Importance of Human Resource Dept. and Employee Relations

Assessing employee satisfaction falls under the scope of Human Resources in most healthcare organizations. It is a common belief now that happy employees produce more. HR goes a long way to proving a strong ROI when employee satisfaction rates are high. These surveys are mandated in some states for healthcare organizations. California is one of those states.

McConnell (2007) puts forward the future direction for HR in healthcare organizations. He proposes that HR will become an even more vital function as the need for high-touch people-centered management increases. However, HR functions will be accomplished with fewer staff as they continue to have to prove their effectiveness through ROI indicators such as employee satisfaction rates.

How important is HR to employee relations? Why not just have managers run the show and outsource everything else?