14. Approaches to Staffing Flashcards
Number of employees in a small business
between 1 and 49 people
Number of employees in a medium-sized business
between 50 and 249 people
Number of employees in a large business
More than 250 people
Staff as an asset
- Employers who view their staff as assets will value their employees and have concern for their welfare
- Staff will be valued because employers recognise that their efforts will help the business to perform more effectively
Examples of treating staff as an asset:
- Acceptable remuneration
- Reasonable holidays, sick leave, maternity/paternity leave, pensions
- A safe and confortable working environment
- Trainning so that staff can develop skills and carry out work tasks succesfully and safely
- Chances of promotion
- Opportunities to solve problems, work in teams and be creative
Staff as a cost
- If employers view their staff as a cost, their focus is likely to be different.
- They will try minimise the cost wherever possible
Examples of treating staff as a cost:
- Paying just the legal national minimum wage
- Using a zero-hours contract
- Neglecting investment in training
- Using financial incentives to raise productivity
- Providing the minimum legal employee rights in relation to sick leave, holiday pay and working conditions
- Penalties for employees who are late, break sules, etc.
- Using cheap and inferior recruitment methods
Flexible workforce
- A workforce that can respond, in quantity and type, to changes in market demand
Businesses can increase the flexibility of their workforce using a number of methods:
- Multiskilling
- Part-time and temporary staff
- Zero-hour contracts
- Flexible hours and home working
- Outsourcing
Advantages of a flexible workforce:
- Allows a business to expand and contract quickly in response to changes in demand for its products
- Some specialist job need to be done but it would be wasteful to employ a permanent worker to do them
- In some cases temporary staff or subcontractors are cheaper to employ than permanent staff
- Employers are responsible for trainning their permanent workers so therefore that costs are paid by subcontractors or whoever has paid for the trainning of a temporary worker.
- Employing workers who can job share or work flexible hours may allow the business to work more efficiently.
Disadvantages of a flexible workforce:
- Peripheral workers may have less loyalty to he business where they work temporarily. They may be motivated inly by financial gain.
- Sometimes outsorced work has been of poor quality, damaging their reputation with customers.
- Communication can be a problem as peripheral workers are not always available when the business would like to communiacte with them
- Sometimes peripheral workers are simply workers who have found it difficult to hold down a permanent job.
Fair dismissal
When some is dismissed without notice or pay because of a misconduct or breaking the rules of a business
Unfair dismissal
When someone is dismissed without any good reason for it
Redundancy
When someone is dismissed because they are no longer needed as demand has decreased
Retirement
When someone is a certain age and decides to not work anymore
Resignation
When someone leaves the job because they want to change of country, they found a better paid job, they like more other jobs, etc.
Employer/Employee relationships:
- rates of pay
- the introduction of new technology
- Flexible working
- Work conditions
Individual approach
Approaching directly the employer and talk with him the problem you are having, this occurs normally when there is a good relationship between the employee and the employer
Collective bargaining
A method of determining conditions of work and terms of emplyment through negotiations between employers and employee representatives
Advantages of collective bargaining:
- Agreements are transparent and legally enforceable
- May be more cost effective to have just one set lf negotiations
- Rules and terms are more likely to be respected by both parties
- Outcomes may be fairer because power between both sides is equalised
- Unfair treatment of individual who are bullied or ‘favourites’ of their managers may be avoided
- Employee representatives are democratically elected
Disadvantages of collective bargaining:
- Negotiations can result in a more bureaucracy and take longer
- The views of individuals are not always reflected by unions
- Negotiation cost can be high and are usually met by businesses
- A failure to agree can have serious consecuences, e.g. strike action
- Owners may feel their freedom to manage is compromised
Home workers
People who undertake their regular work from home
Industrial action
Disruptive measures taken by workers to apply pressure on employers when disagreements cannot be resolved
Multiskilling
The process of increasing the skills of employees
Outsourcing
Getting other people or businesses to undertake work that was originally done in house
Trade unions
Organisations of workers that exist to promote the interests of their members
Zero-hours contract
A contract that does not guarantee any particular number of hours’ of work
