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The Changing Landscape of HR

By Elizabeth M. Rice, SPHR

The role of the HR professional has shifted for the past several years, and will continue to shift in the months and years directly ahead. This shift can be attributed to internal organizational progression as well as external influences.

We interviewed Chana Anderson, CCP, SPHR President of the San Diego Society for Human Resource Management (SD SHRM), to gain a better understanding of forecasted trends for the HR industry. Chana was formerly the Director of Human Resources for Casa de las Campanas, a full service retirement community, and is now President of SD SHRM.

According to Anderson, a continuing shift in HR is that the focus of the HR professional is becoming increasingly strategic. While in the past HR was viewed as an administrative occupation, companies are realizing HR's potential to impact employees, and in essence, the bottom line. HR executives can help companies improve productivity and retain employees by improving organizational communication and developing programs. In fact, more progressive companies are including the HR professional in high-level strategic meetings and insisting that the HR executives report directly to the CEO.

While the HR professional's role shifts internally there are several external influences that Anderson identified that will impact the way that HR is managed in the years to come. These include some of the following:

Rising cost of healthcare:

It's no surprise to anyone that healthcare costs continue to increase while coverage decreases. This puts employers and employees at a crossroads. Employers need to mitigate costs and remain competitive while employees are demanding comprehensive health benefits.

HR professionals can help by designing health plans to best meet the needs of their employees. This is important because if employees can't afford the co-premiums and/or don't find value in the plans, they will opt out and be left with no coverage. This can result in increased absenteeism due to sicknesses. Steps that HR professionals can take to decrease cost, yet maintain comprehensive coverages include:

• Educate employees on using generic drugs - Generic drugs are significantly less expensive than name-brand formularies. Employees should be educated on the similarities between generic and name brand prescriptions and should be reminded to ask their doctors to prescribe generic drugs.
• Health savings accounts - These have been more common in recent years. An HSA is a tax advantaged savings plan (a financial account with various restrictions) used to cover current and future medical expenses. It allows money to be put in before tax is paid on it and then to withdraw the money tax free for qualified medical expenses.
• Health awareness - It is important that companies encourage healthy living both in and outside of work. Offering perks such as paid flu vaccinations, health care memberships and offering healthy alternatives in the company cafeteria is a great start. In addition, companies can create financial incentives for employees who choose to live a healthy lifestyle. For example, at Casa de las Campanas, employees are offered $10 off their monthly insurance premiums if they don't smoke cigarettes.

Changing demographics in the workforce:

The landscape of employees is changing. With an unreliable Social Security system, older people are forced to re-enter or stay in the workplace beyond retirement. These older individuals have higher insurance premiums, which raises already astronomical rates. Additionally, the non-English speaking contingency is ever increasing and can lead to communication and management issues.

Anderson suggests the following approaches to help mitigate these problems:

• Offer a range of benefits and services - HR professionals should offer a range of benefits to meet the needs of employees in different age groups and with various lifestyles.
• Facilitate learning through targeted training programs - The younger generation of employees may find e-based learning a preferable option, while older employees may find comfort in traditional teaching methods. HR should try to adapt and find methods for training employees in ways that are best suited for them.
• Multi-lingual training - If your work force has a high percentage of workers who speak a language other than English it may be wise to provide safety and company training in multiple languages.

Demand for work-life balance:

More than ever employees seek a balance between home and work. When done properly, companies that implement programs to encourage this balance benefit from a win-win situation. Employees are happier and companies find greater productivity and reduced turnover. Moreover, these programs can be a great recruitment tool. Anderson suggests a number of ways to improve the work/life balance in your company:

• Have special days - Companies can encourage family involvement by participating in special days such as "bring your child to work day." It's a great way for parents to serve as a role model for their kids and for the kids to have a better understanding of what their parents do on a daily basis.
• Provide childcare options - If companies cannot offer on-site child care, they could develop partnerships with local providers to provide discounted rates to employees. At a minimum, employers could supply their employees with a list of child care options close to work.
• Allow flexible working schedules - Companies can offer flexible working hours such as coming in early and leaving early or special summer and winter hours.
• Encourage volunteerism - Support employees' community involvement outside of work. More and more employers are offering incentives to employees who volunteer. These companies will donate between $100 - $500 annually to the not-for-profit where their employee volunteers. Typically employees must volunteer a minimum of 25 hours per year.

Changing legislation

Sarbanes Oxley has been a big issue the past few years, and continues to be as it has started to affect non-profit organizations. Even though SOX is primarily oriented towards responsibilities shared by CEOs and CFOs, many aspects of the legislation have a direct impact on HR processes and systems. The HR department has influence on several aspects of an organization's finances. Furthermore, many key processes within HR have financial impact on the organization including payroll, salary, bonuses, training, and stock options.

Anderson has several suggestions to help HR professionals stay abreast of current legislation and legally protect themselves:

• Become involved in HR groups - Organizations such as SHRM, both nationally and locally are a great way for professionals to get the latest information. If you are interested in getting involved in shaping HR legislation, you can give input through HR Voice. HR Voice is a program for SHRM members, whereby they can partake in influencing legislation on national and state levels. Also, HR professionals should sign up to receive legislative alerts (http://www.shrm.org/government/hrvoice/alerts_published/).
• Obtain legal counsel - HR professionals should always have legal counsel available for guidance.

Need for safety and security

Violence in the workplace has been increasing year after year. According to OSHA and Madero Prevention International, there were 200 workplace suicides and 631 work related homicides in 2003. Since then, these numbers have grown and so has the need for safety and security in the workplace.

All employees must be treated with respect and dignity. No employee should be subject to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse in the workplace. HR professionals must take steps to improve safety and security in the workplace. According to Anderson, there are steps that companies can take immediately to control this rising phenomenon:

• Be Proactive - Companies should take a proactive stance against workplace violence by creating programs to help employees circumvent their anger and prevent violent incidents.
• Respond - If there is a violent incident in the workplace there must be a process whereby employees can easily report the situation and then the company must take swift action to remedy the situation.

All of these external influences will help shape the future role of the HR professional, and will build on the current trend to make it a more strategic role within the organization. "The role of the HR professional is meant to be strategic in nature, however, HR professionals get bogged down with administrative tasks," remarked Anderson. "Outsourcing the HR administration is ideal for many companies. The best way to do this is to conduct an audit of the HR department to determine what programs deliver the most ROI. Those valuable programs should be the focus for the HR professional, and tasks that are less important can be outsourced to ultimately improve the organization and impact the bottom line."