• Hiring and Recruiting
  One of the primary functions of the human resources department is to oversee hiring and recruiting within an organization. The department actively recruits, screens, interviews and hires qualified candidates for open positions. The department administers skills assessment and personality tests to match candidates with the right job within the company. The human resources department also develops employee handbooks that explain company policies and procedures to new hires.
• Training and Development
  The human resources department handles the training and development of staff within an organization. It creates training programs and conducts training for new hires and existing employees. The human resources department also works in conjunction with department managers and supervisors to determine the training needs of employees. They are also responsible for contracts with training providers and monitoring training budgets.
• Handling Compensation
  The human resources department is responsible for various aspects of employee compensation. The department typically handles employee payroll and ensures employees are paid accurately and on time, with the correct deductions made. Human resources departments also manage compensation programs that include pensions and other fringe benefits offered by the employer.
• Employee Benefits
  The human resources department manages all aspects of employee benefits, including health and dental insurance, long-term care or disability programs as well as employee assistance and wellness programs. The department keeps track of employee absences and job-protected leave, such as family medical leave. Human resources department representatives ensure employees receive the proper disclosures regarding benefit eligibility or if benefits are no longer available because of a layoff or termination.
• Employee Relations
  The human resources department handles employee relations matters within an organization. Employee relations involves employee participation in different aspects of organizational activities. The department maintains the relationship between employees and management by promoting communication and fairness within the company. The department also handles disputes between employees and management, as well as disputes between the company and labour unions or employee rights organizations.
• Legal Responsibilities
  The human resources department is responsible for interpreting and enforcing employment and labour laws such as equal employment opportunity, fair labour standards, benefits and wages, and work hour requirements. The department also investigates harassment and discrimination complaints and ensures company officials remain compliant with the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651)
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Offshoring
Offshoring is the relocation of some part of an organisation’s activities to another country.
Developments in technology have made offshoring feasible in many situations, such as back office support for banking operations. Offshoring has grown significantly in recent years. South Africa is one popular offshoring country, many banks and other companies now have service centres based in South Africa.
i) Offshoring offers a number of advantages to the AGYASCO Banking Group.

•  Lower overall cost. Labour and other costs (eg premises) will be lower in South Africa than in
• Ghana.
• Able to afford a more qualified workforce. Call centre positions in South Africa are often filled by better qualified individuals than would be the case in Ghana.
• Investment by host government. Infrastructure (for example communication) in emerging economies has often been heavily invested in by the host governments, in order to attract inward investment.
• Economies of scale / centralised operations. The back office operations will now be able to concentrate its back office operation in South Africa, where it already employs 3,000 people.
• Economies of scale are likely to result. Long-term moves such as this also encourage strategic planning.
• Allows specialisation. Offshoring back office operations to South Africa will allow the AGYASCO Banking group to concentrate on the more complex side of its banking operations and grow its international business by allowing other staff to focus on specialised areas of operation. This is necessary in a global economy where competition is increasing.
  On the other side of the discussion, managing operations based in another country will involve a number of challenges for the AGYASCO Banking Group:
• Risks associated with currency exchange rates. As an experienced banking group, this should be manageable. Exchange rates will always be liable to fluctuate and this may erode some of the cost savings.
• Language barriers and cultural differences. This may not be such a significant hurdle to overcome for AGYASCO Group as they already have a large presence in South Africa. There may be some resistance by customers based in Ghana, due to perceived problems dealing with call centres based overseas.
• Technical challenges. Staff in South Africa will need to be properly trained to ensure that service levels in the offshored function do not suffer. Some functions may be retained at the call centres in Ghana, so that customer service and satisfaction levels remain high.
• Exercising control from a distance. Offshoring can lead to a loss of control, particularly over quality.
• Dealing with different time zones. This is a challenge that a multinational company should be able to meet reasonably comfortably, although employees may find themselves inconvenienced occasionally (for example the timing of telephone conference calls).

