HR governance is the act of leading the HR function and managing related investments to:
- Optimise performance of the organisation’s human capital assets;
- Fulfil financial & other responsibilities;
- Mitigate enterprise HR risk;
- Align the function’s priorities with those of the business; and
- Enable HR executive decision making. .

2. HR IMPLICATIONS OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

- Selection
- Induction
- Training
- Performance Management
- Remuneration
- Succession planning
- Employment relations
- Organisation development
- Diversity and employment equity
- Ethical organization culture
- Conflict resolution

3. WORKFORCE PLANNING, RECRUITMENT & SELECTION, TEAM EFFECTIVENESS & PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT

Small business is built around the intuition of the owner who specialises in a certain line function. Dealing with staff issues are often emotional and difficult. It removes the focus from its core business and they don't pay attention to complaints or suggestions due to production pressure which blows up at a later stage. This results in inconsistency and lack of direction within the business.

5. POOR TIME MANAGEMENT

Small business owners are often so busy working that he or she does not manage the staff effectively. The business cannot run without them, and all the policies, systems and procedures are in their heads.

6. LACK OF CONSISTENCY (FAIRNESS)

Due to the lack of documented policies and procedure and constant production pressure, the lack of consistency in dealing with HR & IR issues created problems. Inconsistency is very bad for moral and may lead to arbitration awards.

7. POOR STAFF SELECTIONS

Research has shown that for a business to succeed, one needs to get the right team. Poor selections can be very costly and damaging, especially if they remain with the business for any length of time. The chances of poor selections can be greatly reduced by the use of competency based recruitment, interviewing techniques and personality profiling.

8. NO CONTRACTS OF EMPLOYMENT

Small businesses often do not have contracts or have poorly worded contracts which do not protect them. Fixed term contracts are also sometimes abused resulting in unfair dismissal disputes.

9. NO INDUCTION OF NEW STAFF

In corporate and small organisations, new employees are not taught the right way in the beginning and they pick up bad habits from existing staff. Mini Khumalo tells a delightful story of how he was inducted into his first job. The foreman took him to the work station where he was to work and simply left him with another worker. The worker taught him where to hide from the foreman in order to avoid work and all the excuses he needed to get by!

10. PROBATION IS NOT PROPERLY USED

Probation should be used to screen out poor selections. If you have made a poor selection, as long as fair procedures are followed, the sooner this is remedied the better for all concerned, including the employee. Being in the wrong job is no good for one's self esteem.

11. POOR ORGANIZATION STRUCTURES

Structures evolve which are often not logical or conducive to good business. Sometimes this results in over or understaffing. Unequal distribution of work results in some employees becoming disgruntled and others not pulling their weight.

12. NO PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Staff are not told where they stand and how their performance can be improved. In some cases this results in over reliance on threats of punishment to get work done.

13. HIGH ABSENTEEISM AND SICK LEAVE ABUSE

Often these are not properly monitored and there is no structured approach to dealing with it.

14. POOR UNDERSTANDING OF LABOUR LAW

Particularly disciplinary procedures. This results in dismissals being overturned with unnecessary cost implications and sometimes serious consequences.

15. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

This is often exacerbated by no formal procedure for handling complaints and grievances, including tricky situations such as sexual harassment complaints.

16. INSUFFICIENT TRAINING AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Staff need to constantly update their knowledge and skills. Often the view is "We can't afford the time" or “it is to expensive”.

17. NO SUCCESSION PLANNING

Natural retrician of staff is a fact of life. It is imperative that key positions are identified and succession planning introduced as soon as possible.