Everything you need to know about personnel management
In this article, we’ll take a close look at objectives of personnel management, the different types of personnel management and how to align your whole organization.
Satisfied employees are more productive and motivated, and create a better professional culture in the workplace. [1]
Effective personnel management ensures that employees are continuously developing, productive, engaged, and satisfied – and that their goals are aligned with your organization’s objectives.
In this article, we’ll take a close look at how this is achieved, what it entails, its benefits, and how AG5 can help you create and implement a strategy for personnel management – even on an international scale.
What is personnel management?Copied
Personnel management – more commonly referred to as human resource management (HRM) – involves overseeing an organization’s workforce by aligning recruitment, training, and performance processes with strategic goals. [2]
The objectives of personnel managementCopied
The goal of personnel management is to give your organization a competitive advantage by ensuring it consists of a skilled, motivated, and cohesive workforce. Personnel management also tends to focus on taking action to solve problems rather than creating plans or schedules
Elements of personnel managementCopied
Effective personnel management revolves around three connected elements. [3] Let’s take a look at each of them.
Organization
This refers to the type of company and its goals. Typically, the most basic, fundamental goal of a company is to make a profit. For certain organizations, however, such as charities or educational institutes, this may differ. Regardless, the goal of any given organization will have a major influence on the other two elements of personnel management.
Jobs
The jobs and roles that are necessary for your organization to function. These include technical roles, creative roles, as well as the skills and competencies that employees must possess to be able to properly perform them.
People
Perhaps obviously, the people that work within your organization are the most important element of personnel management. The well-being of your organization’s employees is crucial, as it will be near impossible to achieve your goals without it. You’ll also need to focus on hiring and retaining people with the skills (both hard and soft), competencies, and knowledge that align with your organization’s goals.
Aligning the elements of personnel management in an organizationCopied
Aligning the three elements of personnel management involves a multipronged approach that encompasses a spectrum of employee-related factors. Here, we’ll take a brief look at a few of the most important.
- Recruitment and selection. Align hiring practices with the skills, competencies, and cultural fit necessary for organizational goals.
- Training and development. Training programs must directly enhance skills and competencies that are relevant to your organization’s goals.
- Performance management. Effective personnel management hinges on clear and organizationally standardized performance metrics.
- Communication. You must establish effective communication channels to keep employees on all levels informed about organizational changes, goals, and expectations.
- Employee well-being. Place a focus on employee development, satisfaction, and productivity to increase retention rates, as well as overall employee engagement.
Three types of personnel managementCopied
Personnel management is a process you can view or approach from one of several angles. Broadly speaking, we’ve identified three types of personnel management – strategic, tactical, and operational.
1. Strategic personnel management
Strategic personnel management primarily focuses on current and future staffing needs. Are your current personnel policies working?
Key factors to examine include recruitment policy, current staff turnover, and employee satisfaction levels. Based on this information, you can predict your short- and long-term staffing requirements.
2. Tactical personnel management
Tactical personnel management focuses primarily on developing and planning your organization’s staffing resources.
This includes:
- Planning staffing levels and schedules – based on quantitative and qualitative demands for human resources and available competences
- Updating long-term staffing plans – creating frameworks for staff recruitment, selection, and training
- Structuring staff resources – organic, functional (job assessments, employment conditions, remuneration systems, etc.), and technical (tools and other HR instruments)
3. Operational personnel management
Operational personnel management focuses on support functions or processes relating to staff influx.
Examples of operational personnel management include:
- Setting up recruitment & selection process workflows
- Creating and maintaining staff records
- Managing medical examinations (if applicable)
- Issuing IDs, tools, vehicles, etc.
All staffing investments and continued professional development (CPD) activities also form part of operational personnel management. Examples include:
- Education & training
- Performance reviews & assessment interviews
- Career advice
- Sickness & leave schemes
- Timekeeping & timesheets
- Salary processing
- Termination processes
The benefits of personnel managementCopied
Personnel management creates a working environment in which staff can perform to the best of their abilities, and that their performance contributes to the success of your organization. This results in many benefits, as seen below.
Increased employee productivity
When employees are well-trained, motivated, and aligned with organizational goals. Because of this, they deeply understand their roles and are equipped with the necessary skills to perform them – leading to increased productivity.
Improved employee satisfaction and retention
Effective personnel management prioritizes employee well-being, recognition, and development – and thus contribute to higher rates of job satisfaction [4]. Satisfied employees, meanwhile, are more likely to stay with a company for longer, resulting in higher rates of retention (and reducing your organization’s turnover costs).
Better organizational performance
When employees’ goals are aligned with their organizations’, they contribute positively to key performance indicators, leading to improved business outcomes. This is because everyone is working toward the same common goal, despite potentially having different individual goals.
Effective recruitment and talent acquisition
The right method of personnel management will include a strategic approach to recruiting, attracting, and selecting candidates who both fit your organization’s culture and possess the right skills for individual and organizational success. This results in a skilled and capable workforce that is always able to add value to your organization.
Legal compliance and risk mitigation
Effective personnel management also includes staying up to date with and adhering to laws and regulations related to employment and safety. This minimizes legal risks, prevents costly litigation, and fosters a compliant and ethical work environment.
Personnel management on an international scale with AG5Copied
Personnel management requires having a clear picture of your employees’ skills, competencies, knowledge, and qualifications. This is true regardless of your organization’s size, but it is especially important if you are operating on an international scale, with hundreds – or even thousands – of employees across multiple sites.
Skills matrices are the ideal way to consolidate and categorize this information. They clearly show the skills your employees have, those they need, and whether any skills gaps are emerging within your organization.
There are numerous benefits of using skills matrices:
- You can identify critical tasks and requirements quickly and easily, and align your personnel management strategy accordingly
- It is easy to find skilled or qualified replacements should an employee be out sick or leave the company
- You can easily track training progress for various certifications and skills
- You can ensure that your employees are consistently and constantly developing
Skills matrices are invaluable tools for effective personnel management. They are also the first step in laying and foundation for implementing a skills management strategy across your organization. To get started, you can download one of our free Excel skills matrix templates. When you’re ready, you can then take the next step by using skills management software.
Or perhaps that moment is already here? If so, you can request a free live, 15-minute demo today for a customized look at how AG5’s skills management software can help you create and implement a strategy for effective personnel management – whether your organization is a single office or an international operation.
Update reason: Refreshed and edited content, added additional sections, added additional sources
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APA
Source number | Source title | Description | Date retrieved | Source URL |
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1 | Proof That Positive Work Cultures Are More Productive | Harvard Business Review | 15 Apr 2024 15:38:14 | https://hbr.org/2015/12/proof-.. |
2 | Personnel Management: Definition, Types and Benefits in the Workplace | Indeed | 15 Apr 2024 15:38:58 | https://www.indeed.com/career-.. |
3 | Elements of Personnel Management | Management Study Guide | 15 Apr 2024 15:39:26 | https://www.managementstudygui.. |
4 | Why Employees Stay | Harvard Business Review | 15 Apr 2024 15:39:14 | https://hbr.org/1973/07/why-em.. |
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Written by: Rick van Echtelt
Copy edited by: Adam Kohut