The human resources bank account.

Publication: Employee Relations Law Journal

Publication Date: 22-SEP-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Aspen Publishers, Inc.

The author believes that developing and implementing a proactive human relations strategy is crucial for businesses. Here, he explores the component of such a strategy.

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Investing--how, what, when, and where? The in's and out's of financial investing is a significant focus of many people today. But there also is a different type of important investing--people investing.

The premise is simple. Companies should invest in people and continually make "deposits" as often as possible because from time to time, they will have to make withdrawals. The key is to make enough deposits so that they do not go bankrupt.

Bankrupt employee relations lead to poor productivity, poor quality, unionization, and lawsuits from disgruntled employees. Developing and implementing a proactive human relations strategy is the key to making deposits and avoiding bankruptcy. The components of of such a strategy can be broken down into nine categories:

* Employee recruitment and selection

* Orientation

* Fair and competitive wages and benefits

* Personnel policies and procedures

* Progressive, corrective, disciplinary system

* Educated and trained supervision

* Effective two-way communications

* Employee involvement and identification

* Audit system/checks and balances

EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Basic to the needs of any effective human resource strategy is the development of a hiring system that will help companies select the ideal employee complement. Many employers talk about careful recruitment and evaluation of potential employees, but few devote the time to preparing questions to help select those individuals who will not only be able to perform the task required but who also will fit into the "culture, life style and physical environment" of the employer.

To begin, a composite or profile of the ideal employee...

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