26. April 2023 9 minutes reading time

Human Resource Management

Employees as the Most Important Resource of a Company

Responding to change through personnel management
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In recent decades, human resource management has become increasingly essential. Employees are now seen as a key resource for a company to improve their performance due to their qualifications and skills. It can be a difficult dynamic for HR management to balance the organization’s needs with those of the employees. This article will explore what HR management is, its goals and tasks of it, and the potential benefits of strategic HR management.

    Definition: What Is Human Resource Management, and What Are Its Fundamentals?

    Human Resource Management covers all strategies, measures, and areas of action applicable to employees that contribute to the positive growth and success of a company, including external workers such as freelancers. These activities range from HR planning, HR development, HR management, and HR controlling.

    Attracting and retaining top talent is essential to any organization’s success, and effective talent management is no longer just the responsibility of the HR department. It’s up to leadership and management to create a positive work environment and keep employees motivated and engaged. This includes HR administration, employee development, and leadership, all working in tandem to ensure the best possible results.

    The basis for successful talent management
    Six core processes, five management processes, and three infrastructure and service processes form the process model of HR administration.

    What Does Human Resources Management Include?

    Strategic human resource management is essential to selecting the right employees, deploying them in the right positions, and developing them for the long term to maximize the company’s potential. Various fields of activity must be orchestrated in a coordinated manner to achieve this. These include:

    Human Resource PlanningRecruitingPeople Management and DeploymentPeople DevelopmentCompensation ManagementHR ControllingCompensation Beyond Money & Benefits

    What Goals Does Human Resource Management Strive to Achieve Within the Company?

    Economic goals are a priority in human resources, but there is a necessary balance between financial objectives and social considerations. Progressive developments such as employee health & well-being, culture, and diversity/equity/inclusion, demonstrate the importance of finding a balance when it comes to staffing and deploying personnel in the most cost-effective and productive way.

    The success of a company’s economic growth is determined by viewing employees as people and not just workers; thus, human resource management must take into account each individual’s needs, wishes, demands, and opportunities. Optimal design of the working environment, coupled with the satisfaction of the workforce in relation to the company’s goals, is essential for achieving this.

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    What Are the Benefits of Focused Human Resource Management?

    Viewing employees as people rather than just workers has a positive impact on a company’s economic success. Human resource management is consequently interested in creating the best possible working conditions to strengthen or maintain employee satisfaction in line with the company’s objectives. This is essential in addressing current issues, such as a lack of labor and skilled workers, as well as the risk of key individuals leaving the company. In practical terms, it is also about retaining employees, raising commitment and productivity, and dealing with new work matters to create an employee-focused working environment. Satisfied employees perform better and identify more strongly with the company; engaged employees perform even better, guarantee excellent quality, take on more responsibility, and are absent less.

    All this not only contributes to lower staff costs but also fundamentally increases the company’s performance both directly and indirectly. To achieve the business and social objectives, HR managers must, therefore: Align employee wishes and company goals as closely as possible, improve and maintain employee satisfaction, reduce staff costs in order to make the organization competitive and meet legal requirements and social standards; keyword: Environmental/Social/Governance (ESG) or also Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

    What Tasks Must Be Performed in Human Resource Management to Achieve the Above-Mentioned Goals?

    The future of human resource management is all about employees. From permanent staff to temporary workers and everyone in between, HR professionals must effectively manage each group of personnel. As technology continues to advance, HR must keep up with the times by utilizing software solutions such as Ingentis org.manager. Without this, it will be nearly impossible to properly navigate the ever-evolving landscape.

    While external human resource management focuses on potential future employees (such as workforce planning and recruiting), internal HR management emphasizes areas like personnel administration and employee development. It also includes performance appraisal, HR controlling, and compensation management. The latter, like employee development, is strategically oriented. In contrast, personnel administration is primarily concerned with ensuring smooth and compliant HR-related processes. All areas of responsibility (whether strategic or operational) aim to support the long-term development of the organization and strengthen its competitiveness.

    Why Is Strategic Human Resource Management Important in a Company?

    Strategic, employee-focused human resource management enables companies to more easily adapt to changes, recruit and retain talent, and effectively promote existing employees. This long-term strategy has a significant impact on a company’s performance, and requires equal consideration of all aspects of HR management.

    Process models exist to reconcile the different areas of HR management into a unified strategy. For example, the German Society for Human Resource Management has developed a model for integrated professional human resource management. This links lifecycle-oriented fields of activity to higher-level fields of activity. The former handles tasks related to employees during performance creation processes, while the latter focuses on the strategic, cultural, and organizational prerequisites of HR work.

    Responding to change through personnel management
    Reference model for professional personnel management according to the German Association for Personnel Management.

    HR management does not only involve handling conceptual issues such as strategy; it also means providing instruments and methods to implement such strategies, as well as mapping out processes and assigning responsibilities.

    How Do You Implement Sustainable Human Resource Management?

    Sustainable human resource management focuses on long-term strategies that not only address economic goals but also integrate social and ecological aspects. The objective is to create working conditions that foster a healthy, productive, and motivated workforce while managing resources responsibly.

    1. Promoting Work-Life Balance
    A key element of sustainable HR management is the active promotion of a healthy work-life balance. Companies should offer flexible working hours, remote work options, and appropriate break policies to accommodate the individual needs of employees. A good work-life balance is essential for employee well-being and increases productivity in the long run.

    2. Employee Development and Retention
    Sustainable HR management encourages continuous employee development through training, further education, and mentoring programs. Strong employee retention reduces turnover and contributes to the stability and sustainability of the company’s structure. Organizations should recognize and nurture potential leaders early on to strengthen long-term employee retention.

    3. Health Management
    Health management plays a central role in sustainable HR practices. Companies that invest in physical and mental health programs not only enhance employee well-being but also reduce absenteeism. A holistic health management approach increases long-term satisfaction and productivity among the workforce.

    4. Diversity and Inclusion
    Sustainable HR management emphasizes diversity and inclusion. Different perspectives and experiences enrich a company’s innovation potential and contribute to a positive work environment. Diverse teams promote creative solutions and sustainable success.

    5. Ecological Sustainability
    In addition to social factors, ecological aspects are also part of sustainable HR management. Initiatives to reduce paper consumption, promote sustainable mobility solutions, and adopt energy-efficient technologies contribute to ecological sustainability. These measures enhance the company’s image as a sustainable employer and increase its attractiveness in the job market.

    With sustainable human resource management, companies not only boost their appeal as employers but also improve long-term employee satisfaction and operational efficiency.

    Examples of Successful Human Resource Management

    01

    Workshops and Trainings

    In the field of staff development, motivational training, workshops, seminars and coaching, among others, are popular measures for providing employees with additional competencies and skills.
    02

    New Tasks

    Instruments such as job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment, on the other hand, offer the opportunity to broaden horizons and try out previously unknown or more challenging activities.
    03

    Financial Incentives

    Financial incentives such as payment of a bonus after a target has been reached are popular means of increasing employee motivation and performance, but they should be used carefully.
    04

    Internal Communication

    Good employee communication also helps to implement economic and social goals. In this context HR managers can, for example, use a company intranet, an employee newspaper, company meetings or a bulletin board.
    05

    Transparency

    To optimize human resource management, personnel information systems should be established. Employees also have access to these, which increases the transparency and availability of important personnel information. Solutions such as Ingentis org.manager support these processes.

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