A recent article in the Financial Times urged ‘HR to go back to basics’, arguing that one of the key tasks of HR is to recruit and retain. And that HR functions globally should go back to these core tasks and do them well (again). In the same period, we see Elon Musk violating all sorts of best practices in – human resource – management and shooting from the hip at his newly acquired Twitter. The FIFA football world cup is over and the ruckus about forced labor, modern slavery, and poor working conditions has died out while the struggle for equal rights (and pay) of female employees is far from over as this article indicates.

https://hrmasia.com/the-philippines-moves-to-eliminate-discrimination-against-female-employees/.

There are lots going on in the world that are linked to work, labor, and HR, so what trends do we see in HR land from our humble perspective at Cadena?

• We see larger companies picking up their regional expansion and looking to ensure their HR practice follows suit. That sounds logical and it is. Of course. If your staff size is increasing, if you have to comply with different local labor laws and other regulations it is of utmost importance to ensure you – as a business owner or line manager – have a sound administration of all your people and can rely on the adequacy of controls, completeness of metrics and correctness of salary calculations.
• In line with the FT article, HR needs to go back to basics. It is really useless to implement 9-boxes, 360-reviews, and other sophisticated practices if you can’t pay your salaries accurately and on time, if you have no clue at what time and where your staff is working, and if have your rostering, scheduling, and time-and-attendance not under control and if you have no grip on your overtime. So, we see many companies taking their prime responsibilities seriously and getting these common aspects of the HR function properly and efficiently organized.
• Last but not least, let’s not forget that most of the ‘HR work’ is done by line managers. As we all know, staff join a company or job but leave a (bad) manager. Line managers need to work closely with their staff and ensure they are and stay engaged to perform to the best of their abilities. However, if it is a hassle to keep track of employees’ whereabouts, if rostering is a chore if approving overtime or leaves is cumbersome and tardy…. then line managers will be spending precious time on administrative tasks while they should be spending time with their teams. So… dear HR heads, CEOs, COOs, and CFOs, make sure you enable your line managers with a solid HR system.