practices. ‘Best practice’ approach claims that certain ‘best’ human resource practices would result in enhanced organizational performance, manifested in improved employee attitude, lower level of absenteeism and turnover, higher level of skills for higher productivity, enhanced quality and efficiency. That is why the ‘best practice’ model is also referred as high commitment models. Best Fit Approach The best-fit model is considered as a variant from precedent models of Harvard, Michigan and York and is called “matching model” for HRM. Continue reading
Concept of HR strategy (Human Resource Strategy)
After the revolution of personnel management into human resources management now we are open to new concept “human resources strategy”. Today Human beings are the most important recourse for an organization and the existent of an organization are exclusively dependable on employees. Today the most of problems and challenges in an organization are all human related. HR Manger is more concern with employee thoughts, development, set values, expectations, motivation, and psychology well-being. Repeated and frequent development in global markets and technology make it more difficult for higher managers to develop HR strategies. To meet the competitive requirement of market manger should acquire conceptual strategic skills and practices. That why HR manager should adopt up to date training techniques so that low level employee’s productivity can be elevate. Implementation of advance technology at workplace enable employee to defeat up rising complications from upcoming technology. Demographic resemblance is in social context is Continue reading
What is Work Life Flexibility?
Work life flexibility is important to have an effective and productive work at the workplace. It is seen that there are various advantages on having flexibility in work life. Having an appropriate work life balance is also essential to have a healthy lifestyle and a successful career. Work life flexibility helps the employee to be more responsible towards his family and adjust himself in various situations. The traditional method of job is found to be from 9am to 5pm. This is usually found as working hours in office. However, this traditional method of office hours is dying with time. In the modern world, people think that this traditional method of office hours does not make any practical sense. It is seen in the modern world that both the parents of a family are working. They need to stay outside the house more than they can give time to their family. Continue reading