Chapter Five - HR - The Employment Cycle

Question 1

What is Job Analysis?

Answer 1

Job analysis is the study of an employee’s job in order to determine the duties performed, the time involved with each of those duties, the responsibilities involved and the equipment required.

Question 2

What is a Job Description?

Answer 2

A job description is a summary of what the worker will be doing - the role they will have in the organisation in terms of duties and responsibilities.

Question 3

What is Job Specification?

Answer 3

Job specification will indicate the sort of person an organisation is seeking in terms of personal qualities, skills, education and work experience.

Question 4

What is Job Design?

Answer 4

Job design details the number, kind and variety of tasks that individual employees perform in their jobs. Jobs may be designed so they include a variety of tasks to keep employees interested and motivated.

Question 5

What is Recruitment?

Answer 5

Recruitment is the process of attracting qualified job applicants from which to select the most appropriate person for a specific job.

Question 6

What is Employee Selection?

Answer 6

Employee selection involves choosing the candidate who best matches the organisation’s requirements.

Question 7

What is Discrimination?

Answer 7

Discrimination occurs when a policy or a practise disadvantages a person or a group based on a personal characteristic that is irrelevant to the performance of the work.

Question 8

What is Full-Time Permanent?

Answer 8

Full-time permanent employees have an ongoing employment contract which includes all legally required entitlements.

Question 9

What is Part-Time Permanent Employment?

Answer 9

Part-time permanent employment involves working fewer ordinary weekly or monthly hours compared with full-time employees.

Question 10

What is a Fixed-Term Contract?

Answer 10

A fixed-term contract is where employment is offered for a specific period.

Question 11

What are Casual Employees?

Answer 11

Casual employees are employed on an hourly basis.

Question 12

What is Remuneration?

Answer 12

Remuneration is monetary payment in return for the work an employee performs.

Question 13

What is a Wage?

Answer 13

A wage is an hourly or weekly rate of pay.

Question 14

What is a Salary?

Answer 14

Employees who earn a salary are paid a fixed amount each year, which is then divided by 26 to give a fortnightly salary, or by 12 to give a monthly salary.

Question 15

What is Salary Sacrifice?

Answer 15

Salary sacrifice is forgoing salary in order to receive another non-cash benefit of equivalent value.

Question 16

What are On-Costs or Non-Wage Benefits?

Answer 16

On-costs or non-wage benefits are additional costs involved in hiring an employee, above the cost of their wages, and including superannuation, long service leave and workers compensation.

Question 17

What is Induction?

Answer 17

Induction is a process of acquainting new employees with the organisation - its history, structures, objectives, culture, policies and practices - and the jobs they will perform.

Question 18

What is Training?

Answer 18

Training generally refers to the process of teaching staff how to do their job more efficiently and effectively by boosting their knowledge and skills.

Question 19

What is Development?

Answer 19

Development refers to activities that prepare staff to take on greater responsibility in the future.

Question 20

What is a Learning Organisation?

Answer 20

A learning organisation monitors and interprets its environment, seeking to improve its understanding of the interrelationship between its actions and its environment.

Question 21

What is Succession Planning?

Answer 21

Succession planning focuses on preparing employees with potential to take on key management positions within the organisation in the future, should the need arise.

Question 22

What are Recognition and Reward Programs?

Answer 22

Recognition and reward programs aim at both acknowledging the work an employee has done and providing some sort of benefit, such as cash, merchandise, travel or gift certificates, in return for a job well done.

Question 23

What are Intrinsic Rewards?

Answer 23

Intrinsic rewards come from the task or job itself, such as recognition or feedback or a sense of achievement.

Question 24

What are Extrinsic Rewards?

Answer 24

Extrinsic rewards are outside the job iself. They may be monetary or non-monetary.

Question 25

What is Performance Management?

Answer 25

Performance management focuses on improving both organisational and individual performance through relating organisational performance objectives to individual employee performance objectives.

Question 26

What is Performance Appraisal?

Answer 26

Performance appraisal is the formal assessment of how efficiently and effectively an employee is performing their role in the organisation.

Question 27

What is Performance Feedback?

Answer 27

Performance feedback is the information provided to an employee after a performance appraisal.

Question 28

What is Termination?

Answer 28

Termination is the ending of the employment of an employee.

Question 29

What is Retirement?

Answer 29

Retirement occurs when an employee decides to give up full-time or part-time work and no longer be part of the labour force.

Question 30

What is Resignation?

Answer 30

Resignation is the voluntary ending of employment by the employee ‘quitting’ their job.

Question 31

What is Redundancy?

Answer 31

Redundancy occurs when a person’s job no longer exists, usually due to technological changes, an organisational restructure or a merger or acquisition.

Question 32

What is Retrenchment?

Answer 32

Retrenchment occurs when a business dismisses an employee because there is not enough work to justify paying them.

Question 33

What is Dismissal?

Answer 33

Dismissal occurs when the behaviour of an employee is unacceptable and an organisation terminates their employment.

Question 34

What is Unfair Dismissal?

Answer 34

Unfair dismissal is when an employee is dismissed because the employer has discriminated against them in some way, such as firing someone because she is pregnant.

Question 35

What is HR Planning?

Answer 35

Human resource (HR) planning is the development of strategies to meet the organisation’s future human resource needs.

Question 36

What is Internal Recruitment?

Answer 36

Internal recruitment (from within the organisation) involves considering
present employees as applicants for available positions.

Question 37

What is External Recruitment?

Answer 37

External recruitment involves finding a suitable applicant for a position outside the organisation.

Question 38

What is the Establishment Phase?

Answer 38

The establishment phase is the first stage in the employment cycle, it includes planning, recruitment, selection, employment arrangements and remunerations.

Question 39

What is the Maintenance Phase?

Answer 39

The maintenance phase is the second stage of the employment cycle and includes induction, training and development, recognition and reward and performance management.