When it comes to People Management or Human Resources Management, the question often asked is; ‘what’s the starting point?’ Where is the brief? Sometimes, it could seem as though a lot is going on, and almost hard to reconcile the big picture.

At Africa Nxt Gen Foundation, our model is to think of this in form of critical questions that every People Manager should be asking themselves:

Question One: What is the legal and ethical context in which we operate?

A lot of people issues arise from negligence or legal complacency. It’s thus important for every human resource manager to be versed with the existing legal framework of the day. Think of the employment acts, the retirement benefits act, the Trade unions act and many more. Everyday, there are new bills, and there are amendments to the acts, it’s important to keep in touch with the updates and to ensure that the human resources department aligns its policies to the legal and ethical framework of the day.

Question Two: Is our Human Resources Strategy Aligned to Business Strategy?

The People Management department needs to then think about how it’s aligned to overall business strategy. It must ensure that it’s not just doing business as usual but driving value across the organization. It’s people, and right from their recruitment and selection, their tooling, their training, their performance management, all this should align to business strategy. Is the business trying to be a cost-leader? Is it a customer-centric business? The human resources should reflect these performance ambitions.

Question Three: How to approach the Human Resource Planning?

Most organizations falter at the planning stage, the inability to do a gap analysis of the demand-supply aspects of labour. Both extremes of labour are punitive to the employee and the organization. If labour is over-supplied, then you think of reduced morale, bloated payrolls, duplication of work. On the other hand, labour shortage causes burn-out and stress as employees work longer hours, reduced productivity, thus reduced organizational output, increased over time claims to mention but a few. In earlier commentary, Africa Nxt Gen has predicted a looming management crisis in Uganda due to constraints in labour supply at the managerial level. And planning also goes to aspects of training (the labour you have acquired, how will you train and grow them), how will you replace it?

Question Four: How shall we remunerate?

It’s important to think about total reward management for the employee. How shall we remunerate? Is the remuneration in line with organizational strategy? What is the current market baseline for our positions? Every organization speaks of competitive remuneration, it’s also important to remember that there is a level beyond which pay doesn’t matter. We are witnessing scenarios where employees are taking pay cuts to join organizations with a thriving culture.

Question Five: How Shall We Manage Performance?

Is it with performance reviews? What about the current trends where organizations are stopping annual performance reviews? How shall one monitor, and manage performance? Think of the alignment between efficiency and effectiveness. It’s one thing for employees to do the right things. It’s another thing to do things right. Operational excellence is the ability to achieve both effectiveness and efficiency?  Human resource managers must reflect on what it would require them to develop a high-performance culture? Performance is a factor of many things, some relating to the individual, to the job itself, to the team, to the management philosophy, and the skills and tools.

Question Six: How shall we manage Employee Relations?

At the end of the day, human resource is a two-party relationship between the employer and the employee. It’s a relationship that must be managed. Are you dealing directly with the employee or it’s through a collective arrangement (trade union)? How will the disputes be managed? What is the disciplinary mechanism? Has it evolved to match the trends? Is it corrective or punitive? What is the relationship? Casual? Permanent? Contractual? Think of all the parties involved in these relations (managers, direct reports, union representatives, labour officials, staff associations, minority groups etc)

Question Seven: What’s our Employee Safety Philosophy?

Mental health and total wellbeing are a critical aspect. Before, the concern was on the visible signs of job effects, but now, questions are arising about the mental health aspects that relate to one’s job. Are your employees burning out? Are they stressed? What is the business continuity plan? How do you manage with remote working aspects?

At Africa Nxt Gen Foundation, we believe that a rethink of the people management aspects begins with a work through of these seven questions. They are meant to stir the waters and start the conversations about the future of Human Resource Management in Uganda and Africa.