HR & The Economy.

Economic conditions provide the background to the everyday business of HR, so it is important for organisations to be aware of developments in the economy. You’ll find here information on HR in the economic cycle, including recession. In this topic we will focus on the current economic challenges and the projected environmental future of HR.

Unsurprisingly, the survey reveals that HR is greatly affected by the current economic situation. Three in five respondents feel the current capital markets directly impact on their organisation, with three-quarters also feeling they have a direct impact on HR. Similarly, the vast majority of organisations (95%) are either-freezing, or decreasing, their annual HR budget, in areas such as training and development, external training, the use of external consultants, recruitment and HR systems. Evidence suggests this is likely to be the case regardless of what the predicted financial performance is for their organisation.

Against this backdrop of economic uncertainty and budget cuts, and despite having a slightly biased sample, it is reassuring that the HR function is seen as having a crucial role to play in improving organisational performance, with 88% believing that senior management in other functions feel that HR has some, or a big, influence on performance. There is no direct link between this and the annual HR budget available.

The economic situation has led to 82% of respondents making changes to their HR strategies. Of these, three in five (58%) expect such changes to be long term rather than short term. Where respondents feel that their organisation’s financial performance will get worse over the next six months, there is a bias towards short-term HR measures being implemented. However there is no clear pattern when comparing HR strategy to financial performance over the next 12 months.

With HR strategies clearly changing during these turbulent economic conditions, organisations were asked to identify, from a list of 15 activities, those which they feel are their biggest current priorities.

The top three priorities selected are:

• Performance management;

• Leadership and management development; and

• Employee communication and engagement.

Where respondents expect changes to HR strategy to be short term, restructuring is another key issue, whereas talent management is seen as being important for organisations with a longer term HR strategy. Performance management and leadership/management development are seen as important for both short and long term strategies.

Further feedback indicates that many organisations appear to be carrying out efficiency reviews on their work practices. As a result, performance management and leadership development are understandable priorities since strong, visible leadership will be critical as companies feel the strain caused by the recession. Moreover, it is argued that, since recession forces organisations to examine performance in sharper detail, under-performance will increasingly be dealt with in a more direct and proactive manner. Respondents were also asked to identify those areas that are their lowest priorities.

The bottom 3 priorities listed are:

• HR outsourcing;

• Flexible working; and

• Diversity.

With employee engagement a clear priority, it is not surprising to find that the majority of organisations surveyed (80%) currently measure it. A clear pattern emerges here: it is in the organisations where senior management feel that HR is influential that employee engagement is most likely to be measured.

Finally, it is encouraging to find that the economic situation is not adversely affecting all aspects of employment; with almost a quarter of organisations (23%) believing it is having a positive effect on employee engagement. Around half (52%) feel engagement levels have remained stable; while only one in five think they have decreased.

The research highlights the difficulties facing HR in the current environment. Most corporate HR departments are freezing or decreasing their annual budgets and there is an enhanced need for HR leaders to focus on the urgent business critical initiatives. However the survey also reveals the key role HR has to play in driving organisational performance. Now more than ever before, HR needs to show itself to be about more than making redundancies by helping the organisation to reduce costs and improve efficiency and performance. Organisations that intelligently manage talent and communicate with employees honestly, accurately and at the right time will ride the current turbulence and be successful in the future.

What is the knowledge economy? The knowledge economy encompasses all jobs, companies, and industries in which the knowledge and capabilities of people, rather than the capabilities of machines or technologies, determines competitive advantage in any economy.

 From retail sales to computers to biotechnology these jobs will be more knowledge-intensive in their demands on workers and organizations. Although the service sector is an obvious place to find more knowledge-intensive work there are other alternatives to be raised to increase the look on much needed work. The rapid development of computers and microprocessors has made it possible to collect and use vast amounts of information from a variety of sources in a more integrative an interactive manner than ever before. Networking and connectivity, coupled with the Internet, have made it possible for information to be acquired and shared globally, work together collaboratively: Combined these basically altered business and everyday life.

