Human Resources Management, 12 Steps to Success

By Larissa Zaplatinskaia

12 academic articles, written by PhD holder from No 1 online American University. The articles are about HR Management in the Middle East, how to improve a child learning efficiency, and the history of US employment laws. High quality academic articles for Managers, HR Professionals,and students.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312456099

Book preview

Human Resources Management, 12 Steps to Success

HR Management

12 steps to success

Author Larissa Zaplatinskaia

2014

12 academic articles about HR Management,

Learning is a Complex Process

Historical development of US employment law

Recruitment is an Art

Reflection of Experience

Dorsch Holding is a leading German engineering and architecture consultants, specialized in infrastructure, based in Munich, with a branch office in Abu Dhabi. The company’s annual revenue is 75 million euro, generated by 1,500 permanent employees, including engineers, architects, scientists and experts of other disciplines. The Abu Dhabi Branch was founded in February 1987, and has 421 permanent employees, completed 2,500 projects, valued over 30 billion AED.

During my work with Dorsch Holding, I reported to Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operation officer and General Manager. As recruitment manager, I communicated with recruitment agencies, potential employees, and job advertisement publishers. My primary tasks were to coordinate with operational departments to identify recruitment needs (vacancies), register and store incoming resumes, reply to job applicants, distribute resume summaries to line managers, get feedback on the applicants, and send the feedback to the recruitment agencies. I communicated with the recruiting agencies by telephone and e-mails, established new contacts with Bayt, LBH, BBT, Millennium Solution, Leap29, Jobline, Naukri, Badge. I studied their terms and conditions of service provided, and I documented, in brief, managers’ job requirements. I developed salary and benefits, drafted and placed advertisements in Gulf News, company’s website, and local internet sources such as donkey.com and naukri.com. I reviewed applications, identified and approached suitable candidates, and scheduled and monitored interviews. I sourced candidates both locally and internationally, and checked applicants’ eligibility for labor permit.

I worked closely with company’s PRO to ensure that all employment visa requirements and employee records are maintained efficiently. My other duties were to review recent version of UAE labor law to stay up-to-date with the labor laws and regulations, and to ensure compliance with legal divisions. I interviewed and tested applicants, applied for administrative or human resources positions. I informed candidates about company benefits and job opportunities, and I prepared a brief presentation of the company. 

I wrote interview guidelines and interview general questions, recruiting procedure, Dorsch Holding GmbH recruitment policy, new member procedure, non disclosure agreement, and selection process flow chart. I designed application for employment and pre-employment evaluation forms, to support the current and future hiring needs and provide managers with guidance in recruitment. For better guidance of newly employed, I wrote 25 job descriptions of junior, mid, and senior levels, in engineering, architectural, administrative, and financial fields. In order to develop an effective recruiting strategy, I studied local labor law market factors, employee surveys, reports, and statistical analysis. I researched the most efficient and cost effective open job placements, including advertising media, internet, professional exhibitions, local engineering and technical colleges, and recruitment agencies.  I maintained all required pre and post hire employment documentation, company’s recruitment reports, statistics, charts, and new hire tracking documents.

I created resume database with over 3,000 CVs, and communicated with 16 recruitment agencies, offered their services to Dorsch Holding GmbH. In order to evaluate the recruitment agencies and improve mutual collaboration, I developed a recruitment service summary, in excel sheet, classifying each agency by name, services provided, fees, available contacts, resumes received within one month, resume accepted, appointed applicants, and notes.

I participated in management meetings to get information about upcoming projects, project profiles, jobs specifications, and the recruitment support requirements. I developed and implemented recruitment plans and procedures for staffing, as assigned by General Manager, COO, and CFO. I assisted in development and implementation of new recruiting strategies and policies. In order to improve Dorsch Holding GmbH recruitment process, I designed two sheets in excel program: demand schedule for staff requirement for general requirements and demand schedule for specific projects.

