Putting The Human Back in "Human Resource"

By Debora S. Ferraz

Maybe you did not plan on it…maybe you did. But you have ended up in one of the toughest jobs around.

As a Human Resource Person, you are expected to wear many hats. You are working with moods, tempers, expectations, and misunderstandings. You are dealing with personalities…human beings. You are expected to cope with their headaches, hormones, and personal hang-ups. It can be a rough and tumble job and at the same time, a very rewarding one.

If someone were to ask me to go back in time and pick the one person who left an indelible mark on my psyche, I would have to say it was Sarah, a Human Resource Assistant for a large international corporation. It was always my opinion that Sarah was the glue that held the company together.

Sarah's door was always open to all employees. She was willing to listen and to offer a guiding hand whenever needed. Seems like every time I ventured past her office there was always someone there seeking advice or assistance.

I remember asking her once, "How do you do it? How do you cope with the workload and the people load?"

With her usual beaming smile she answered, "I enjoy helping people. That is why I chose Human Resources." I never forgot those words.

A few years later, Sarah was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis but insisted on continuing the job she so enjoyed. She never made it public knowledge as she felt it would impede her relationship with her fellow employees. She refused to let anything get in the way of doing her job.

I watched her amble down the long corridor from the front entrance to her office each day, stopping every now and then to rest and exchange a word or two. I could see the pain in her eyes as she struggled and often wondered how she did it…but she always did, with that luminous smile of hers.

Sarah was my first mentor. She taught me the true meaning of Human Resources and set me on a path that truly changed my life.

The “Sarah’s” of Human Resources are rapidly becoming rare. Not because there is a lack of truly caring people out there but because of the overload of paperwork and repetitive tasks.

I asked 100 Human Resource Managers and Assistants from a cross section of businesses the following question: If you could make one change that you feel would greatly improve efficiency and reduce time and paperwork, what would that be? The answer was always the same…an HR system that focuses more on people management.

For the most part, a few of the HR systems I looked at were all payroll driven. That is, the emphasis was on processing payroll, benefits, and time records...in short, an accounting system. While they did have a people-management add-on, they were simply not designed to address the daily time-consuming tasks of an HR department.

However, just as I was beginning to lose hope, the good folks at Willow Software Technology gave me a call and asked if I would be interested in reviewing their HR system. Here is a brief review:

Willow Software Technology is a Canadian software consulting company specializing in the development, marketing, and support of a range of technology-based knowledge systems for People Management. They have just introduced a powerful new suite of software tools designed to help organizations better manage their Human Resource function. The system is called: Associate Resource Development Systems or ARDS.

ARDS takes the “clumsy” out of HR systems and replaces it with “easy, flexible, and all encompassing” solutions to every HR person's nightmare. What impressed me the most, was that I was able to sit at their terminal, set up a new employee, amend this employee's information, report on this employee, and at a glance, view a detailed employee's record. All of this was accomplished in less than 15 minutes. This system is indeed thorough and very simple. I threw every imaginable HR problem or expected task at it and it was covered. ARDS is truly a powerful, easy to use, and intuitive People Management System.

Finally! A system that is easy, secure, reduces paperwork, time-effective, informs at a glance, and totally flexible. What more can any HR Manager ask for? Perhaps now there will be hope for more “Sarah’s” and happier work environments. Would it not be great if we could put the Human back in Human Resource?

Author's Note:
For a more detailed overview of the ARDS Human Resource System, please contact the author at: aimcorporate@sympatico.ca or telephone: 905-808-8664.

Debora Ferraz is a well-known seminar speaker, corporate trainer, and management consultant with AIM Corporate Training Solutions. Debora can be reached at aimcorporate@sympatico.ca.

Published in Networking Today, January 2003.