In this information-intensive economy, competitive advantage is based primarily on the application of knowledge, and not all of the data, intelligence, and wisdom with which a global company needs can be found in one place easing, knowledge is dispersed around the world.

Furthermore, the cost of overcoming distance is falling rapidly for commodities that are mobile, such as capital, goods, and information.

Consequently, these commodities are readily accessible to firms that previously faced limitations because of their geographic location,

Knowledge, rather than the concrete characteristics of goods or services or the mechanics of production processes, is becoming the defining characteristic of economic activities. The impact of knowledge is pervasive in both the "old economy" as well as the "new economy." Human know-how is a crucial component in virtually everything we produce, and it determines how we produce valued goods and services.

The knowledge economy is about adding ideas to products and turning new ideas into new products. The knowledge economy has even spawned a new type of global, knowledge-based organization, labelled a "meta-national".

In contrast to global organizations that view the world as a single, fairly homogeneous market, or multinationals that see each country as a distinct segment, these meta-national organizations view the world as a global dotted with pockets of technology, market intelligence, and capabilities.

Thus, meta-nationals are able to capitalize on the synergies of global commonalities while adapting to specialized opportunities generated by local capabilities. Meta-nationals see untapped potential in these pockets of specialist knowledge that are scattered around the world. And, by sensing and mobilizing this dispersed knowledge, meta-nationals are able to innovate more effectively than their rivals. Rather than promoting a universal set of products that are globally competitive, meta-nationals weave together a tapestry of many local specialized capabilities to create local customization with global reach.

To sum up, knowledge is becoming virtually the primary component of all products, services and work activities. It is also imperative to look at all the attributes of the environment so that when a pragmatic measure is made the results will be right next to certain other than prospects which are uncertain.

HR Function.

Today, At Humba-HR-Consultants we are excitingly looking at the whole concept of HR. You’ll find here 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.

Human Resources Management is an important asset to any business. It provides expertise in:

• managing change and facilitating training and development
• recruitment, selection and employee relations
• pensions and benefits
• communicating with employees

Tarmac aims to build the capacity and capability of its people to achieve their full potential. This strategy strengthens the business in the long term.

An HR manager's role is to ensure that business managers apply HR policies and procedures consistently through all business units. This helps to develop partnerships across different teams, which supports corporate aims and objectives.

A human resource management system (HRMS) or human resource information system (HRIS), refers to the systems and processes at the intersection between human resource management (HRM) and information technology. It merges HRM as a discipline and in particular its basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field, whereas the programming of data processing systems evolved into standardized routines and packages of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. On the whole, these ERP systems have their origin on software that integrates information from different applications into one universal database. The linkage of its financial and human resource modules through one database is the most important distinction to the individually and proprietary developed predecessors, which makes this software application both rigid and flexible.

The function of human resources (HR) departments is generally administrative and common to all organizations. Organizations may have formalized selection, evaluation, and payroll processes. Efficient and effective management of "human capital" progressed to an increasingly imperative and complex process. The HR function consists of tracking existing employee data which traditionally includes personal histories, skills, capabilities, accomplishments and salary. To reduce the manual workload of these administrative activities, organizations began to electronically automate many of these processes by introducing specialized human resource management systems. HR executives rely on internal or external IT professionals to develop and maintain an integrated HRMS. Before the client–server architecture evolved in the late 1980s, many HR automation processes were relegated to mainframe computers that could handle large amounts of data transactions. In consequence of the high capital investment necessary to buy or program proprietary software, these internally developed HRMS were limited to organizations that possessed a large amount of capital. The advent of client–server, application service provider, and software as a service (SaaS) or human resource management systems enabled increasingly higher administrative control of such systems. Currently human resource management systems encompass.

