Chapter 10 - Human Resource Management
Learning Objective: Understand various responsibilities of the HRM
There are different reasons why a business might recruit new workers, for example:
Business is expanding and need workforce to support the growth;
When workers leave and need to be replaced.
That's when the process of Recruitment & Selection comes in - a process made out of various stages that can either be handled by the business itself or outsourced to specialist recruitment agencies:
Recruitment is the pre-selection stage:
Identification of the need for a new employee;
Definition of the job to be filled;
Definition of the type of person needed;
Attracting suitable candidates.
Selection, on the other hand, is the process of picking the right candidate:
Interviewing various candidates;
Testing and screening;
Choosing the most suitable candidate for the vacancy.
Let's have a look at the Recruitment and Selection Process in more details:
Definition of: job title, details of the tasks to be performed, responsibilities, place in hierarchy, working conditions, measures for assessment;
Person Specification: qualities, skills, qualifications - helps eliminating applicants who do not match the necessary requirements;
Job Advertisement: displaying on multiple platforms (government job fairs, internally, recruitment agencies, newspapers, etc.);
Short Listing: choosing from the pool of applicants the ones who are most suitable given the job description, person specification, and applicant’s personal details (CV) - interviews, aptitude tests (ability), psychometric tests (character, attitude, personality);
Selection.
The recruitment of workers for a role can be either internal or external:
Internal Recruitment happens when an organization looks to fill jobs with their current employees, sourcing talent from other teams, departments, and job functions within a company;
External Recruitment happens when a company searches for an outside hire. The search committee finds new candidates by advertising positions to the public or using the skills of a recruiter. Through outside recruitment, a company can invigorate their organization with fresh talent.
Let's analyze closely each method:
Which is better? It all depends on the business needs and internal availability of talent.
You are also familiar with the fact that an important role of HRM has to do with Employment Contracts:
These are legal documents that set the terms and conditions regarding a worker's job:
It considers the local employment laws;
Work responsibilities and tasks;
Payment system and amount;
Working hours and possible flexibility;
Holiday entitlement;
Required notice before ending contract;
It is important to notice that most countries prohibit employment without the protection of a written employment contract. It is also key to understand that contracts impose responsibilities to both sides, not only one.
Activity 10.4
Discipline and Dismissal of Employees are yet another responsibility of HRM:
Discipline are measures taken by the HR to switch employees’ continued failure to meet obligations;
Dismissal is letting go of an employee for incompetence or breach of discipline.
Dismissal is a delicate matter due to the employee's financial conditions, status, or even law suits against employers in case of unfair dismissals (ending one’s employment for reasons regarded unfair by law).
“A company may need to prove in court that a dismissal was fair since every employee has the right of questioning it.”
Reasons for a fair dismissal:
Misconduct such as stealing and aggression;
Incompetence - even after sufficient trainings offered;
Continuous bad attitude at work affecting other employees or the work itself;
Continuous disregard of health and safety procedures;
Bullying of other employees.
Dismissals can be effective immediately (e.g. stealing) or they can require warnings and disciplinary measures before.
Unfair dismissal is characterized by:
Pregnancy;
Discriminatory reasons (race, gender, religion);
Worker being linked to an union;
Non-relevant (to the work) reasons such as criminal record;
Workers are awarded compensation if unfair dismissal is proven and decided by court.
HRM is also in charge of dealing with redundancies: they happen when a worker’s skills or services are no longer needed by the company (e.g. demand or technology reasons) or in case of budget cuts.
Before making an employee redundant it is a good idea to try to replace him/her at another function within the firm if possible.
Some businesses employ the practice of voluntary redundancy which is a financial incentive given to encourage employees to resign so that the business doesn't need to bare with any of the troubles of dismissal.
Another way to avoid dealing with redundancy is called natural wastage by simply not replacing vacant jobs.
One of the dangers of redundancy is decreased motivation of the remaining workers as their job security is no longer guaranteed.
Chapter 10 - Human Resource Management
Learning Objective: Understand various responsibilities of the HRM
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