HRM540 Week 2 Journal Entry

 

Week 2 Learning Log


What Surprised You?

One topic that surprised me this week was learning about all of the individual steps needed to prepare for an employee's first day, as well as the day 1 and week 1 activities and responsibilities that HR has to prepare for the new hire. I never realized how intricate and how much involvement is required when getting a new hire on board. Another topic that surprised and intrigued me was employee development, specifically Week 2 Discussion 3 about performance reviews. I have never had a performance review before, and after learning more about them I am really looking forward to my first one at the beginning of 2021, especially because it will be the first time my organization holds a performance review. I think it will be very insightful to see how my performance has been perceived, determine what areas I can improve upon and be offered advice on future potentials. I am especially excited to discuss future potentials and opportunities with the company because of my interest in developing my career in HR.


What applications do you see to your job?

I can definitely see the application and correlation of Week 2’s lecture and discussion topics with my job. When I completed the Week 2 individual assignment, I surveyed 11 employees (including myself) regarding the onboarding, engagement and performance at our company. Though the survey was only a small sample size of the organizational body, I was able to gather some interesting insights. I found that the company currently has a satisfactory onboarding process, but can improve with it’s employee engagement as well as training and performance management. A big factor that was discovered to help in these areas of weakness is employee feedback as well as engagement. Employee feedback should be held throughout the training process, as well as throughout their careers, to help elevate and improve the organization. For example, employees can express the challenges that they currently face in their position and determine what could help them be successful and how to fix the problem with management. This is why it is so important for managers to check in with their employees and ask them what is needed to enable confidence in their roles as well as establish learning opportunities as a part of performance management (Andriotis, 2018). This is something that I am aware of that my organization is currently working to improve employee engagement, communication and the overall experience for its employees. We are striving to be within the top 10 employers in the state, and employee engagement is critical for this to be a success. Employee engagement and performance management have been key areas that our company has been focusing on developing this year and moving forward, I am intrigued as to how the plan will pan out.

 

Additionally, regarding the company’s first time doing performance reviews, I spoke with my HR manager and she showed me how HR and management plan on reviewing employees in an organized manner using a 9 box grid, as shown below:

 The HR manager then went into detail on how the 9-box grid will not only help our company with the performance reviews, but also with succession planning. Succession planning is the method of determining possible future leaders and coaches, with the company’s long-term performance in mind (Barnhill, 2017). Additionally, the 9 box grid is very easy to use and provides consistent data in evaluation processes (Barnhill, 2017). By analyzing where management and HR believe employees lie on the 9-box grid, the company can determine what areas the employee needs to focus on improving while mentoring and providing learning opportunities for the employee, as well as developing a career path plan for the employee within the organization. 


What questions do you have about what you’ve studied?

I only have a few questions about Week 2’s material. My first question is about preparing for day 1 as well as the training and the onboarding process for a newly hired employee. Is there a difference in the preparation needed for new hires based on their position or the company that they work for? Additionally, I remember being told when hired at my current organization that managers “have it tough” because they do not endure a training program when hired, unlike employees. It is true that managers hired for a company do not go through a formal training process like the employees usually do?

 

What would you like to know more about?

I would love to learn more about the process that goes into planning a performance review and evaluating the employees within an organization.

 

 

Resources:

Andriotis, N. (2018). Improve your ongoing Training Program In 6 Simple Steps. Talentlms. Retrieved from: https://www.talentlms.com/blog/six-ways-improve-ongoing-training-for-employees/

Barnhill, A .(2017). Using The Performance Values Matrix Alongside a 9-Box Grid. PerformanceCulture.com. Retrieved from: https://performanceculture.com/9-box-grid-performance-values-matrix/





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