Payroll

Time and attendance

Performance appraisal

Benefits administration

HR management information system

Recruiting/Learning management

Performance record

Employee self-service

Scheduling

Absence management

The payroll module automates the pay process by gathering data on employee time and attendance, calculating various deductions and taxes, and generating periodic pay cheques and employee tax reports. Data is generally fed from the human resources and time keeping modules to calculate automatic deposit and manual cheque writing capabilities. This module can encompass all employee-related transactions as well as integrate with existing financial management systems.

The time and attendance module gathers standardized time and work related efforts. The most advanced modules provide broad flexibility in data collection methods, labor distribution capabilities and data analysis features. Cost analysis and efficiency metrics are the primary functions.

The benefits administration module provides a system for organizations to administer and track employee participation in benefits programs. These typically encompass insurance, compensation, profit sharing and retirement.

The HR management module is a component covering many other HR aspects from application to retirement. The system records basic demographic and address data, selection, training and development, capabilities and skills management, compensation planning records and other related activities. Leading edge systems provide the ability to "read" applications and enter relevant data to applicable database fields, notify employers and provide position management and position control. Human resource management function involves the recruitment, placement, evaluation, compensation and development of the employees of an organization. Initially, businesses used computer based information systems to:

• produce pay checks and payroll reports;
• maintain personnel records;
• pursue talent management.

Online recruiting has become one of the primary methods employed by HR departments to garner potential candidates for available positions within an organization. Talent management systems typically encompass:

analyzing personnel usage within an organization; identifying potential applicants; recruiting through company facing listings; recruiting through online recruiting sites or publications that market to both recruiters and applicants.

The significant cost incurred in maintaining an organized recruitment effort, cross-posting within and across general or industry-specific job boards and maintaining a competitive exposure of availability has given rise to the development of a dedicated applicant tracking system, or 'ATS', module.

The training module provides a system for organizations to administer and track employee training and development efforts. The system, normally called a "learning management system" (LMS) if a standalone product, allows HR to track education, qualifications and skills of the employees, as well as outlining what training courses, books, CDs, web based learning or materials are available to develop which skills. Courses can then be offered in date specific sessions, with delegates and training resources being mapped and managed within the same system. Sophisticated LMS allow managers to approve training, budgets and calendars alongside performance management and appraisal metrics.

The employee self-service module allows employees to query HR related data and perform some HR transactions over the system. Employees may query their attendance record from the system without asking the information from HR personnel. The module also lets supervisors approve O.T. requests from their subordinates through the system without overloading the task on HR department.

Many organizations have gone beyond the traditional functions and developed human resource management information systems, which support recruitment; selection; hiring; job placement; performance appraisals; employee benefit analysis; health; safety and security; while others integrate an outsourced applicant tracking system that encompasses a subset of the above.

Assigning Responsibilities Communication between the Employees.

Because more is expected of people today, HR practitioners must be more than an administrative arm of an organization and be increasingly involved in enabling growth, productivity, and profitability. HR practitioners are compelled to assume business and consulting roles, aside from transaction functions such as compensation and benefits administration or routinely recruitment. Companies also have to focus on employee retention in order to maintain their customer base and ultimately deliver quality service and attain a return on investment (ROI). Further, HR practitioners need to reach out to a more diverse and young workforce with a continually changing value system that affects their work ethic.

Other challenges include acquiring new technologies, which calls for new skills, and adapting to changing social values such as better quality of life in less time, less loyalty to the company, or higher pay for less hours of work. Employees’ need for work-life balance has become more pronounced, challenging HR and management to find appropriate motivators for today’s employees.

All of these challenges will only compel HR practitioners to intensify their search for the right people and to take on new roles to be able to retain them. As knowledge capital becomes one of the critical success factors for corporations, the search for the best and the brightest will become a constant and costly battle, and retaining the best people will be increasingly difficult. This increases the pressure on the HR function to create an environment in which employees continue to flourish and propel companies toward the achievement of their objectives.

To fulfil their increasingly strategic role in companies and contribute to building competitive advantage for their organizations, HR practitioners must address strategic questions and implement the most effective approach with caution.

