In the HR field, you often have to make tough calls. One of those, unfortunately, is job eliminations, whether through layoffs or firing. That probably shouldn’t be the first move you make (a performance improvement plan, for example, can be just what you need to bring an underperforming employee up to snuff). But when that doesn’t work out, or an employee does something particularly egregious, there comes a point when you need to let an employee go for the good of the company — and it’s important to communicate to your potential employer that you understand that.
The ability to think strategically—and use that skill to successfully grow and help lead the company—is important in HR roles. They must know the strategic needs of the company, in all departments and at all levels, and must have the skills to look for and retain people that meet those needs.
8 of the Biggest Challenges for HR
- Engaging the Workforce.
- Attracting Talent to the Enterprise.
- Managing Relationships.
- Training & Development Strategies.
- Talent Retention.
- Diversity in the Workplace.
- Embrace Inevitable Change.
- Employee Health & Well-Being.
Parting ways with someone or something you have invested on, spent time with and made them a part of your extended family is never an easy job. But there are conditions and situations, created either by the internal or external factors, where you need to do away with the relationship and engagement with a person. This statement stands true for all types of relationships, whether personal or professional.
Just like the kind of emotional effort goes into a personal relationship, a professional one also takes a lot of time, capital and effort. It becomes necessary to do away with the engagement in contract, when it is seen that it can’t be further continued for one or many reasons, that can or can’t be controlled by the parties involved.
The duty of the HR manager is to keep the workforce motivated and productive, but only with the available resources, the requirements of the firm, and the work environment that keeps the greater good for all in mind.
The elimination of employment can be because of various reasons:
- Skills:
Generally, an employer is given help and time to acquire skills to stay competitive in the market and become useful for the organization. Many well to do organization also help their employees find career track more suitable according to their ability in the firm if it is sound enough to do that. But an elimination might come as opening up the space for better, fresh talent if the employee is unable to show progress, commitment and usefulness for the organization.
- Finances:
Most often than not, the reason behind elimination falls on the financial condition of the company, which can be a result of both internal factors like not being able to compete because of lack of expertise or mismanagement of assets, or external where various factors like business environment, competition, political atmosphere etc. pushes them into a slump.
In order to keep the house running and retain the most important assets and functions, they might have to scale down in operations and workforce.
- Disciplinary:
Sometimes, in spite of getting both aforementioned factors right, there might be a situation where employment of a person or a group of people be found as counterproductive to the workplace and organization. This happens generally when the work environment is becoming toxic and getting disruptive, because of any mental, physical or material harm inflicted upon the company and its assets, including its workforce. Then elimination, with options of even involving internal and external penalty options and criminal lawsuits , might be executed in effect to retain the sanctity of the workplace and to promote security of the assets of the organization.