Essentials of HRM

Ans 2. Introduction:
All new employees need to go through a proper and comprehensive induction before they
start work and being their job. A new employee induction should consist of a mixture of
payroll and HR setup materials, an online employee handbook, induction pack, a safety
induction covering important workplace safety topics and procedures, presentations, policies
to acknowledge and understand, new employee checklist and assessments and workplace
courses that help onboard the employee into the organisation.
Induction means introduction of a new employee to the job and the organization. It is the
process of receiving and welcoming an employee when he first joins a company and giving
him the basic information he needs to settle down quickly and happily and start work.
(i) Encouraging employees to ask questions.
(ii) Including information on both technical and social aspects of the job.
(iii) Making the new employee’s manager responsible for the orientation.
(iv) Avoiding embarrassment to the new members.
(v) Arranging formal and informal interaction with managers and peers.
(vi) Providing relocation assistance such as house hunting, information about the local
society, and etc.
(vii) Giving information about the company’s products, services and customers.
(viii) Familiarizing adequately with the culture of the organization such as how work is done,
what matters in the organization, which work- related behaviours are acceptable or
unacceptable and etc.
Innovative ways to design induction for new employees are:
1. Appoint a mentor
Consider asking someone about the same age and grade of the newcomer to act as a friend
and advisor for the first few weeks. This will be particularly useful in a large, complex
organisation or in helping to explain the myriad of detail not fully covered elsewhere.
Monitor the relationship, however, and step in if it isn't working.
2. Plan the induction and involve and inform others
An induction programme should ideally be drawn up, but certainly authorized, by the
newcomer's manager. The mentor should also be involved in the process. Other staff who
will be working with the new employee should be informed of the induction programme
whether or not they will be involved. The induction plan should contain three stages: the first
day or two should cover the bare essentials; the first three or four weeks should be learning
by a mix of approaches; the 3 to 6s months period should gradually familiarise the newcomer
with all departments.
3. Prepare the work area
Clear and tidy the new employee's work area. Check that all relevant stationery is to hand and
equipment is in working order.
4. Introduce the recruit to the organisation and the department
On the first day it is usually the personnel department who informs the newcomer of
housekeeping arrangements (where the toilets and the canteen are for example), and covers
the sorts of issues contained in the staff handbook (such as salary payments, leave
arrangements and sick pay scheme). Make sure that the new employee has copies of any
necessary documentation, the organisation chart and job description for example. An
introduction to the department and team in which they will be working must also be made.
Although the newcomer will be introduced to people around the organisation a detailed look
at what other departments do will follow at a later stage of the induction process.
5. Emphasise the importance of organisation policies and procedures
New employees must be made aware at an early stage of policies and regulations based on
legislation, eg. in the area of health and safety. Other procedures based on national standards,
such as IS0 9000, and other schemes, such as internal employee development or mentoring,
should also be introduced.
6. Plan a balanced introduction to the work
Whether training is done by the sitting-with-Nellie approach or by professional trainers, a
mix of explanation, observation, practice and feedback is advisable. Beware of information
overload. The new employee should be given some real work to do to avoid boredom and to
give early opportunities for achievement.
7. Clarify performance standards
Make the performance levels you require clear from the outset. An employee cannot be
expected to meet standards of which they are unaware.
8. Conduct regular reviews of progress
These should be made during the induction programme, for example, on a weekly basis, to
ensure that all the objectives and the new employee's needs are being met. The programme
may have to be adapted to match individual learning requirements and speeds. Usually
reviews will consist of informal chats but a more formal appraisal interview may take place at
the end of the programme, particularly if the employee is on probation. The views of the
employee on the overall induction process should be sought for the design of future
programmes.
 Conclusion:
The first six months of a new employees journey are super critical to help onboard them
correctly into the organisation, ensure they understand everything they need to do their job
role, become an expert at their job and build positive culture so that they want to stay
working at the organisation too. Part of this involves building in a performance appraisal
system and performance appraisal steps into their induction plan from day 1. Establishing
what their role tasks actually area, what does performance look like that is good, what do
poor expectations look like and how are these areas measured.

