Human Resource after a Disaster

The responsibility of the Human Resource (HR) Department of every company is to recruit people with the right skills for the right job that the company is looking for at the right time. After Hurricane Rita, the situation became difficult for Companies looking to hire prospect employees as there was a huge demand in the job market due to frantic hiring by small businesses to kick start their business again. Almost all businesses in town had a “Help Wanted” sign posted (Mondy & Mondy, 2012). Persons looking for a job were in a position to easily get a job and command a premium salary. Wal-Mart, one of the companies affected by the disasters had to cut down their operation hours due to the shortage of staffs. They even have to bring people from adjacent town, about 70 miles away to stay open on a shortened schedule. Due to the high demand of workers, companies had to settle for less experienced workers with a high salary. Solution 2

Yes, a natural disaster like Hurricane Rita is possible and every company should have a Human Resource policy in place to handle such situations. Every company needs to account for situations like Hurricane Rita to ensure the normal day to day business is not affected by shortage of staffs to meet the requirements of each departments. In such unexpected situations, companies have to take extreme measures to ferry people from adjacent cities on a daily basis and/or hire unexperienced workers to fill the positions to meet the requirements.

An important matter to reduce the impact of crises on the organizations is to accentuate the Human resources development (HRD), as a way of effectively dealing with the problem. Preparing for and managing crisis must be a proactive approach to obtain efficiency not a passive approach often evident by business (Monica & Raluca, 2008). Effective managerial response to crises in organizations is crucial for effective institutional functioning. The disruptions to the operation of employees and establishments can dramatically influence the organization’s productivity.

References
Mondy, R. W., & Mondy, J. B. (2012). Human Resource Management. Boston: Prentice Hall. Monica, G., & Raluca, D. (2008). Human Resources Development
– A Key Element in Crisis Management. Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 17(4), 257-261.