Human Resource is the functional pillar of any organisation. Right now, the latest trend needs everyone to keep themselves up-to-date. HR Books work as a life saviour in situations like these for HR professionals. Taking up a career path as an HR professional is an excellent choice. However, it would help if you buckled up to tackle the challenges that come your way.
People have a huge role in how a business will perform in the future. The performance of the employees determines whether they are an asset or a liability to a company. Therefore, having a good human resource manager is important. Reports state the rise in HR specialists will see a spike of 7% by 2026. Let’s dig into these subjects a little bit deeper.
Explore our Popular Human Resource Courses
What is Human Resource?
Human resources are those people who aim to achieve a common goal, i.e., to contribute towards the betterment of the organisation. They make an immense contribution to building a workforce in any company. Usually, HRs are regular-paid employees; however, they also take up tasks as contractors in many cases.
The day-to-day responsibility of HR includes managing and regulating employee relationships. HRs are also responsible for hiring new employees for a company. In addition to conducting interviews, they have to speak to employees about benefits and compensation. Approximately 67% of job seekers are intrigued about figuring out their benefits, and for them this is the most important information before getting hired.
Importance of Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management or HRM is referred to as managing employees to maximise their potential to increase their performance gradually. For instance, if you plan to hire employees for a running business, hiring someone who will fit the culture will be the best choice. Such employees will be happy, productive, contribute exceptionally, and stick around longer.
For any growing organisation, managing staff needs patience, skills, and time. This is where an HR specialist comes into the picture. The value of HR is always undervalued initially, but as time progresses, business owners figure out the importance of hiring an HR. As a business starts taking shape, business leaders find themselves in a difficult position and dealing with people regularly strikes the need for an HR.
Read our popular HRM articles
Top 5 Human Resource Management Books
HR professionals express confidence when they read HR books that add value to their existing knowledge. To engage with employees, HRs can have these books on their bookshelves.
Below is the list of the top 5 human resource books that you can consider reading.
1. The HR Scorecard, by Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, and Dave Ulrich
The HR Scorecard is one of the oldest books on the human resource bookshelf. Given how timeless the book is, it interlinks the concepts of strategy, people, and performance. Human Resource Management has always been an underlying theory entitled to align HR activities with the organisation’s performance.
The books speak the language of HR businesses. Moreover, they highly concentrate on factors like key performance indicators (KPIs). Furthermore, it also aims to achieve a heavy return on investment (ROI). As an HR, credibility comes automatically to assessing regular activities.
2. The Essential HR Handbook, by Sharon Armstrong and Barbara Mitchell
Beginners planning to plunge into the HR basics could go for this human resource book. The book is handy and descriptive and covers almost every topic, such as talent acquisition, market opportunities, the future of HR, etc. Furthermore, this book could also be a great pick for experienced HR professionals that will frequently remind them about the best practices in the industry.
3. HR Disrupted: It’s Time for Something Different, by Lucy Adams
The book is centred around HRs and how they need to teach various segments in their life. With the help of this book, the user gets a very different perspective on engaging, interacting, and managing employees.
As the name says, HR Disrupted doesn’t only focus on making changes to the existing system but brings out a brand-new perspective to successfully approach Human Resource Management (HRM). HR professionals will learn a thing or two about certain things that will guide them about things they shouldn’t do.
4. Belonging, by Kathryn Jacob, Sue Unerman, and Mark Edwards
The authors have displayed the concept of belonging with this excellent HR book. They have aimed to reform diversity to fit well with Belonging. The end goal is to make everyone feel wanted and accepted. It also offers a different insight to individuals who focus on other unnecessary aspects of work culture. Instead, it allows them to make the most of positive organisational culture, which will result in the business’s overall success.
The book is filled with stories, interviews, and tales about growing business leaders. The authors have excelled by offering practical advice that blends with industry standards. The authors’ take on this book outlines many complexities and ways to discard them. So, if you plan to encourage a work atmosphere where people feel wanted, Belonging is a must-read.
5. Strategic Human Resource Management: An HR Professional’s Toolkit, by Karen Beaven
Strategic Human Resource Management is a human resource management book that puts forward the various facets of business culture including you, your business, and your industry.
Some of its sections include talent management, technology, and workforce planning. Moreover, the book also concentrates on broader subjects like personal issues and the importance of self-care and mental health on one’s performance. This book magnifies your perspective on how one can face obstacles by getting rid of them smartly.
Conclusion
As a human resource manager, there are tons of competencies that one must possess. All these topics, knowledge, and information keeps changing its pace with society, standards, and law. Human resource information could be a lot to process sometimes. Therefore, these HR books could help one learn and evolve a lot in a short span of time. As an HR, mastering its skills could be a continuous process and would need a lot of effort, learning, and openness to dive into the changes. Reading is an art, and many people find it difficult to put their focus on reading. Therefore, audiobooks in such cases could be an ideal choice.
If you are looking to take your career forward as an HR, you can check out the Executive Post-Graduate Programme in Human Resource Management from the Loyola Institute of Business Administration in association with upGrad. The course will assist you in getting along with the work culture and personnel development. This course will walk you through the basics of HR analytics, performance & reward management, and people management. In addition to getting a grip on the subjects, you will be exposed to 300+ learning and 30+ hours of live sessions. So, if you aspire to become a strategic human resource management, HR Management, HR Analytics, etc., you can easily take up this course.
What are the skills and qualifications needed as an HR?
The top 10 HR skills currently in highest demand are: onboarding, new-hire orientation, customer service, employee relations, performance management, human resource information systems, scheduling, and administrative support. These skills are very basic ones that every HR person is intended to have. However, doing certification or a degree could add more skills to your existing skill set. As per the statistics, 60% of employers wish to hire HRs with a Bachelor’s degree or higher.
Why should HR professionals read human resource books?
Unlike any field, human resource is a very diverse subject that keeps changing as per new theories and knowledge. As a professional, if you read HR books, it helps by adding a new perspective, and you get to explore other sections of the HR dimension. As a beginner, these HR books teach you the ins and outs of the profession. Moreover, one is equally enlightened on subjects like strategies and thinking.
Is HR a good field to go for?
Choosing a career direction, especially the right one, is very significant. With so many options available on the table, how do you figure out which field would be the best to choose? An educated guess in such a case would be to look out for career opportunities and hiring outlooks. This is where HRs potential counts as a bonus. The current employment industry is expanding, and companies are doing their best to hire HR professionals for the long run.