The first sheet categorized each job requirement by the following categories: name of position, education, specified field, experience (job description), years, starting date, budget for monthly salary package in AED, and comments. The second sheet categorized each job requirement by job title, included in organization (yes or no), limited or unlimited contract, company’s project name, department/sector/project, budget in AED per month, immediate supervisor, job description, general requirements, education and experience, specified field and years, start from, language, IT and software, supervisory responsibilities, licensing or  certification requirements , previous authority approvals, comments.

I established the following procedure: company project managers should fill the above sheets and send the sheets to me, as a recruitment manager. After receiving the sheets, I review my resume summary sheet, categorizing each resume by the following categories: number, job code, discipline, applicant name, nationality, date of birth, languages speaking, degree and years position applied, total years of experience, experience with the Gulf region, additional qualifications (i.e. PMP, FIDIC), computer skills, expected monthly salary, visa status and availability, contact mobile or phone, e-mail recruitment agency or source date of receiving, returned on. All these categories have to be specified by me throughout screening each resume received. The other categories of the same sheet, such as: recommended position at Dorsch Holding GmbH, points given in ranking from 1 to 10, invitation for interview (years or no), remarks, notified by Dorsch through, schedule for interview, should be filled by the project managers.

In addition, the sheet had interview result classification: degree and qualification, professional experience, project understanding, work approach, competence, knowledge of required software, comments, recommended for the second interview. These categories should be filled by an interviewer. My part of the process was to compare resume summary sheet with the received job requirement sheet, select the matched resumes, print out summary report, and sent it back to the manger, together with the resumes attached. After evaluating resumes and selecting applicants for interview, the manager sent back to me the summary sheet with remarks of applicants’ names and time for interview. I had to call to the applicants, clarify if they were still available, and schedule the interviews. Managers were assigned to give a feedback on each applicant, either positive or negative. All jobs requirements should be submitted to project managers and only project managers were authorized to send me requests for applicants.

Every day I received from 50 to 60 resumes from four different sources: my e-mail, company website, facsimile machine, and direct approach. As part of the process, I had to register the resumes in summary sheet and to delete resumes, older than three months. Each resume was unique with un-unified design, and had to be registered manually. I did not register every resume, only those, which were related to our field and met company’s standards. I used my professional judgment to identify it. However, I had to reply every applicant, thanking him or her for applying for a job with Dorsch Holding GmbH.

In order to improve recruiting strategy, I studied labor market factors, market’s demand and supply, service market factors, and ability to pay for engineering consultants or architects. I worked closely with CFO and COO to study organization factors of engineering company, specialized in infrastructure, and having 421 employees. I proposed hybrid competitive pay policy, which was a combination of lead policy for highly demanded and/or high skilled positions, such as architects, project managers, chief resident engineers, resident engineers, and assistant resident engineers. I proposed lag policy for junior or low skilled positions, such as inspectors, lab technicians, draftsmen and secretaries. I suggested match policy for middle-level or administrative positions, such as senior inspectors, architectural draftsmen, human resource personnel, accounts and administrators.

I designed pay levels and pay structures for company employees, and prepared employee recruitment survey and statistics analysis. I was involved in developing relocation policy and procedures for newly employed German architects. Using excel program, I designed relocation metrics in order to assist our CFO in cost estimate. I coordinated with candidates from after accepting an offer to arriving, collecting the documents from candidates for on-boarding and visa processing. I handled queries for visa processing, coordinated with PRO to ensure visas processing in a timely manner. I updated a regular report and tracked the received documents, arrival dates, and I instructed administrator to coordinate with our travel agent to book mobilization flights and accommodation. 

I began formulation of recruitment strategy by identifying company needs and business objectives. I studied how to use the industry tools and competitive analysis to assess company’s external environment and matching company strategy to its external situation, evaluating company internal conditions, resource capabilities, relative cost, and competitive strength with rivals, pros and cons of each of the five basic competitive strategy options, and which recruitment strategy is the best to employ for the company.

A main obstacle, I faced as a recruitment manager in UAE engineering sector was an unavailability of relevant, timely and accurate compensation data. While market rates for junior positions were more or less stable and known, salaries at the mid-to-senior level were less transparent and fast-changing, making objective planning and decision-making extremely difficult.

