Human Resource Management Tools and Techniques (HRM) is concerned with the recruitment of suitable candidates into an organization, the proper orientation of new employees, and, of course, their continuous development. Human Resource Management is not just about ‘people’ management, it is also about building a sound relationship between the organization and its workers by continuously seeking appropriate ways to motivate them on many levels.
Human Resource Management Tools and Techniques is intended to provide university students with the fundamental knowledge of the main functions of human resource management to help them succeed in courses throughout their business program. This resource discusses all of the functions or activities that are involved in performing human resource management, including recruitment, selection, training, compensation, performance appraisal…etc…
Tools for Human Resource Planning
The mission, vision, and values of a company define the company’s purpose and give it direction. HR managers incorporate these elements into their recruiting, development, and retention practices and allow the HR department to plan for necessary actions that must be taken for the company to achieve its specific goals and objectives.
Strategic human resource planning must include these elements for companies to reach their highest potential. Another part of the HR planning process is to take an environmental analysis into consideration. This involves monitoring the internal and external factors that influence the company.
A common aspect of a good human resource management plan is to create a SWOT analysis that finds the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company and plans on ways to address them. The most successful HR departments are able to forecast labor needs and make proper plans to maintain or expand as needed.
Another important tool for HR managers to use is business data. Data like payroll, benefits cost, revenues, employee hours, absenteeism rates, training costs, and turnover rates allow HR managers to assess, understand and evaluate the business better.
Human Resource Management Tools and Techniques
- Organizational Charts
- Responsibility Assignments Matrix
- Text
- Networking
- Organizational Theory
- Expert Judgement
- SWOT Analysis
- Programmatic Job Advertising Tools
- Talent Management Systems
- Pre-employment Assessment Tools
Organizational charts are an excellent way to explain authority and reporting lines in a project. The HR plan should describe when to recruit staff into a project, how they will be trained, and when the staff should complete the project. Many HR managers use a matrix called the responsibility assignments matrix (RAM). This matrix should describe the various work packages and the various roles within the company.
The text is a simple document that states the role within a project, the responsibilities they will have, the tasks involved in the role, and the qualifications needed to fill such a role. This document is necessary for HR managers to hire the best candidate for the position. Networking is an important aspect of the HR planning process.
Communication with others within a contact network is necessary to understand outside forces that may influence projects. People work differently when they are alone than when they are in a group setting so it is important for managers to understand how their team will behave.
Programmatic job advertising tools save the HR manager the stress of manual sourcing which involves searching, identifying, and updating useful platforms, job boards, and social channels. Talent management systems are integrated software platforms that cover the entire scope of human resources talent management, which are: employee recruitment and onboarding, growth and learning, performance management, succession planning, and compensation management.
Pre-employment assessment tools gather applicant information in order to predict the possibility of a candidate excelling in the position they are applying for.
There are many HR tools and techniques HR departments can use in their planning processes. For an organization to operate at its highest capacity, the HR team must be aware of all tools and techniques available to them and use them wisely. When the HR department within a company is operating at its highest capacity, the organization will also be operating at its highest capacity as well.
The top 8 features to look for in an ideal HR tool
Identifying and compiling a list of features that matter can help organizations weed out HR tools that don’t suit their unique process needs.
Here are 8 essential aspects that should never be overlooked when you’re on the hunt for an ideal HR tool:
- Ease of use
- Quick implementation
- Multi-channel access
- Collection of ready-to-use reports
- Seamless integration with third-party tools
- Employee self-service portal
- Customizability to fit unique needs
- Scalability to accommodate business growth
Zoho People
Zoho People is a cloud-based HR management software used to help organizations manage and organize employee data. Designed with small and medium businesses in mind, it can also cater to enterprise businesses as well. There’s a number of tools on the platform, letting you track leaves, manage timesheets, create custom forms, manage performance appraisals, and more.
It’s a lot more transparent than some of its competitors, albeit not as feature-rich as some of them. By automating all of your business-specific recruitment processes, it helps your HR team free up their time and actually spend time focusing on work that matters.
Breezy HR
Breezy HR is another HR management tool aimed at small, medium, and large businesses. One of the biggest selling points of Breezy is the fact that it integrates with your existing hr tools seamlessly. There’s no need to worry about data loss during migration and integration. Breezy takes care of it all automatically.
It isn’t limited to recruitment. You can also keep track of current employees and streamline communication. In addition, it also connects seamlessly to LinkedIn and AngelList to find quality candidates.
HRMS (Human Resource Management System) or HRIS (Human Resource Information System)
Human resource departments have a lot of information to input, store and track. The most common method of organizing this information is with a comprehensive human resource management system (HRMS).
Whether it’s a software solution or software as a service, an HRMS can be an HR representative’s best friend. It stores and organizes data, such as employee profiles, schedules, attendance records and more.
Human resource information systems (HRIS) are typically more data-driven solutions that allow you to craft in-depth reports for the purposes of audits.
Most HRMS offerings, such as Paychex and Workday, act as HR’s central platform and often have modules or integrations that allow you to access payroll services, benefits management, and performance evaluations.
Recruiting software
As the name implies, recruiting software streamlines the hiring process. You can post job ads, sort and accept applications, manage candidates and more, saving you the hassle of manually tracking everything yourself.
Small businesses, in particular, should check the pricing and features for each solution being considered: Many recruiting programs are geared toward bigger companies with large volumes of applicants. Small businesses may be better served by a less-expensive product with fewer capabilities, depending on your hiring needs.
Benefits management platform
While some payroll services allow you to administer certain benefits, such as vacation time, a more robust solution can help you manage all employee benefits including paid time off, retirement plans, health insurance, workers’ compensation and other perks.
Chen Amit, CEO of payment solutions company Tipalti, says one of the best decisions his company made was outsourcing its benefits management.
“It gives our business a baseline for standard HR processes, something that at least puts you on par with larger organizations,” Amit said. “Then we could focus on where to go from there: adding benefits and perks that go beyond standard dental, health, vision. It also reduces our operational footprint.”
A benefits management service, however, is not necessarily the same as a professional employer organization (PEO), which operates under a co-employment arrangement. The PEO acts as a legal employer of your workforce, issuing employees’ paychecks and managing benefits and compliance for you.
Preselection tools
Preselecting candidates, especially when you’ve got (hundreds of) thousands of them, can be a time-consuming business.
The use of a candidate preselection tool can considerably improve recruitment metrics such as time to hire and quality of hire. There’s a wide variety of these pre-employment assessment tools available, some focussing on specific (tech) skills, others on culture fit and personality, and others on all of these elements combined.
The technology gathers candidate data and uses it to predict the likelihood of an applicant succeeding in the role they apply for. As such, recruiters and hiring managers can use this data to support them in their hiring decisions.
Conclusion
Human Resource Management Tools and Techniques is a thorough resource guide to the three major aspects of human resource management. It covers recruitment practices, training methods, compensation methods, organizational development techniques, performance appraisal methods, disciplinary procedures and information on the basics of employment laws.