Chapter 23 Managing Human Resources

Chapter 23 Managing Human Resources Lesson 23.1: Human Resources in Business The Need for Human Resources - Of all the resources used by a business, people are the most important for success - Human Resources Management - all activities involved with acquiring, developing, and compensating the people who do the company’s work - Human resources activities support the overall goals of the organizations - - Sometimes called personnel management Although the size of the business, the number of employees, and other factors may influence how human resources activities are carried out, a number of activities are completed in all organizations. - These activities include: - Employment - Wages and benefits - Performance improvement - Employee relations - Health and safety - Performance Management - Employee Assistance - Employment Planning and Research - Employment - Maintaining the right amount of employees in the company at a given time. - - Most associated with human resources - Includes - Determining the need to hire employees - Recruiting applicants - Determining the qualifications of applicants - Hiring the best applicants to fill the available positions Wages and Benefits - Planning and managing the rewards available for employees whether it is financial or not. - Helps with determining who will apply for job openings and if they can commit to the business - Must be carefully controlled - Employee productivity compared to pay and benefits determine whether the company can be profitable. - The system determining pay must be viewed as fair in the eyes of the employees. Performance improvement - Ensuring high quality and efficiency by training and educating employees - Employees must improve their skills and learn new ones on the job. - The human resources department plans and manages programs to improve performance in cooperation with its managers and employees. - Prepares employees for promotions or moving current employees to new jobs. - Prepares employees for potential termination in the event of employee cutbacks or major chances in the business activities. - These programs are a responsibility to employees who have contributed to the company’s past success. - Employee Relations - Ensuring that communication and relationships between the management and its employees is strong and efficient. - Assists in negotiating labor contracts with the union and deals with employee activities and issues that relate to the contract. - Presently, businesses expect employees to be more responsible for their own work. - Employees and managers take responsibility for many decisions that were once made only by managers. These decisions include: - - Hiring - Determining how work will be performed - Improving work procedures Help people prepare for future job openings and promotions, and ensure they can work cooperatively. - Companies are more successful when all employees have access to any job they are qualified for and when there is no discrimination in any part of the work environment. - Health and Safety - Working with managers to ensure that the company has safe work procedures, safe work areas, and establish laws and regulations that relate to health and safety. - When employees are injured or ill, other employees have to complete their work or the company has to hire replacements. - The cost of insurance and health care rises when the number of employee illnesses and injuries go up. - Substance abuse leads to many problems - Drunk workers have reduced dexterity and impaired judgement so they may ignore safety procedures or do their work properly. - Lowers worker productivity and increases absenteeism. Regular safety training is implemented, safety related posters and materials placed in the workplace as reminders, and correct problems that are affecting safety. - Good health is maintained through a smoking free environment and education programs - Performance Management - Developing materials and procedures and having managers and employees educated on how to evaluate and improve performance. - Provide advice and training to help employees with improvement - Individual managers are responsible for evaluating the employees they supervise and improve their performance through the results of these evaluations. - The role of human resources in performance management is to develop an evaluation system in order to educate managers and employees on the proper methods for evaluating and improving work performance. - Human resources personnel work with managers and experienced employees to design a performance management system and prepare with the necessary materials. - 360-degree feedback - a newer method of performance evaluation uses performance feedback gathered from a vast amount of people with whom the employee works. - Supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates contribute to performance feedback. - People fill out a detailed, but anonymous review about a person’s performance. - Employee Assistance - Helping employees balance work with their personal lives. - Personal and family concerns may interfere with an employee’s work. - - Issues include financial problems, family issues, or alcohol or drug abuse. Employee assistance programs - provide confidential personal problem-solving, counseling, and support services for employees. - Some have expanded to provide services needed by single-parent or twoworking parent families, or by employees in transition because of changes in hob or moving to a new location. - Human resources personnel involved in employee assistance programs may arrange for day care for children or elderly family members. - Employment Planning and Research - Researching and managing the information that managers need for determining personnel needs and managing the workforce. - It takes weeks/months to hire new people, design training programs, or complete performance reviews. - It is required by federal and state employment laws to have information about each employee to be collected and maintained. - A major human resource function involves researching and maintaining the information needed by managers to determine personnel needs and manage the workforce. - Data is gathered, computer programs are used to analyse information, and maintain and review employee records as well as company and competitive employment information. Lesson 23.2: The Employment Process Selecting Personnel - Effective Selection would mean hiring people with the right skills for the right job - Establishing a Need - Need may come if the company is growing or an employee has left. - The human resources department must have detailed and accurate information about the position in order to screen applicants and choose the most qualified people. - Job description - A list of the duties and responsibilities that make up a job. - Job Specification - A list of qualifications and skills a worker needs to do the job. - Human resources employees work with managers and employees who are currently doing each job to prepare job descriptions and specifications. - Recruiting Applicants - An effective recruitment process results in a number of appropriately qualified applicants. - A pool of applicants that's too small makes the chance to find a qualified person decrease - A pool of applicants that’s too big would elongate the process and add to the company’s costs. - Current Employees - Companies need to inform employees about open positions and ask for help when recruiting candidates. - Incentives are sometimes given to employees who help with recruiting a new candidate - On Site Applications - Some companies use physical application forms while others have it done electronically. - Some companies accept applications even when there are no openings for a certain position. - After applications are screened, they are kept between six months to a year to be reviewed once there is an opening. - The Internet - Employee websites provide thousands of job listings that job seekers can search by job category, location, company, or salary expectations. - Employees can submit or post their resumes for prospective