3. Termination Phase

Question 1

Termination Phase definition?

Answer 1

Termination, or separation from the organisation, is the last stage of the employment cycle for the individual employee. For the organisation, the cycle repeats as new staff join the organisation. Termination is the situation in which an employee leaves an organisation. The human resource manager is responsible for ensuring that workers are given their full entitlement regarding pay for unused holidays or long service leave.

The main ways the employment relationship is terminated are:
■ retirement
■ resignation
■ dismissal
■ retrenchment.

Question 2

resignation def?

Answer 2

Resignation: An employee chooses to leave an organisation.

Question 3

Redundancy INVOLUNTARY def?

Answer 3

Redundancy (involuntary): The situation in which there is no longer a position for one or more employees; in other words there are more employees than needed.

Question 4

Reduancy VOLUNTARY def?

Answer 4

Redundancy (Voluntary): The actual situation for this may be the same as for voluntary redundancy.
.

Question 5

Retrenchment def?

Answer 5

Retrenchment: Retrenchment is another situation where employees are ‘let go’ by their employer, but the decision is usually based on the financial needs of the organisation.

Question 6

Retirement def?

Answer 6

Retirement: The situation where an employee has decided that they are at the end of their working life.

Question 7

Dismissal def?

Answer 7

Dismissal: The situation in which an employee is fired. This only occurs in extreme situations, as employers in large scale organisations can be faces with prosecution for unfair dismissal if they fire someone without just cause

Question 8

1. Termination Phase?

Answer 8

Termination, or separation from the organisation, is the last stage of the employment cycle for the individual employee. For the organisation, the cycle repeats as new staff join the organisation.

Termination is the situation in which an employee leaves an organisation. The human resource manager is responsible for ensuring that workers are given their full entitlement regarding pay for unused holidays or long service leave.

The main ways the employment relationship is terminated are:
■ retirement
■ resignation
■ dismissal
■ retrenchment.

• The first two, retirement and resignation, are for the most part a choice of the employee; the second two, dismissal and retrenchment, are initiated by management.
• All four have to be treated carefully and sensitively by management.

Question 9

2. Retirement?

Answer 9

Retirement is the decision of an employee (full-time or part-time) to cease paid employment. This is usually between 55 and 65 years of age, although there has been a trend towards earlier retirement in recent decades.

• HR needs policies in place to deal with retirement issues. Management should recognise that retirement is a huge step in the life of an employee.

HR action should include:
■ monitoring when people are due to retire

■ Consultation about a suitable retirement date (Does the organisation want the employee to continue to work? What are the preferences of the employee?)

■ Provision of pre-retirement counselling and training, health, use of time and other sources of advice).

Question 10

3. Resignation?

Answer 10

Resignation is the voluntary decision of an employee to end the employment relationship. This may be to take up a position in another organisation or for other reasons.

• Resignations can contain important messages for management and point to areas for action (e.g. employee work satisfaction).

HR functions in relation to resignation include:
■ Monitoring staff turnover (Is the organisation losing staff it needs?)
■ Conducting exit interviews to identify reasons people are leaving the organisation
■ Analysing reasons for resignations (To obtain a balanced view, exit interviews should be considered alongside other staff attitude and opinion surveys).

Question 11

4. Dismissal?

Answer 11

Dismissal is action taken by the employer to terminate the employment relationship because of poor work performance or unacceptable behaviour by the employee.

• Under the new government’s legislation, many more employees are covered by unfair dismissal provisions.
• Where unfair dismissal occurs in a workplace, management may face fines, reinstatement of the employee, a dented corporate reputation and, possibly, industrial unrest.

Question 12

5. Retrenchment?

Answer 12

Retrenchment results from a person being surplus to the organisation’s need for staff. Surplus workers are referred to as redundant. Retrenchment of staff has to be considered in the context of long-term business strategy.

• If staff ‘downsizing’ is essential, retrenchments can sometimes be avoided by relying on natural attrition in the medium term (i.e. termination due to retirement and resignation).

HR tasks in relation to retrenchment/redundancy include:
■ planning ahead to avoid involuntary redundancies
■ designing and offering retirement incentives and voluntary departure packages
■ negotiating redundancy agreements with trade unions
■ locating job transfer (outplacement) and retraining opportunities
■ addressing morale issues among continuing staff (e.g. treating ‘survivor syndrome’).