Approaches to Staffing Flashcards
What is flexible workforce?
working arrangements where there are a variety of options offered to employees in terms of working, time, location and pattern
What are examples of flexible workforce?
Part time = describing various methods of employing people who don’t have full working week
Homeworking = people working at home
Outsourcing = delegating 1 or more businesses processes (subcontracting) to an external provider
Flexible hours = when employees have choice over the actual times they contract work
Multi-skilling = staff allowed to do varied tasks rather than specialising
What is meant when staff are viewed as an asset?
staff are seen as most important resource that is worth investing in. Treated as individuals and planned + cover for - welfare,train,rewards,pay well,empower staff,employment rights
What is meant when staff are viewed as a cost?
staff are simply as a resource corporate business planning how much costs
What is a hot desk?
when companies have a limited number of staff in physical stores.
What are positives and negatives of viewing staff as a cost?
+ short term, minimise expenditure, efficiency
- higher staff turnover, difficult recruitment, poor reputation, increased absenteeism.
What are positives and negatives of viewing staff as an asset?
+ better individual relations, staff retention, better staff morale,
- long term, more expensive, tall structure/flat, not harsh enough, no criticisms
What are options of flexible working?
part time working
flexitime - clock in times + overtime
mobile working
Why is there an increase in flexible workings?
employment legislation = laws allow certain group of employees the legal right to request flexible working
economic facts = offer part-time working or career breaks as a method of minimum redundancies and reducing costs.
need 24/7
benefit from technology development
staff retention
dynamic markets and competition
What are benefits of having flexible workforce?
cost savings, better morale/productivity, motivated, more influenced are working practices, maximises staffing to strengths, retain staff, growth
What are drawbacks of having flexible workforce?
- admin work involved in setting up timetables etc
- potential loss of customers is reducing working hours
- lower employee productivity
- inability to substitute for skills
- managers overworked to manage and admin flexibility
What is mobile working?
What is required for this?
- When employees are allowed to work from wherever they want as long as the work gets done.
- This requires the business to have good communication infrastructure and no trust issues allowing almost autonomy over work
Why does mobile working motivate staff?
- This motivates staff as it increases trust and develops relationships between subordinates and line managers.
- Gives staff more freedom over working environment
What are positives and negatives of mobile working?
+ improved customer service, fit with business theory on motivation, doesn’t completely isolate workers, increased mobility, increased productivity, more ideas
- disrupt production, disrupt work/life balance, costly, legal issues, trust, loyalty to business
What is a zero-hour contract?
when a employees have a minimum zero hours of work a week, employees then choose when they can work
Maslow, Mayo
Why does a zero-hour contract motivate staff?
- Incentives the reward of working in order to have a chance to be promoted after effort put in.
- Given freedom and choice over work,
What are positives and negatives of zero-hour contracts?
+ allow multiple jobs, keep personal life important, similar employment rights as full time, may lead to a better job/full time job
- not stable income, unpredictable hours, hard to support people off of, worse customer service, bad relations between staff - who works when.
What is outsourcing?
When a business contracts another business to obtain and this contracted business does the work in the deal.
This can be a service, production and manufacturing,
How does outsourcing motivate staff?
As it makes staff do less repetitive and monotonous jobs. It also encourages staff to delegate work that is easier. May satisfy the self-actualisation and esteem of Maslow’s needs
What are the positives and negatives of outsourcing?
+ cheaper, faster, quality, less work, empower staff, grow brand image and name, provide jobs worldwide, cheaper imports and regulations on certain produce
- less control of individual employees, may not be exactly what the business needs, bad working conditions, slow production, costly