employers online - Networking sites can be used to send job announcements to people with special interest in the company - Employment Agencies - Organizations that actively recruit, evaluate, and help people prepare for an locate jobs - Services for job seekers include job matching, resume preparations, skills analysis, and interview coaching. - Services for employers include resume screening, active recruiting, initial interviewing, and testing. - All states maintain a public employment service supported by state and federal taxes - The goal of public employment agencies is to help employers find qualified applicants and to help job seekers find employment. - Advertising - A commonly used method of attracting job applicants - It usually occurs on local media such as newspapers and radio when they have an opening - Other Sources - Many universities and schools assist graduates who are looking for jobs - Job fairs are popular for reaching a large number of potential applicants at once. - Some employers use job fairs for exchanging information while others accept applications and conduct interviews. Processing Applications - Job seekers usually fill out an application form so companies can see who meets the employment criteria the most. - - Application review - Eliminate applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements - Typically include - Level of education - Previous employment experience - Specific training - Certifications - Licenses Screening - Critical applicant information needs to be checked for accuracy - This is done by contacting schools attended, previous employers, and agencies and organizations that issue licenses and certifications - Testing - Top applicants may be tested as part of the application process - They need an appropriate level of knowledge or specific skills Can only measure characteristics that can be linked directly to successful job performance - Interviewing - Employers can learn more about an applicant than can be seen on an application - This includes human relations, oral communication skills, and decision making ability - The manager could share details about the job and answer questions Selection and Background Check - Occurs when the best candidate is chosen - Some require a drug screening before finalizing an offer - Job Introduction and Orientation - Members of the HR department help new employees understand and complete the necessary paperwork. - Usually there is an orientation program or initial training Promoting, Transferring, and Releasing Employees - The amount of time and money invested in recruiting, hiring, and training is very high - Changes in Employment Status - Promotion - the advancement of an employee within a company to position with more authority and responsibility - A business should fill vacancies by promotion - All employees should have equal opportunity to receive promotions - Transfer - the assignment of an employee to another job in the company that usually involves the same level of responsibility and authority as the person’s current work - Discharge - the release of an employee from the company due to inappropriate work behavior - Layoff - a temporary or permanent reduction in the number of employees because of a change in business conditions. - When there is a large number of layoffs, the HR department must help employees plan for them - Employee turnover - the rate at which people enter and leave employment in a business during a year - Important because the loss of experienced employees means that new employees have to be hired and trained - The replacement method calculates the employee turnover based on the current size of the company’s labor force - Exit Interviews - A formal interview with an employee who is leaving the company to determine the employee’s attitudes about the company and seek suggestions for improvement - Provides insight into the causes of employee turnover an feedback about the company’s policies and procedures, management, and operations Lesson 23.3: Employment Law Regulating Employment Conditions and Benefits - The Department of Labor (DOL) - responsible for administering and enforcing nearly 200 laws and hundred of related regulations - - - Affects more than 10 million businesses and close to 125 million workers. The major categories in which laws regulate employment relationships: - Wages and work hours - Health and safety - Retirement and employee benefits - Workers’ compensation and unemployment Wages and Work Hours - The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) - federal law regulating wages paid and hours worked by employees - Requires employers to pay covered employees at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay of 1 ½ times the regular rate of pay. - Regulates the employment of young people (under 18) - Worker Safety and Health - Occupational Safety and Health Act - Created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration - ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by enforcing standards by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance. - Part of the Department of Labor regulates safety and health conditions of businesses - - Workplace inspections and investigations are key to enforcement. Retirement and Employee Benefits - Social Security - A social insurance program funded through payroll contributions. - Formal title of the program - The Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund (OASDI). - - Largest component is the payment of retirement benefits Social Security Administration keeps track of the contributions Medicare - health insurance for people 65 or older and for people under 65 with certain disabilities. - Three parts: hospital insurance, medical insurance, and prescription drug coverage - - Covered by payroll taxes Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) - Allows eligible employees to take unpaid leave for specified family and medical reasons - Requires employers to allow eligible employees up to a total of 12 weeks of leave during a year for - The birth, adoption, or foster-care placement of a child - Caring for an immediate family member with a serious health condition - Medical leave for a serious health condition - Workers’ Compensation and Unemployment - Workers’ compensation - requires employers to provide insurance for the death, injury, or illness of employees that result from their work - Unemployment insurance - a state-managed program that provides temporary income to individuals who have been laid off from their jobs. Equal Opportunity in Employment - Government plays a role equal opportunity for employment by passing laws that protect workers and guide employers - Businesses take positive steps to correct discrimination in employment including: - Development of written plans for fair employment practices - Review of recruitment and selection procedures - Improved access to job training to qualify employees for promotion who many have been discriminated against in the past - - Diversity training for all managers and employees - Improved performance evaluation procedures that reduce bias Laws that Expand Employment Opportunities - The Civil Rights Act - prohibits discrimination in hiring, training, and promotion on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or national origin - Equal Pay Act - prohibits unequal pay for men and women who are doing the same work - Age Discrimination in Employment Act - prohbits discrimination in conditions of employment or opportunities for people over 40 - Immigration Reform and Control Act - Requires employers to verify that potential employees are not unauthorized to work in the U.S and prohibits employment discriminaton because of national origin or citizenship status - Americans with Disabilities Act - Prohibits discrimination against qualified people with disabilities in employment, public services, transportation, public accomodation, and telecommunications - provide reasonable accommodations to support the employment of disabled employees. - Two most effective strategies for reducing discrimination are the use of work teams and cross-training