In order for the HR function to move from the backroom to the boardroom, HR issues must be addressed, and the role of line managers must evolve into that which accommodates an increasing involvement in developing solutions to address the concerns of their people. Together, the strategic importance of HR issues and the changing role of line management will be the two key forces of change operating on HR.

Strategic HR issues include:

• Responsibility of the HR function – What is HR really tasked to do?

Can HR really stand as a strategic partner of the CEO?

• Responsibility of line managers with respect to HR issues – Should management of employee concerns fall solely on the HR Department or be shared at all levels, from senior management down to junior management?

• Manner by which HR can help the organization compete in the marketplace – What efficiency can be achieved in the HR Department in its processes, policies, and procedures? What processes can be retained, and what can be outsourced? What best practices can be implemented?

• Technology requirements – What systems will HR need to support its changing and growing requirements?

HR function of the future: new roles and a changing focus

Given all the issues confronting today’s HR function, HR practitioners are being called to assume roles beyond the traditional HR administrative functions.

Outlined are five key roles HR has to play in order to help organizations meet their strategic objectives:

• Strategic business partner – HR must factor in policies on employee welfare and new or changing competency requirements when corporate strategies are being developed. Through partnering with management, HR may take on the role of consultant and assist in strengthening the relationship between employees and senior management.

• Change agent – HR professionals must lead in actively building and maintaining a corporate culture that embraces people development.

• Employee champion – HR must create a productive work environment, ensure effective communication, and manage workforce relations.

• Manager of personnel acquisition and development – HR must define, generate, continuously reinforce, and sustain organizational skills, knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and desired behaviours.

• Manager of processing, compliance, and reporting – HR must align its strategic and tactical plans with those of the corporation, comply with laws, create policies, and execute administrative processes, all in a cost-effective manner.

Several of the roles may help HR respond to the evolving profile of today’s workforce. As change agent, employee champion, and advocate of employee development, HR departments in some organizations have instituted improvements in the workplace, such as upgraded or flexible employee benefits, wellness programs, and the like. HR may also assist in developing more effective training programs that include not only technical courses, but also programs that enhance soft skills and make use of multiple learning modes.

HR management is no longer confined to the social sciences, and requires skills and knowledge in other disciplines such as marketing and communication, management of information systems, operations, economics, and finance. Some organizations may even invest in training programs that can further the business acumen of their existing HR practitioners. As such, HR practitioners will be more comfortable in the role of strategic partner, equipped to be in boardrooms, and perceived as an increasingly important ally by senior management and line managers.

The structure of HR departments in some organizations has already begun to evolve. Instead of being divided according to specialized functions such as compensation and benefits, training, recruitment, and the like, some HR departments have restructured themselves to service “accounts” or business units, requiring HR generalists who are knowledgeable in all functions of HR as “account managers.” These HR generalists can then provide relevant solutions or interventions to appropriately address the specific needs of their respective accounts, or the various units in the organization.

This structure enables more HR practitioners to veer away from being highly transaction-based to more solutions-focused.

Technology is also an important factor in attaining the HR function of the future. By leveraging technology, HR can reduce some of its more routinely tasks and processes and create more time for focusing on strategic

HR concerns. An integrated Human Resource Information System (HRIS) can also serve as a tool for gathering information that will be used to carry out a number of HR functions such as performance appraisals, employee counselling, and recruitment. Outsourcing is also an increasingly viable option for reducing time spent on highly administrative and transaction activities such as payroll, timekeeping, and the like.

All of these changes will then allow HR to become more than a support unit and advance into a quasi-independent business within an organization. In some companies, HR has begun to act as an internal consultant. Other companies may also opt to get external consultants to perform HR functions in lieu of the traditional HR department.

Ultimately, HR practitioners must begin to move from backroom to boardroom.

With the heightened need for knowledge workers, HR is being propelled to the forefront of business strategy. Much is being asked of HR practitioners today — versatility in business functions, propensity for innovation, diagnostic insight, and a broadened knowledge of business processes.