The 500 employees of The AGYASCO Group that aren’t redeployed following the offshoring will be dismissed through reason of redundancy. The Human Resources Division should have policies governing redundancy and ensure these are followed.
The HR Division’s role should include setting policies that cover areas such as:

• Selection for redundancy – the criteria for selection must be clear and must be communicated as clearly as possible
• Pre-redundancy consultation and clear communication of where and when redundancies are to occur to enable staff to plan their futures.
• Help with developing a CV and clear guidelines covering time off to attend interviews.
• Clear guidelines on redundancy payments, with clear communication of packages and negotiation where appropriate
• Assistance with re-development of skills, re-training to learn new skills for a new career, or re-location of redundant employees.
• Careers advice, counselling and post-redundancy support.
• Redundancy is likely to be an unpleasant experience. The HR Division must ensure affected staff are handled with care and sensitivity.
• HR should also play a part ensuring remaining employees remain motivated, and morale is as high as can be expected in the circumstances.                                                                                                                                                        (Any 4 points)

• To increase productivity: Developing employee skills might make employees more productive, hence the recent emphasis on public debate on the value of training.
• To enhance group learning: Employees work more and more in multi-skilled teams. Each employee has to be competent at several tasks. Some employees have to be trained to work together (i.e. team working skills).
• To reduce staff turnover: Reducing staff turnover, apart from cutting recruitment costs, can also increase the effectiveness of operations. In service businesses, such as hotels, or retail outlets, reductions in staff turnover can be linked with repeat visits by customers. As it is cheaper to keep existing customers than to find new ones, this can have a significant effect on profitability.
• To encourage initiative: Organisations can gain significant advantage from encouraging and exploiting the present and potential abilities of the people within them
  Alternative answers
• Recruitment and Training
  This is one of the major responsibilities of the human resource team. The HR managers come up with plans and strategies for hiring the right kind of people. They design the criteria which is best suited for a specific job description. Their other tasks related to recruitment include formulating the obligations of an employee and the scope of tasks assigned to him or her. Based on these two factors, the contract of an employee with the company is prepared. When needed, they also provide training to the employees according to the requirements of the organisation. Thus, the staff members get the opportunity to sharpen their existing skills or develop specialised skills which in turn, will help them to take up some new roles.
• Performance Appraisals
  HRM encourages the people working in an organisation, to work according to their potential and gives them suggestions that can help them to bring about improvement in it. The team communicates with the staff individually from time to time and provides all the necessary information regarding their performances and also defines their respective roles. This is beneficial as it enables them to form an outline of their anticipated goals in much clearer terms and thereby, helps them execute the goals with best possible efforts. Performance appraisals, when taken on a regular basis, motivate the employees.
• Maintaining Work Atmosphere
  This is a vital aspect of HRM because the performance of an individual in an organisation is largely driven by the work atmosphere or work culture that prevails at the workplace. A good working condition is one of the benefits that the employees can expect from an efficient human resource team. A safe, clean and healthy environment can bring out the best in an employee. A friendly atmosphere gives the staff members’ job satisfaction as well.
• Managing Disputes
  In an organisation, there are several issues on which disputes may arise between the employees and the employers. You can say conflicts are almost inevitable. In such a scenario, it is the human resource department which acts as a consultant and mediator to sort out those issues in an effective manner. They first hear the grievances of the employees. Then they come up with suitable solutions to sort them out. In other words, they take timely action and prevent things from going out of hands.
• Developing Public Relations
  The responsibility of establishing good public relations lies with the HRM to a great extent. They organise business meetings, seminars and various official gatherings on behalf of the company in order to build up relationships with other business sectors. Sometimes, the HR department plays an active role in preparing the business and marketing plans for the organisation too.
  Any organisation, without a proper setup for HRM is bound to suffer from serious problems while managing its regular activities. For this reason, today, companies must put a lot of effort and energy into setting up a strong and effective HRM.
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