Human Resources in Organisations.

Human Resources is defined as the division of a company/businesses’ departments that is focused on activities mainly relating to employees. These activities normally include recruiting and hiring of new employees, orientation and training of current employees, employee benefits, and retention. Formerly called personnel had some additional functions which now broadly escalate its responsibilities.

Human resources are the set of individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector or an economy. "Human capital" is sometimes used synonymously with human resources, although human capital typically refers to a more narrow view; i.e., the knowledge the individuals embody and can contribute to an organization. Likewise, other terms sometimes used include "manpower", "talent", "labour", or simply "people".

The professional discipline and business function that oversees an organization's human resources is called human resource management (HRM, or simply HR). Any mix-up concerning these issues can cause major legal problems for your business, as well as major employee dissatisfaction. But small businesses often don't have the staff or the budget to properly handle the nitty-gritty/finer details of HR. Because of this, more and more small businesses are beginning to outsource their HR needs.

From the corporate vision, employees are viewed as assets to the enterprise, whose value is enhanced by development. Hence, companies will engage in a barrage of human resource management practices to capitalize on those assets. HR outsourcing services generally fall into four categories: PEOs (professional employer organization), BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing), ASPs (Application service providers) or e-services. The terms are used loosely, so a big tip is to know exactly what the outsourcing firm you're investigating offers, especially when it comes to employee liability.

A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) assumes full responsibility for your company's HR administration. It becomes a co-employer of your company's workers by taking full legal responsibility of your employees, including having the final say in hiring, firing, and the amount of money employees make. The PEO and business owner become partners, essentially, with the PEO handling all the HR aspects and the business handling all other aspects of the company.

By proper definition, a service is only a PEO when it takes legal responsibility for employees. But take note--some HR outsourcing services like to use the recognized term "PEO" when they handle the primary aspects of HR like payroll and benefits, yet don't take this legal partnership.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a broad term referring to outsourcing in all fields, not just HR. A BPO differentiates itself by either putting in new technology or applying existing technology in a new way to improve a process. Specifically in HR, a BPO would make sure a company's HR system is supported by the latest technologies, such as self-access and HR data warehousing.

Application service providers (ASPs) host software on the Web and rent it to users--some ASPs host HR software. Some are well-known packaged applications (People Soft) while others are customized HR software developed by the vendor. These software programs can manage payroll, benefits and more.

E-services are those HR services that are web-based. Both BPOs and ASPs are often referred to as e-services.

In governing human resources, three major trends are typically considered:

1. Demographics: the characteristics of a population/workforce, for example, age, gender or social class. This type of trend may have an effect in relation to pension offerings, insurance packages etc.
2. Diversity: the variation within the population/workplace. Changes in society now mean that a larger proportion of organizations are made up of "baby boomers” or older employees in comparison to thirty years ago. Advocates of "workplace diversity" advocate an employee base that is a mirror reflection of the make-up of society insofar as race, gender, sexual orientation etc.
3. Skill and qualifications: as industries move from manual to more managerial professions so does the need for more highly skilled graduates. If the market is "tight" (i.e. not enough staff for the jobs), employers must compete for employees by offering financial rewards, community investment, etc.

In regard to how individuals respond to the changes in a labour market, the following must be understood:

• Geographical spread: how far is the job from the individual? The distance to travel to work should be in line with the pay offered, and the transportation and infrastructure of the area also influence who applies for a post.
• Occupational structure: the norms and values of the different careers within an organization. Mahoney 1989 developed 3 different types of occupational structure, namely, craft (loyalty to the profession), organization career (promotion through the firm) and unstructured (lower/unskilled workers who work when needed).
• Generational difference: different age categories of employees have certain characteristics, for example, their behaviour and their expectations of the organization.

One major concern about considering people as assets or resources is that they will be discommoded and abused. Some analysis suggests that human beings are not "commodities" or "resources", but are creative and social beings in a productive enterprise.

You will find there is information on HR’s role in building organisational capability, HR leadership, improving the HR function, HR transformation, managing the HR department, HR audits and bench-marking, HR planning, shared services and HR outsourcing, HR competencies, HR managers, HR directors, HR brand and HR consultants. The department or support systems responsible for personnel sourcing and hiring, applicant tracking, skills development and tracking, benefits administration and compliance with associated government regulations; how Humba-HR-Consultants would briefly define the whole Human Resources Topic.