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Human Resources And The Human Resource Department

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Introduction

Human Resources are concerned with the management of people within an organization, not only to minimize internal issues but to also ensure a highly functional workforce. The department is responsible for recruiting suitable candidates, identifying and meeting the training needs of existing staff, ensuring employees welfare and safety, and raising awareness of current workplace legislation (BBC, 2014).

In addition to the above responsibilities, the Human Resources Department also covers five key roles. Firstly, the executive role requires the human resource professionals to be specialized in the areas which encompass people management. Secondly is the audit role where the department follows up with other corporate areas to …show more content…

In some firms, due to their size, a human resource department may not even exist leading to significant issues both from a business and employee development standpoint. The following paper will explore and discuss human resource issues within the United Kingdom along with what has been done to rectify the problems.

Human Resource Challenges

One of the most significant human resource issues in the United Kingdom is the all together absence of a dedicated human resource department within a business. Approximately 94% of businesses in the United Kingdom employ fewer than 10 people, therefore they are not large enough to support or justify an HR function (Lee, 2004). This means that human resource activities are being looked after by others within the business that do not specialize in managing people or legislation. This lack of knowledge can negatively impact a business, both by not paying attention to employees needs as well as not abiding by government legislation.

A second issue affecting businesses is a lack of internal training for continual development of employees. The Federation of Small Businesses in the United Kingdom found that training planning was a major problem in organizations. Only 19% of firms were satisfied with their training plans, a significantly low number. The survey also found that 44% of small businesses had no training at all. Time constraints and cost were the factors most inhibiting to the

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