As a recruitment manager of engineering sector, I tried to shift from ‘reactive’ to ‘planned’ recruitment. However, the way in which projects were awarded, made it very difficult to plan ahead. In Europe, engineering firms receive early warnings if they are likely to win a bid. In the Gulf, by contrast, there is no reliable indication of having won a bid until it is finally confirmed. Furthermore, upon confirmation of the award, engineering companies are given only 30 days to mobilize resources for the project, compare to 60 days, which is the norm in Europe. This forces most of the recruitment continue to be reactive upon the award of the contract.

Another challenge I faced in the UAE, was the diverse range of job titles, certifications, and educational standards prevalent in the source countries. The skill sets vary significantly, depending on the country in which they are trained. Adding to that the problem of fraud in educational certificates, which is prevalent in parts of Asia. Therefore, I had either to limit my search to candidates from specific countries only, or institute elaborative assessment and reference checking procedures to verify the suitability of potential candidates. Knowledge in educational establishments, such as colleges, universities, or professional schools from the major manpower supply regions, may guide in finding the right candidates and talented graduates, while screening resumes.

The other obstacle, I faced in the UAE, as a recruiter, was restrictions on expatriates switching employment from employer to employer. In an effort to reduce job switching and ease the pressure on salaries, the government has recently tightened the sponsorship by implementing a rule that the employees who cancel their employment with one company may not be sponsored by another firm without the consent of the first employer. In addition, UAE labor law says that work is an inherent right of the Nationals of the United Arab Emirates. Expatriates may be granted labor permit and be employed only if there are no UAE national workers available for the job. The law restricts recruiters in employing females for engineering and technical positions, required for site jobs.  More than 50 per cent of the right applicants I declined because they were not eligible for new employment.

I began developing corporate HR policies and procedures, using as guidance the Employment for Human Resource practice book (David J. Walsh, 2004) to ensure equal employment opportunity and compliance with UAE labor law and regulations. I started effective implementation of the policies and procedures across assigned divisions. I started preparing Employee Opinion Survey, Annual Salary Planning & Organization Review, and coordinating recruitment and selection activities, because the essential components in formulating recruitment strategy are business research, survey and analysis. Recruitment involves many aspects and issues, such as safety, stability, economic development, infrastructure, legislation, cultural ambiguity and so on. All these aspects have to be considered.

I identified recruiting sources, such as internal search, based on employee referrals or recommendations, and external search, involved advertisement, employment agencies, unsolicited applicants and internet.  I established selection procedure, communicated with recruiting agencies, drafted and placed advertisements in mass media and internet, informed company’s employees about open positions, and created over 3000 resumes database.

For job analysis, job evaluation, and job description I applied general procedures for conventional job analysis, task-based data (as per company specific requirements), job based structure, Equity Theory, framework for analyzing employment relationships, comparison of pay system objectives, and cost cutter compensation system. Using this guidance, I crafted grading system, determining compensation factors, scaling them and weighing the factors according to importance. I have created project team structure.  

I used combination of ethnocentric, polycentric, global, and region-centric staffing approach. In order to facilitate effective management of people and progressive recruiting environment, with reference to international codes of conduct, international business ethics for international management, managing across borders and cultures, I adjusted business and management style to local culture and international requirements. I adjusted communication strategy to cross-cultural environment and multicultural team, to minimize cross-cultural noise.

For developing relocation policy and procedures, and for adopting expatriates to the local culture and environment, I used guidance of international management, managing across borders, and cultures, such as balance sheet approach: relationship among Strategic mode, organizational variables, and staffing orientation, problems with expatriation, management of cultural shock, training techniques, and compensating expatriates.

I educated operation managers on the matters related to recruitment and employment legislation. To attract and employ right applicants, I applied strategic approach to the human resource management, job design and grading structure. I developed manpower planning and budget spreadsheet, using different human resource approaches.