But all these may be worth HR’s efforts if practitioners can say that their broadened competencies have enabled their companies to improve performance and deliver excellent service to their customers.

Employee Benefits.

At Humba-HR-Consultants we believe in tackling topics from the fundamental prospect. Most employees offer their services for salaries and remuneration at large. Therefore the remuneration has to change now and again so that they feel valued and appreciated for the efforts, time and work that they are giving the organisation in the duration they are employed.   Employee benefits and (especially in British English) benefits in kind (also called fringe benefits, perquisites, perqs or perks) are various non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries.

 In instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a 'salary packaging' or 'salary exchange' arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing (employer-provided or employer-paid), group insurance (health, dental, life etc.), disability income protection, retirement benefits, day-care, tuition reimbursement, sick leave, vacation (paid and non-paid), social security, profit sharing, funding of education, and other specialized benefits.

The purpose of employee benefits is to increase the economic security of staff members, and in doing so, improve worker retention across the organization. The term also perks) is often used colloquially to refer to those benefits of a more discretionary nature. Often, perks are given to employees who are doing notably well and/or have seniority. Common perks are take-home vehicles, hotel stays, free refreshments, leisure activities on work time (golf, etc.), stationery, allowances for lunch, and—when multiple choices exist—first choice of such things as job assignments and vacation scheduling. They may also be given first chance at job promotions when vacancies exist.

There are some types of employee benefits that are mandated by law, including minimum wage, overtime, leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, unemployment, and workers compensation and disability. There are other types of employee benefits that employers are not required to offer, but choose to provide to their employees. There are other types of employee benefits that are provided by the company as benefits for employees, however the employer is not required to offer them and the employee is not entitled to receive them. These types of employee benefits that are offered are at the discretion of the employer or are covered under a labour agreement, so they will vary from company to company.

Types of Employee Mandated Benefits:                 

• COBRA
• Disability
• Family and Medical Leave Act
• Minimum Wage
• Overtime
• Social Security Disability Insurance
• Unemployment Benefits
• Workers Compensation

Types of Employer Provided Employee Benefits:

• Hazard Pay
• Health Care
• Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave
• Paid Holidays

Many employers consider benefits plans an integral part of the total compensation package offered to its employees.  And while these benefits programs are typically administered by employers, many times employees are asked to contribute small premiums to enjoy coverage.

Employers usually offer their employees benefits for one or more of the following reasons:

Attracting and retaining talented employees.

Aligning benefits packages with those offered in the marketplace.

Promoting higher levels of morale among employees.

Providing opportunities for promotion or advancement as workers resign, retire, or move to other positions within the organization.

Keep in mind that no individual benefit will provide for all employee needs, it is usually a combination of benefits that is most effective in meeting the employer's objectives.

Most Common Employee Benefits Offered Today

We're going to finish up with a few more interesting statistics - whether you're looking for a job or just looking for some benchmark information on what's being offered in the marketplace today.  By examining this list you can get a better idea if your existing employer, or a potential employer, is offering you a competitive array of benefits.

Statistics in March 2009, the following is a list of the most common benefits offered in the workplace today.

Benefit Type	Employers Offering
Life Insurance	90%
Vacation Pay	77%
Holiday Pay	76%
Medical Care	71%
Retirement Plans	60%
Education Assistance Programs	49%
Non-Production Bonuses	46%
Employee Assistance Programs	40%
Healthcare Reimbursement Accounts	32%
Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts	30%
Wellness Programs	23%
Job-Related Travel And Accident Insurance	22%
Employer Assistance For Childcare	15%
Fitness Centres	13%
Long Term Care Insurance	12%
Adoption Assistance	10%
Stock Options	8%
Subsidized Commuting	5%
Flexible Workplace	4%
Employer Provided Personal Computer	2%

Once again, it's not surprising that the benefits fulfilling essential financial and social needs of employees top this list such as life insurance and paid leave; while we see more "luxurious" benefits such as stock options and employer-supplied personal computers are offered to less than 10% of workers.