Ans 3. Introduction:
A career development plan is future-focused and details what you as an employee would like
to learn and contribute. A word of caution here, career development plans are not created in a
vacuum. It is essential for employees to take into account departmental and organizational
needs, objectives and goals when creating their career plans.
Personal and professional growth are important factors for keeping your career moving in a
direction with which you are satisfied. Prior to setting up a meeting to discuss your plan with
your manager or supervisor you will want to engage in self-assessment so that you will be
able to clearly define and articulate your goals and developmental needs.

a. Employees need to understand their own strengths, preferences and career goals as well as
options for future career progression within the agency or elsewhere in state government.
Creating a career development plan is a good way to keep track of this information so you are
prepared to discuss your career with your supervisor. The Career Maps feature being
developed for this provide a good way to understand potential career moves within the
organization.
HR need to understand the organization’s current staffing and performance needs, as well as
the knowledge, skills, experience and competencies needed to perform in the current role and
in the future.
 Communication:
The employee is responsible for making supervisors aware of their career and professional
development goals, especially if they change.
There are rapid changes in today’s world: missions and projects begin and end; budgets go up
and down, and the need for skills and abilities can change quickly. It is up to the supervisor to
communicate the current and anticipated needs of the organization so that decisions can be
made that are in the best interests of the organization as well as the employee.
 Joint Decision-making:
Although EDPs and career development plans are unique to each employee, they do not exist
alone. Employees need to consider important issues like available funding, workload, and the
needs of other employees when making decisions and career plans.
Supervisors need to take employees’ goals into consideration as they consider what
development initiatives to support, and how to allocate available funds within their units.
Understanding employee career goals may help supervisors identify alternative development
activities that meet those needs when budgets are tight.
 Willingness to learn:
Gone is the time when good employees can expect to automatically move up a predefined
career ladder. Employees need to be agile in finding the right jobs throughout their careers. A
demonstrated willingness to continue to learn and use new skills, particularly technical skills,
is critical to long-term career success.
Organizations are moving toward flatter structures, and the traditional movement “up” the
career ladder is no longer the only way to achieve success. Employees need to be creative in
identifying ways to move along in their career – such as lateral moves, learning or
experiential opportunities or even career changes that will broaden their experience or help
leverage them into a different area. 
b. Effective succession planning means tracking the development and readiness of all high-
potential employees as they progress. How HR Can Take Succession Planning to the Next
Level Succession planning goes hand in hand with talent development more generally, which
puts HR at the center of the story.
The goals of succession planning that HR manager should keep in mind:
 Improved Retention
Turnover is one of those hard-to-combat challenges an organization can face. Replacing an
employee is not just a headache, but it also represents a lost opportunity to groom someone
capable of future leadership. In the case of high-potential employees, turnover can wreak
havoc on an organization’s talent strategy.
One of the primary reasons employees leave in the first place is because they don’t see any
scope to advance their careers ahead. Working on a strong succession strategy that assesses
leadership potential and sets employees on a development path. Thus making them believe
that they have a promising future. When employees notice they have opportunities for growth
and development with their current place of employment, they are less likely to hunt for
similar opportunities elsewhere. In this way, a company succeeds at retaining and developing
its best talent rather than constantly scrambling to get a newbie on the block.
 Individual Development and Engagement
Succession planning sets forth a solid base for employee development strategies. By working
on competency models, companies can streamline their training and development process.
This enables them to help employees hone their skill set to take up senior roles when the time
comes.
Identifying and encouraging employees to work on themselves also raises their level of
engagement. This further encourages them to keep up the good work, which simultaneously
plays a dual role in adding value to an employee as a hardcore professional. Moreover, it can
help him or her stand out as an asset to the organization.
 Scope for Business Continuity
Losing a key employee who is visualized as an asset can be incredibly disruptive for an
organization.  Especially when the employee is holding a top-level position. Worse of all, this
can multiply the burden on people in other departments with an added heap of work, bringing
down productivity and effectiveness.
With a strong succession plan, organizations can fill empty desks much more quickly, with
less hassle or disruption to the workflow. 
  Reduce Risk
When organizations witness their longtime employees catering to day-to-day tasks, they
struggle to devise the necessary processes that would help another employee carry forward
the roles and responsibilities that come with the position. Should those employees move out,
they can take a great deal of expertise about how to better handle the job. If the company has
done nothing to build a backup plan to facilitate a transition, it could, unfortunately, meet
significant risks when the time comes to fill a job position. This is because the prospective
candidate may not be fully prepared or have an adequate idea about what the role actually
requires from them.
Conclusion:
Career Planning helps in ensuring that the work goes on, and is done without resulting in
anything disruptive. You can take the help of technology to make your succession planning
process a success. Using a performance management system you can set SMART goals, track
and measure employee performance, and identify your potential leaders. With effective
succession planning, you can gracefully walk towards the continuity so critical to your
business’s success in the future.