The main attraction in the UAE for expatriates is increasingly interesting career opportunities, modern infrastructure, and greater social liberties, available in the country. However, continuing boom in the Gulf construction industry is challenging companies to attract qualified engineers, architects, and managers, needed for projects. Staff shortages are hurting the industry, forcing many contractors to turn down projects due to unavailability of the necessary workforce. Through my experience, the candidates most in demand are: Structural Engineers, Quantity Surveyors, Planning Engineers, Project Directors, Design Specialists, Design Managers, Urban Designers, Urban Planners, Lab Technicians, Land Surveyors, Site Inspectors, Mechanical Engineers, Surveyors, Senior Architects, and architectural Designers.

The concept of recruitment

Employment planning is an important process, which insures an organization that the right number and right quality people were employed to complete tasks effectively and efficiently in accordance with company’s mission and strategic objectives. Employment planning depends on corporate goals, evaluation of current human resources, estimate in market demand and supply for labors, and matching the demand with the current supplies of labors. Recruiting should generate a large pool of applicants. Successful recruitment palling is designed to identify an organization’s human resource needs. Recruiting is the process of funding potential candidates for organizational vacancies, a link between those with jobs to fill, and those who seek jobs.

A good recruiting program should attract qualified and discourage unqualified applicants. It should minimize the cost of recruitment process and consider external and internal factors: organization’s image, attractiveness and nature of the job, internal policies, government requirements, and recruiting budget. These factors can limit the attraction for applicants.

The primary sources of recruitment are employees’ referrals, recommendations, as internal search; advertisement, recruitment agencies, schools, colleges, and universities, professional organizations or exhibitions, events, unsolicited applicants, internet recruiting, as external search. Alternatives may be temporary workers, independent contractors, student internship.

In the United Arab Emirates, selection process involves initial screening, application, employment test, interview, conditional job offer, background examination or legibility, medical and physical examination, and permanent job offer.

Hiring good people is particularly challenging in engineering-based organizations because they require a unique brand of technical and professional people. Recruiters must carefully screen final candidates to ensure they fit well to organizational culture. The goal of recruiting is to give enough information about the job to attract qualified applicants and simultaneously discourage the unqualified from applying. Human resource planning is one of the most important elements because it is a process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number of candidates, capable effectively and efficiently complete the tasks that will help the organization to achieve its overall strategic objectives. Companies must determine what job need to done, how many and what type of workers will be required. To ensure this, human resources managers must be engaged in employment planning. 

Employment planning is determined by organization’s business, objectives, strategy, defining how the goals and objectives will be achieved, SWOT analysis, competitive intelligence, structure, defining what job need to be done and by whom, people matching skills, knowledge, and abilities to required jobs, year-by-year analysis for every significant job level and type, accurate estimates of future demands in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Successful employment planning is designed to identify company’s HR needs. Next step in staffing is recruiting. Recruiting is the process of discovering potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies.

Promoting with rewards company’s best performers sends a message to the rest of employees that the company both rewards good performance and repays loyalty. Recruiting from outside can bring new blood, new ideas, and excitement into an organization, when it seems that energy is decreasing. At the top levels, recruiting from outside and sometimes from a completely different industry can energize an organization.

One of the best sources for new candidates is recommendations from company employees, because employees recommend someone, if they believe the individual can perform sufficiently. Also, managers can receive more accurate information about potential candidates.

Job description is guidance for candidates in what they are expected to do, therefore, it should be accurately designed. Job analysis methods such as: observation, individual interview, group interview, structured questionnaire, technical conference, and diary are used to determine job elements and develop an accurate job description. 

Nearly four out of five companies currently use the Internet to recruit new employees by adding recruitment section to their website. The website has information about qualifications, experience required, benefits provided, but they also showcase the organizations’ products, services, corporate philosophy, and mission statement. The best designed web sites include an on-line response form, and applicants don’t need to send a separate resume by mail, e-mail or fax.

There are more than 170 recruitment agencies based in the UAE, plus hundreds of agencies from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Philippines. Many of them may try to approach daily. It could be costly and time consuming. Moreover, not all agencies are productive, some of them may overload clients with dozens irrelevant or unmatched resumes. The critical element in working relationship of a firm is quality of staffing help the firm receives. Reliance on a reputable and capable staffing company is an important management tool for any business entity. Check on recruitment agencies credibility, services offered,