Equal Pay.

Time and again we read or hear about equal pay disputes within organisations and private companies, some cases even make it to the tribunal. Most cases are because of misunderstandings with contracts and already existing employees who get pay increments over time, while other cases are basically gender and racially driven. Diversity is a comprehensive-special topic that explains more about the equality of each and every human being within a work place but in this case we are specifically looking at EQP(Equal Pay) at large.

Equal pay, an aspect of sex discrimination law, has been in force for over 40 years, giving to men and women the right to be paid at the same rate for the same, or equivalent, work. You’ll find here information on equal pay for equal value, the gender pay gap, equal pay audits, comparable worth, equal pay law and case law.

Employers must give men and women equal treatment in the terms and conditions of their employment contract if they are employed on:

• 'like work' - work that is the same or broadly similar
• work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation study
• work found to be of equal value

A woman is employed on 'like work' with a man if her work is of the same or a broadly similar nature. It is for the employer to show that there is a genuine reason for any difference in pay, which is not based on the sex of an individual.

Employees are also entitled to know how their pay is made up. For example, if there is a bonus system, everyone should know how to earn bonuses and how they are calculated.

In this section here, we provide more detailed resources to help organisations implement equal pay. We have produced a range of information and guidance to suit different types and sizes of employer.

It is well recognised that equal pay for men and women cannot be achieved through legislation alone. Employers are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their pay systems are free from gender bias. We are committed to working with employers to enable them to deliver fair pay systems in accordance with equal pay legislation.

The principles and techniques for an equal pay audit are equally applicable to carrying out an equality impact assessment on proposals to change pay policies, especially new grading and pay structures.

For part-time female workers the difference in pay is even greater.

The law also says that not just salary, but also the terms of employment should be on an equal basis.

Your right to receive equal pay can include the following:

•  Basic salary
• Sick pay
• Holiday pay
• Performance related pay
• Bonuses
• Overtime
• Shift payments
• Share options

Around the UK, equal pay cases are being fought and won as workers claim back pay owed to them as well as increased pay rates under the Equal Pay Act.  Under Equal Pay law you are now entitled to up to six years of back pay if you are found to have been underpaid by your employer.

The law aims to make women aware of their right to equal pay with men for doing work of the same value, and to offer advice and information to women who believe they are being underpaid.

The beginning of the 21st century has realised a lot of evolving in terms of acceptance of races to a greater extend that before and the empowering of women respectively. We at Humba-HR-Consultants we can confidently say the world is changing for the better unequivocally especially from the previous century. Each and every country has its own way of dealing with equal pay but most democratic countries have implemented measures that protect the vulnerable. To the extend that they have put in place proper, clear channels to follow in the even of such a situation arising. So you will find that the rules will vary from continent to continent and country to country.

Age and Employment.

At Humba-HR-Consultants we tried to recap the concept of age and employment. The results we received were very interesting especially after talking to the senior citizens who are mostly criticised for inefficiency due to old age, likely to challenge subordination and naturally change resistant.

What is age discrimination?

Age discrimination happens when someone is unfairly disadvantaged for reasons, which cannot be objectively justified, relating to their age.  Employment discrimination happens when a job seeker or an employee is treated unfavourably because of his or her race, skin colour, national origin, gender, disability, religion, or age. Here's information on age discrimination and other employment discrimination issues.

It can:

• Affect anybody regardless of how old they are.
• Adversely affect employment opportunities, especially those of older people and younger people.
• Result in failure to consider skills-based abilities, potential and experience in the workplace.

Result in significant legal costs, compensation, and settlements paid to avoid defending expensive discrimination claims.

It's against the law for your employer to treat you worse than other colleagues at work because of your age, unless they've got a very good reason. It's also against the law for an employer to dismiss you or to refuse to employ you, just because of your age, unless they have got a very good reason. If your employer does this, it's called age discrimination. An employer is not allowed to discriminate against you either for being too young or for being too old.

