Flex HR is excited to showcase our first release of a series of videos highlighting staff and consultant members of the Flex HR team. We are honored to have a strong group of individuals from diverse HR backgrounds who make up our hardworking Flex Family. Keep checking back for upcoming new videos that highlight and feature our important team members and professional HR consultants.
For the last 18 months CEOs have struggled to respond to the risks to their workforce and consequently to their business resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Government enacted benefit programs, debates over mandating face coverings, vaccinations, the rising fears of the Delta and other variants of the virus along with information and misinformation on mainstream blasted through social media outlets have only increased the complexity of managing employee concerns and business productivity. In the mist of the pandemic chaos, it’s vital that Human Resources is working with CEOs of small and medium-size companies to take proactive initiatives to engage these issues and manage the hesitation as well as employee fears in the workplace.
The idea behind automation is to streamline workflows and free up the workforce for more valuable tasks. As seen in the past, technological advancement tends to destroy jobs, but it also creates more jobs. Automation is creeping into almost all fields making the workforce worried that their jobs might become obsolete one day.
Human Resources (HR) is constantly stereotyped as the bad guy reporting to the company, and not in support of the workers. Dissimilar management teams view the role of HR very differently. The typical role carved out for HR ranges from administrative only, to overseeing the employee lifecycle, outlining company policies, talent acquisition, payroll and on up to strategic partner. This said, employee interface is inherent in HR’s role.
Recruiting times have been tough during the pandemic but now companies are coming back strong and looking to hire the right candidate for their open positions. So how can you get ahead of those other contenders? It’s time to impress by asking some more in-depth questions that help reveal important information about yourself.
It’s only when you’re a business owner yourself that you fully understand the challenges other entrepreneurs face. Flex HR’s Founder, Jim Cichanski, sat down with Bill McDermott of ProfitSense on Business RadioX about his own entrepreneurial journey, what it took to start his Human Resources business, and how that experience aids in rendering outstanding service to clients. McDermott speaks to “[showcasing] the need for high quality human resources and that most businesses are not as focused as they should be to make sure their HR resources are taken care of.”
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has really evolved and become a top priority and discipline of Human Resources. We have seen a new wave of preventing acts of discrimination and harassment within organizations as well as cultivating inclusion and belonging. Employers across the nation are encouraging training programs for employees and management in order to grow diversity, eliminate bias and focus on the quality, knowledge, experience, work style and individual characteristics of employees.
While employees may be getting used to their new working environments from home over the past year or so, HR experts say employees need to start returning to their offices. The list of reasons drags on, but factors include decreased productivity working remotely, poor working conditions at home, managing employees is more difficult, obstacles with training new employees, camaraderie is missing, employee mental stress while at home is rising, increased drinking and drug use on the job, increased anxiety, and office space cost.
Well, that is the loaded question of the day! If you ask us here at Flex HR, we say that we the Human Resources (HR) experts are the glue that holds an organization together. HR is responsible for managing the entire lifecycle of an employee – and covering everything in between such as recruitment, onboarding, benefits, training, payroll, etc. in order for the individual and company to successfully grow. HR is accountable for much more than just a business’s human capital. HR involves comprehensive functions such as HR back-office administration, strategic planning, organizational development, risk management, regulatory compliance, employee websites, and ethics hotlines to name a few.
Flex HR’s very own Founder and CHRO, Jim Cichanski was interviewed by People HR on the roles, responsibilities and risks associated with Human Resources. The article does a great job of summarizing their take on 6 major factors as to what HR does:
Ever think about getting out of your Professional Employment Organization (PEO)? Managing your daily business operations and processes are a very complex undertaking. Human Resources is the most vital component that holds these tasks together, so it’s imperative you have the proper HR expertise on hand. Many companies do not, and so they outsource their HR to a PEO or an Administrative Services Organization (ASO). An ASO brings you the next level of HR support, providing strategic HR, an HRIS system to take you into your growth strategy and the flexibility to you to have your own policies and best practices.
The number one reason employers leave a PEO is the high cost with little to no HR Support. The number 2 reason is to gain control over their staff and make them actual employees of their company.