Richard Bashore
Reading Electric
Reading, Pennsylvania
Management Services Committee Member

Most companies with fewer than 50 employees can’t afford a human resource (HR) professional on staff. The management team, therefore, does the best it can to deal with full-time employee-related issues on a part-time basis. Often this results in just “putting out the fire” rather than engaging the employee in a thoughtful dialogue about the problem.

For smaller companies, there’s a place to turn: The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). It is an international organization that provides valuable HR information, services and publications.

Consider membership
SHRM offices are located in Al­exandria, Virginia; the organization has chapters in most states in the U.S. Membership is required to access a vast amount of information and sample documents from job descrip­tions, to legal updates, to white paper topics on subjects ranging from time management to healthcare. If you’re interested in exploring membership, go to www.shrm.org. 

The Web site notes that SHRM is the world’s largest professional associa­tion devoted to HR management. The organization’s “mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing the most current and comprehensive resources, and to advance the profession by promoting HR’s essential, strategic role. Founded in 1948, SHRM represents more than 250,000 individual members in over 125 countries, and has a network of more than 575 affiliated chapters in the United States, as well as offices in China and India.”

Membership benefits 
A SHRM membership card with your ID and password is issued following pay­ment of dues. One can become a member of the national organization without membership in the local chapter. The em­ployer hotline is an excellent resource for information on all HR questions – from how to pay travel time, to best practices for hiring and firing, retention, benefits and many others. It’s an invaluable tool with excellent value to help manage your HR responsibilities. 

Our company is a member and feels that it’s a great investment.  

Categories: Miscellaneous

Tags: Human resources

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