HR Experiences

Bank of New York Mellon is an investment company that was established in 1784. Its headquarters is in New York but it’s located in 36 countries worldwide where it serves more than 100 markets. The company has 49,500 employees worldwide and has effective human resource management practice (BNY Mellon, 2012). I worked there as a Global Income and Tax Specialist based at the headquarters. This paper is based on personal experiences as I held this position in the company.

BNY Mellon is quite concerned with the importance of equal employment opportunity. During the recruitment process, many applicants were interested to work in the company in various capacities. The recruitment managers were concerned with the qualifications of the individual candidates where all had equal chances of being employed. The recruitment process was conducted fairly where women were given equal chances of employment like men. The company was however cautious while applying the policy of EEO so as not to employ people just for the sake of balancing gender in the organization (BNY Mellon, 2012). To avoid, this recruitment team was keen on the qualifications of the applicants where the selection was done on merit regardless of ones gender. When an organization has more employees from one gender, it should not be interpreted as not enforcing the equal employment opportunity so long as the most qualified candidates are given the jobs.

The minority groups such as lesbians, gays, and albinos were considered during the recruitment process where they also stood an equal chance of being employed just like other groups. In most organizations, the minority groups in the society are given the last priority in the selection process and are at times left out. In other organizations, we have had situations where applicants are discriminated on the basis of religion. This mainly happens in United States where many organizations discriminate against Muslim applicants due to the alleged connection with terrorism. At BNY Mellon, workers were from diverse cultural backgrounds and they worked in harmony towards achieving the organization’s overall objectives. This practice had also been inculcated into employees, who were under strict regulations not to discriminate against other employees.

Although it is difficult to identify some minority groups such as lesbians and gays, the company’s policy was clear. If such people made it public that they belonged to such minority groups, the company would not discriminate or treat them differently since all employees are equal. Any employee who was to be reported having discriminated against other colleagues was to face a serious disciplinary action including being sacked or transferred. I however observed that employees at the company were being driven by their values on the issue of discrimination as no single incidence was reported when I was there.

The BNY Mellon adheres to the reasonable accommodations provision as stipulated in the Americans with Disabilities Act. The company was ready to adjust the working environment if it made difficult for the people with disabilities to be served or to execute their duties as employees (Snell & Bohlander, 2012). In relation to this, the company had provisions to improve the cloakrooms in order to cater for the employees or company customers who would be challenged in using the current facilities due to their physical condition or due to their use of wheelchair.

Sexual harassment is another issue that was taken seriously by the company. Although this may be categorized as a discrimination act, it affects both the male and the female employees. Sexual harassment may be in form of physical touch or through any form of communication where an employee feels sexually harassed. The company was keen in ensuring all employees were protected against sexual harassment from their colleagues. To enforce this, the HR manager issued written reminders at least twice a year. These reminders were placed on the company’s notice boards while others were circulated to employees through emails. The company’s policy on sexual harassment was very clear that it was not allowed whatsoever. Any manager or employee accused of sexual harassment was to be investigated by the person appointed by the HR department. Disciplinary action was taken when it was proved, beyond reasonable doubt, that the accused committed the offence. For the duration I worked in the company, there was no sexual harassment incident that was reported.

While working at BNY Mellon, I realized the HR department was faced with some challenges that affected the operation of the company either directly or indirectly. Although the company had HR office, it lacked HR representative on site. HR office was only for emergency issues but most of the times, employees did not get anybody to serve them in the office. This was a negative aspect for the HR department since we could only communicate to the HR representative through phone or email. This proved challenging to most of us as there are some personal problems that are best solved through face to face communication. In some instances, there are some confidential problems that employees feel uncomfortable to share through email or a phone.

When the company advertised for some internal vacancies, the HR department played very little role in assisting employees who had applied for the internal jobs. All that the HR department did was to forward the resumes to the recruitment team without any recommendations. An effective HR department should consider the internal employees for the positions that arise internally. When this is done, the HR should ensure that all the internal employees are informed accordingly when the company is advertising for such positions. The HR department should remain the custodian for all the employees since their records are kept there. The department is also aware of the qualifications of each employee in relation to the advertised positions.

The HR department at BNY Mellon is charged with the responsibility of managing the employees in the company. It is directly responsible for the hiring of employees and is mandated with the development of the company’s employment policy. It also ensures any form of discrimination against employees is not practiced in the company. Through this department, the company has been able to enforce ‘reasonable accommodations’ as stated in the Americas Disabilities Act. The company offers equal employment opportunity to all potential employees and does not discriminate against the minority groups. In addition, the company has a very comprehensive policy on sexual harassment that has been designed to protect the rights of all the employees. The HR department has been at the forefront in ensuring that all employees are remunerated according to the company’s policy and that the company remains one of the best in human resource management.

References

BNY Mellon. (2012). BNY Mellon Company Profile. Retrieved from http://www.bnymellon.com/ on 20^th Feb.2013.

Snell, S., & Bohlander, G. (2012). Managing Human Reources. New York: Cengage Learning.