It might also count as age discrimination if you are discriminated against because: of the age of someone you know, such as family or friends, rather than because of your own age. For example, your employers can't discriminate against you for being the carer of an elderly relative. This is known as discrimination by association your employer believes you to be a certain age, when you are not.

In addition, to being considered "old," experienced candidates are sometimes considered more of an expense (higher salary, pension, benefits costs, etc.) than a younger applicant would be.

If you are middle-aged, or even younger, keep in mind that you are not alone:

• Workers over 45 are unemployed longer than younger workers.
• Older workers are considering postponing retirement because of the down economy.
• Research has found no relationship between age and job performance.

It’s important that ageism, often called age discrimination, is addressed to ensure that nobody loses out because of their age.

Perhaps you have been in a situation where you have been discriminated against due to your age. You may be fully aware that you have been subject to ageism, but sometimes it’s not so obvious.

Although ageism is often seen as a workplace issue, you may face it when you’re out shopping, at the doctor’s surgery, or even when ordering products and services over the phone.

Some experiences that older people face are listed as follows-;

• Losing a job because of their age.
• Being refused interest-free credit, a new credit card, car insurance or travel insurance because of their age.
• Receiving a lower quality of service in a shop or restaurant because of the organisation’s attitude to older people.

• Not being eligible for benefits such as Disability Living Allowance due to age limits.
• Being refused a referral from a doctor to a consultant because you are ‘too old’.
• Being refused membership to a club or trade association because of your age.
• All of these situations are examples of ageism. You are protected against some of these situations by law, but not all of them.
  

Disability and Employment.

What is disability?

Disability is defined in different ways for different purposes. In employment, the definition that is important is that within the Equality Act 2010 which is: A person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse affect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Long-term means that the condition must last, or be likely to last, for more than 12 months, or that it is terminal.

Individuals with cancer, multiple sclerosis or HIV/AIDS are covered from the date of diagnosis regardless of the impact that the illness is having on their life at the time of diagnosis.

To be covered under the Act, a mental illness does not have to be clinically well recognised. The emphasis is on the impact of the symptoms rather than the label that has been attached to them.

Reasonable adjustments in the workplace:

An employer has to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to avoid you being put at a disadvantage compared to non-disabled people in the workplace. For example, adjusting you’re working hours or providing you with a special piece of equipment to help you do the job.

Recruitment:

• An employer who’s recruiting staff may make limited enquiries about your health or disability.
• You can only be asked about your health or disability.
• To help decide if you can carry out a task that is an essential part of the work.
• To help find out if you can take part in an interview.
• To help decide if the interviewers need to make reasonable adjustments for you in a selection process.
• To help monitoring.
• If they want to increase the number of disabled people they employ.
• If they need to know for the purposes of national security checks.
  

You may be asked whether you have a health condition or disability on an application form or in an interview. You need to think about whether the question is one that is allowed to be asked at that stage of recruitment.

NB: It’s against the law for employers to discriminate against you because of a disability. The Equality Act 2010 in the UK protects you and covers areas including:

• Application forms
• Interview arrangements
• Aptitude or proficiency tests
• Job offers
• Terms of employment, including pay
• Promotion, transfer and training opportunities
• Dismissal or redundancy
• Discipline and grievances
  

Corporate Strategy Impeccably Tailored to HR.

Corporate Strategy is basically defined as - the overall scope and direction of a corporation and the way in which its various business operations work together to achieve particular goals.

Corporate strategy determines the direction an organisation will take in order to achieve business success in the long term. You’ll find here information on business strategy and organisation performance, innovation, productivity, mission and values, corporate culture, organisational capability, interim management and knowledge management. In the race to conform to the latest sustainability trend, companies are losing sight of the bigger picture. They need to redefine their strategies to cope with the new realities.
There is a lot of talk these days about issues of corporate sustainability and social responsibility (CSSR, for brevity). At Humba-HR-Consultants we have decided to help assist with the measures you need to implement in order to sustain corporate strategy.

