STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Q1a
With the function change between Personnel Management and Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management is not only about the maintenance of personnel record and administrative systems. HRM is strategic in nature; it is about the forecasting of the change of environment, the continual monitoring and adjustment of personnel and management systems to assist an organization to meet the future requirements. We are now to review the major contextual changes affecting the current business environment in Hong Kong.
The minimum wage
It has been two year since the implementation of the minimum wage ordinance on 2011. Over that time, different parties have different point of views about it. There have been debates among policymakers and academics about the positive and negative impacts of a minimum wage on vulnerable groups. For the employees, minimum wage can force employers to offer reasonable salaries; this can protect employees from being exploited. The first beneficiaries’ group will be the city’s security guards, cleaners and the restaurant staff who are in lowest paid industries. The unionists believe setting a higher amount of minimum wages can reduce the increase wealth gap in Hong Kong; therefore the minimum wage amount has been adjusted from twenty-eight Hong Kong Dollars to thirty within two years.
In the view of employers, minimum wages has increased the operating costs or production costs of their business. Employer has to keep wage and employment records of each employee to fulfil the requirement of the law, it had increased the unnecessary administrative workload involved in recording hours worked and calculating wages. Some employers from small or medium companies with weak financial performance may lay off their staff in order to survive in Hong Kong; or even because of increasing overall costs; they need to close down their business.
The economist think that due to the political and legal impact of minimum wages, more lower-skill labor lost
With the function change between Personnel Management and Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management is not only about the maintenance of personnel record and administrative systems. HRM is strategic in nature; it is about the forecasting of the change of environment, the continual monitoring and adjustment of personnel and management systems to assist an organization to meet the future requirements. We are now to review the major contextual changes affecting the current business environment in Hong Kong.
The minimum wage
It has been two year since the implementation of the minimum wage ordinance on 2011. Over that time, different parties have different point of views about it. There have been debates among policymakers and academics about the positive and negative impacts of a minimum wage on vulnerable groups. For the employees, minimum wage can force employers to offer reasonable salaries; this can protect employees from being exploited. The first beneficiaries’ group will be the city’s security guards, cleaners and the restaurant staff who are in lowest paid industries. The unionists believe setting a higher amount of minimum wages can reduce the increase wealth gap in Hong Kong; therefore the minimum wage amount has been adjusted from twenty-eight Hong Kong Dollars to thirty within two years.
In the view of employers, minimum wages has increased the operating costs or production costs of their business. Employer has to keep wage and employment records of each employee to fulfil the requirement of the law, it had increased the unnecessary administrative workload involved in recording hours worked and calculating wages. Some employers from small or medium companies with weak financial performance may lay off their staff in order to survive in Hong Kong; or even because of increasing overall costs; they need to close down their business.
The economist think that due to the political and legal impact of minimum wages, more lower-skill labor lost