COMMON ISSUES

Basic Principles

Common Human Resources Issues

Huntly Duff & Associates serves two kinds of organizations:

• Small organizations without an in-house Human Resources Department.
• Large organizations with a Human Resources Department.

This web site has been divided into two main parts with specific information for each kind of organization. However some Human Resources issues are common to both groups.

Good employees essential to achieving your goals

You need employees who work diligently towards the objectives of your organization and who know how to meet the needs of your clients. To maintain a motivated and focused work force and positive labour relations you need:

• Good Communications,
• Consistent and Fair Treatment of All Employees,
• Good Training.

Communications

Having well written Human Resources Policies & Procedures is not enough. They must also be well communicated to employees. Also, other important messages must be communicated within your organization. Management's vision of what the organization is, what it does, how it should be done and where it is going in the future must be well understood to allow employees to contribute fully to its success.

Consistent and Fair Treatment

Once policies and approaches are well communicated, they must be consistently applied between employees in the same department and across the organization. Supervisors need to understand the spirit as well as the letter of policies in order to apply them consistently. Supervisory training that includes a supervisors' manual is essential.

Training

Your employees need clear direction on what is expected of them. They also need the skills, knowledge and information to do their jobs effectively. Training must be focused on your needs with clearly identified and measurable outcomes. Huntly Duff & Associates are highly skilled in helping you identify training priorities and clear outcomes. We also provide training programs that suit your exact requirements.

When to Review Human Resources Policies & Procedures

You should review your policies whenever:

• Policies are no longer relevant or incongruent due to competitive, outside changes or organizational changes
• Changes within or without the organization put pressure on you to make exceptions to your policies
• You lose employees or receive complaints from employees about the policies
• Costs of policies become an issue
• Changes in legislation or regulations require changes

Every three to five years you should review all your policies.

There are several advantages to reviewing all policies at the same time:

• For the sake of clarity and administrative efficiency:
• Some policies can be combined
• Parts of policies can be carved out to create a new policy
• Parts of policies can be moved from one policy to another
• Costing models can be developed and reviewed which will show the impact of salary increases on other areas of compensation such as overtime, vacations, statutory holidays, hours of work etc. Conversely these models will show the cost implications of proposed changes to any Human Resources policy.