In addition to the endless discussion around environment, social and governance (ESG) data, green "strategies", responsible investments and the latest reporting standards, we are experiencing a shameless propagation of buzzwords, mindless imitation tactics and the proliferation of self-proclaimed sustainability gurus who, based on no rigorous research or data, claim to know how to transform organisations.
It is time we moved away from this confusion about CSSR, returned to the strategic basics, and tried to understand the extent of the challenge CSSR poses for corporations. Many companies have already lost sight of the bigger picture because they face multiple pressures to conform to the latest trend without first reflecting and subsequently developing a cohesive understanding of CSSR issues.

How do we define corporate strategy?  

The consensus that emerged in the early 80s, and is still being taught to first-year MBA students, is that strategy is about "above average (superior) sustainable performance". In other words, it is about the perpetual ability of the corporation to deliver returns to its shareholders and do so in a way that is superior within its industry.
CSSR, which is emerging as a result of increasing social and environmental pressures such as climate change, social inequality, and extreme poverty, is redefining the foundations of corporate strategy.
Corporate performance is no longer defined and perceived exclusively in terms of profitability, it is also measured by environmental and social performance. Although it is important to note that environmental and social performance does not substitute for financial performance as a corporate objective; it exists in addition.

Companies must become more sophisticated to survive within the environmental and social context they operate. For example, Starbucks established a traditional competitive advantage and has been profitable. Yet, if the tax avoidance issue in the UK is any indication, the company is still struggling to sustain this advantage within its social context.

CSSR and strategy constitute two sides of the same coin. Contemporary strategy is about developing and implementing a business model that generates financial as well as environmental and social value. Unfortunately a distorted understanding of what CSSR actually is often leads companies astray in terms of their strategic decision-making. A case in point is the false language, originating from economics that labels social and environmental issues as "externalities". There is nothing "external" about these issues for any company, apart from one with a dangerously unrealistic model of what a corporation's strategy is about.
Many companies proudly present their energy efficiency or water efficiency targets, but an exclusive focus on operational efficiency is for strategy what short-termism is for financial markets. Having such targets may tick several boxes and temporarily satisfy the demands of some stakeholders but it begs the question of whether the bombardment of ESG data requests to companies is actually creating major strategic blind-spots by deteriorating strategy into a mindless and fruitless box-ticking exercise.

Redefining strategy as a mix of environmental and social as well as financial value has massive implications for all stakeholders. To establish a sustainable business model, companies need to engage in and explore a social and environmental domain that is relatively new and unfamiliar. This entails great risks as well as great opportunities and has dramatic implications for human capital recruitment and retention. What is the right set of knowledge and skills that business leaders will have to possess in order to understand these issues and provide solutions? What do we, as business academics, need to teach MBA students to break the rigid mind frames that have traditionally focused on financial issues and metrics alone?
There are important implications in terms of organisational design and structure. How separate should the strategy and sustainability functions be within a corporation? What should the relationship between the CFO and the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) be? Current corporate mindsets consider CSSR issues as peripheral or at best, as separate issues, and therefore there is a clear distinction between strategy and CSSR functions. This is an artificial and dangerous segregation. In fact, for a company that truly understands what strategy will look like in the age of sustainability, the CFO and the CSO should be the best of friends, or even, the same person.
Strategy in the age of sustainability will perhaps challenge the way we understand the role of the corporation in society, and may help reinforce or even accelerate the current social and environmental trends and expectations that we, as a society, place on organisations. Yet, to the extent that such pressures are effective in further pushing the same or other organisations towards fundamentally rethinking what their strategy is all about, and in doing so, addressing the world's biggest social and environmental issues, then in the longer term challenging the current mindsets will almost certainly be beneficial.

**CRRS – Corporate Resources Service.