The health care field is one sector that has large number employees who also possess different skills. There are pharmacists, laboratory workers, surgeons, dentists and respiratory therapists, just to mention but a few. The human resource department in any health sector has the mandate to recruit and oversee the welfare of the workforce so as to ensure the smooth running of any health care center (Fombrun et al ,1984). This department is faced with some challenges in the execution of its duties and this paper seeks to illuminate some of these challenges as well as give an account of the challenges I have observed in a health organization.
There is an increasing demand for healthcare providers which is a major challenge for the Human Resource department (Jones D. , 1996). One reason behind this is the fact that many employees are attaining their retirement age at the same time (Shi Leiyu, 2006). This translates to an increment of vacancies that are supposed to be filled by qualified staff. There are many fields that do not have enough trainees to replace those that are retiring (Shi Leiyu, 2006).
Additionally, there is the challenge of provision of additional training that is usually carried out so as to keep the staff up to date with the times. This is mostly in the technological field because it keeps changing and staff has to keep updating themselves so as to keep up to the standards. Some of the members of staff are isolated geographically and this makes it hard for the effectiveness of training sessions to be measured and also for the Human Resource department to allocate the training times.
Full coverage costs of employees health needs is one major challenge. This is especially so because most organizations depend reduction of budgets and the retrenchment of employees to survive or to continue being in business. Employees who are taken in without proper investigations regarding their health cause a lot of challenges to the human resources sector in the event of an employee’s illness especially if they have terminal illnesses like HIV Aids or Cancer.
Funds are usually scarce especially when taking into consideration that sick employees are usually unproductive when taken ill. In line with that the human resource sector finds it also difficult to live up to the state and federal laws that demand that the employers take care of their terminally ill workers and give them benefits. This makes them shy away from committing themselves to hiring the terminally ill. Additionally, the human resource sector finds itself having to deal with employees, who are not conversant with employment laws (Burke R.J. , 2004).
This is characterized by their violation and failure of adherence to specific organization rules. My personal experience is one that had to do with the employees who had not been properly trained. They would administer the wrong kind of treatment to patients. This together with lack of proper office ethics put the health institution under legal risk and eventually led to its. The challenge herein is putting these personnel under more training because the cost of hiring others may be very high.
Another challenge I have witnessed is that of downsizing of staff. In an effort to reduce the costs of an organization (Sparrow P. , and Cooper C. L. , 2003), this is one measure that is usually taken. Determining the basis on which to retrench is one big challenge. The human resource department has to handle the whole issue by making sure that there is proper communication to all workers about such a move. They have to organize workshops and seminars so as to advise those being laid off on alternative income generating projects.
On the other hand they have to address the plight of the remaining employees because they are likely to be demoralized. Most human resource managers do not know how to deal well with harassment and discrimination behavior mainly because even though trained, they do not have a strong stand or conviction against these vices or are to some extent unwilling to take action against them. Finally, the human resource sector is also faced with the challenge of how to thoroughly deal with issues like hazards that happen in the course of duty (Tweedy T. J. ,2005).
Romance among staff, office gossip and favoritism as well as employees complaints about their terms of work are other issues that present a big challenge for the human resource to sort. The human resource department is the heart of any organization because it is vested with the welfare of the workforce without whom there cannot be any form of productivity (Fisher C. D. , etal 1996). This may be the reason why it has quite a number of challenges pegged onto it.
References Burke R. J. (Ed. ). (2004). Re-inventing Human Resources Management; Challenges and new directions. Routledge: New York.Fombrun J. C. ,Tichy M N. ,Devanna M. A. (1984). Strategic Human Resource Management . John Wiley and Sons. Fisher C. D. , etal. (1996). Human Resource Management. Houghton Mifflin:222 Berkeley Street: Boston. Jones D. D. (1996).
Repositioning Human Resources. A Case Study. 19 Shi Leiyu. (2006). Managing Human Resources in Health care Organizations. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Sparrow P. , Cooper C. L. (2003). The Employment Relationship; Key Challenges for Human Resource. ButterWorth –Heinemann. Tweedy T. J. (2005). Healthcare Hazard Control and Safety Management. CRC press.