Managing People in a Changing Work Environment

The role of Human Resources has changed over the last few years, from one that was focused on recruitment to true Human resource management(HRM). Managing the existing workforce from a personnel standpoint allows companies to grow at whatever pace is required and navigate through sometimes turbulent waters in a post-#metoo era, representing some unique challenges for businesses.

In this article, we cover a few of the relevant points about the changes faced today.

Original HRM Education Wasn’t Enough

Anyone who has previously studied on a topic that related to HRM will often find that they run up on situations where they’re ill-equipped to handle them. Because of this, the University of Winnipeg has created follow-on courses that update their knowledge to make it relevant in today’s reality.

For example, the Advanced Certificate in People Management is a short course run over several weekends or weekdays to make its attendance more convenient. It covers topics such as resolving workplace conflicts, emotional intelligence in business environments, how to be a leader within the HRM environment, managing staff well, providing personal coaching, and enabling companies to embrace employee diversity.

Looking beyond the above certification, there’s also a longer, full-time Human Resource Management Diploma which includes collective bargaining, payroll compliance in Canada, the inclusion of indigenous perspectives as they affect the workplace, oral and written communications, and the basics of project management.

Fair and Safe Working Environments

The subject of a fair and safe working environment has entered the mainstream, especially since the #metoo phenomenon. While it was a small platform originally, Hollywood took it over, and it eventually morphed into a celebrity-led movement. Nevertheless, it is still highly relevant in the Canadian work environment.

The main drive behind #metoo has been the removal of harassment and misconduct which may or may not include sexual harassment or situations that might be considered abusive. Unfortunately, with the advent of social media, cases have been made on social media without any proof. Companies have been forced to play defense by suspending employees pending an internal investigation. Often, there’s only hearsay about what may (or may not) have happened, leaving businesses with a difficult decision to make.

In some cases, long-standing male employees have been let go despite a total lack of evidence. This is now leading to wrongful termination lawsuits against former employers. For human resources, it represents a real challenge to come down on the right side of difficult interpersonal situations and still be seen to be doing the right thing. Indeed, it’s perhaps the largest current challenge facing HRM teams today.

Performance and People Management

Along with wrestling with interpersonal concerns, HRM is at least partially involved with performance reviews (if the departmental manager hasn’t taken complete control of them). With the push for better results from everyone in an organisation, performance metrics are often the difference between an outperforming (or underperforming) department. Ultimately, individual team members are accountable for their results, with the poorest performer likely to have a difficult conversation with the HRM team.

The changing environment for HR departments prevents managers from getting bored. There’s always some fire to put out or a dispute to resolve to bring the workplace back to harmony.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.