The Importance of Workplace Training

This past week I have been thinking a lot about training. Some of the thoughts that I have had are - What is effective training? and How can I improve the training that I give my employees? For the HR class I have been working on a paper where I interviewed two people from different businesses. I learned a lot. What impressed me the most was what Bruce from Smile Reminder told me... "Successful businesses feel confident, which is a direct response to being properly trained!” He also told me, “Even with all the knowledge and training the employee must be given the opportunity to exercise their new ability. The employee must have the opportunity to do what they were trained on themselves.”

In class and for the chapter readings I have a better understanding for the importance of performance management reviews. These need to be more than just a boss reviewing an employee’s performance. It needs to be based on the knowledge of desired output (from the employee), measurability of performance, documentation, and then review of those performances. The reviews must include feedback from the boss and the employee. These reviews need to be often, rather than yearly. When the reviews are done effectively they produce retention, better constructive performance, employee appreciation, and quicker training of company/job expectations. That is why performance management is so important!... that reminds me... I need to do those this week at work :-)

Interesting Thoughts from Class

Occasionally during my classes, either because of something said during the lectures or my day dreaming, I will have thoughts that impress me. During this week I seemed to have more than I usually do.

The first thought that really has me worked up is, "How long do you want your managers and employees working for you?... A year? Five years? And what is the company doing right now to achieve this?" The reason that I ask this is because I feel that often times companies will forget about employee retention and focus on goals and some new "very important" objective. Some companies do a great job at retention. They have business structures that allow for employee growth, development, improved pay, and so forth. Many others do not.

Another thought that I had was, "How can a company boost employee moral? What do companies do to negatively impact this?" This question is somewhat related to my first thought, but I feel that it brings up a different issue. Instead of the focus being on how long should we expect our people to work for us, it points to employees being happy while they are with the company. For example, I think that often times some companies will ask their employees to work more hours for longer periods of time than necessary. Or how about setting unrealistic goals and having confusing directives?

Perhaps I am just venting a little... but I do find some of my thoughts intriguing. Hopefully my HR class, among other classes, will continue to help me have "thought provoking" moments. :-)

Week 3

Most of what we talked about this week encompassed HR's hiring and labor market responsibility. I always knew that good hiring processes were part of any good company, but I never really understood how much involvement HR can have to help a company find good employees.

In addition to using good tools and practices to find the best employees, HR also can help a company determine the best times to hire. For me as a manager of a retail store I simply “feel out” our current employee status and how well we can help our customers. Part of the problem with that “feeling” approach is that I cannot properly forecast demand. Without HR's help I cannot properly determine trends and hiring needs. This would be most prominent in large companies with many employees.

A Few New Things That I've Learned

This last week has been a good week. I have learned a lot. First off, I am realizing that human resources means so much more than I perceived previously. My perception of HR use to be that they were the "unseen" office people that dealt with employee taxes and laws. I am not an expert on human resource management but I do know that HR deals with anything related to an employee. Here is a list of what I have come to understand that HR plays a part: enforcing laws and federal acts that affect employees, hiring, firing, training, taxes, payroll, job analyst and workflow technologies, general company "dos" and "don'ts"... I am sure that I have forgotten a number of other aspects that HR deals with, but this is what I can think of for now.

During my class and chapter readings I have started realizing that HR basically keeps employees happy. That is what they are there for. So that brings up a question; Have you ever had a job that treats you poorly vs very well? And if so, do companies need to focus HR efforts to achieve happy employees? I feel that any world class company would, and they would try to have happier employees at all levels of employment.

First Week and Impressions

I have been going to this class for just over a week (3 classes)... and what have I learned? I've learned what human resources is all about! Ok, so maybe not everything, but I do understand more about HR now than I did a week ago.

Two topics that I have learned are that HR does a lot for its employees and that technology has made HR more efficient. For example, a employee can now see his work schedule, change his hours of availability, update tax information, view his paycheck, gain training, and many more HR functions all on the computer. I think that is amazing... but it also means that traditional HR managers are applying themselves to new rolls and tasks.

As for my thoughts on the class itself... I think that I am going to enjoy the class and and the things that I will learn (and no I am not trying to "brown nose"). My only concern is the work load coupled with 51 hours per week from my job and finding extra time to spend with my family.