New managers need to be trained in HR policies and procedures. Developing training modules that will address their needs will help build consistency company-wide.
A common component of managerial training programs is a section on human resources. New managers need to be aware of HR policies and procedures including strategic staff planning, job analysis and design, recruiting, interviewing, selection, orientation, professional development, succession planning, health and safety and managing the performance of their direct reports.
These skills may come naturally to the new manager or may not. It depends entirely on their attitudes towards human capitol and the importance it plays in their alignment with business strategies and philosophies. Managers who focus more on the numbers and less on managing talent tend to let HR responsibilities slip. The irony is that to be highly productive, talent needs to be optimized. Good HR practices go a long way to ensuring that talent is optimized and productivity is high.
Developing a program to train new managers can be effectively structured by creating modules on the topics listed above. Modules that can be delivered in 1-3 hours will be practical. Expecting new managers to be pulled away from their duties for more time is not respecting the needs of operations and may result in poor attendance. It is important to develop a roll out plan that works around operational constraints like seasonal busy times, major projects and events or staffing shortages.
If program participants are located all over the country, then look at delivering part or all of the training online, as webinars or tied-in with meetings or other events that will bring them together in one location.
Some companies, especially newer start-ups, may not have a formal HR department. This requires hiring managers to be HR generalists and other staff to take on the roles normally assigned to junior HR staff like offer letters, enrollment in benefits, provisioning and so on. In this case, it is wise to have training available and policies in place to ensure corporate culture, ethical and legal policies are being practiced. These policies and procedures will help ensure that fair practices are maintained and that there is consistency from business unit to business unit.
If you have comments or suggestions on this article, please use the link below to start a discussion.
The copyright of the article HR Training for New Managers in Training/Professional Development is owned by Joni Rose. Permission to republish HR Training for New Managers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments
Aug 2, 2007 11:10 AM
Mona Piontkowski :
Great ideas - Joni.
There are seminar companies that offer the same seminar in different cities - another way to get everyone on the same page even though they are in different locations. Fred Pryor Seminars for example offers a course entitled "HR Essentials" that can get new hires up to speed quickly. Cornell University also a has great human resources training program of various one and two day seminars - good to fill in the knowledge gaps.
Aug 4, 2007 8:40 AM
Joni Rose :
Hi Mona,
Thanks for your insights and great advice! Yes, there are some great outsourced training out there on this subject. Most major cities have a university or college that offers an HR program and outreach to the local businesses. There are also private HR consulting firms that offer this sort of training as well. Thanks for sharing your particular favorites. I hope other readers will share thiers.
Joni
Feb 22, 2008 8:51 PM
Shailesh :
hi joni well in regards to training programmes for HR , these days companies are outsourcing the work to external vendors, however , in some companies the new HR recruit is sent to diffrent locations in the same country to know the Culture, on a whole getting Trained . So, not like earlier times, Training of HR is considered more important these days. Regards Shailesh
Feb 24, 2008 5:34 AM
Joni Rose :
Hi Shailesh,
Thank you for your comments! It is always interesting to hear from readers.
The article was about training new managers on HR policies not on training HR hires, but you are absolutely right that a good way to train new HR hires on cultural differences is to send them to different branch offices (be it in the same country or different countries) to gain an understanding of cultural differences. The phrase "cultural differences" can refer to corporate cultural differences or ethnic culture differences - both of which can be studied by visiting various branch offices.
You are also correct that the importance of HR training - be it to new HR recruits or to new managers - has become a much hirer priority these days.
