HR Processes Flashcards
Acquisition
Define: Acquisition is the process of attracting and recruiting the right staff for roles in a business.
Describe:
Acquisition involves analysing:
Internal environment - business’s goals and culture, cost containment, growth, downsizing, improved customer service or quality
External environment - economic conditions, competition, technology, legal, political, and social factors
OBJECTIVES: Corporate culture - Changes in staff turnover - Worker satisfaction
ACQUISITION: Identifying Staff needs
WHAT: refers to the process in how a business identifies the needs of staff that could potentially
Conducting a job analysis - examining actual job activities, equipment used on the job, specific job behaviours required, working conditions and degree of supervision necessary
Creating a job description (written statement of employee’s duties, tasks and responsibilities) and job design
Creating job specifications (list of key qualifications - education, skills, and experience) to effectively identify staffing needs.
ACQUISITION: Recruitment
WHAT: Involves finding and attracting the right people to apply for a job vacancy using advertisements, employment agencies and word of mouth.
Internal sources/recruitment - appointing someone already within the business, transfer of employees, promotion, recommendations
External sources/recruitment - e.g. advertisements (SMH), seek.com.au, recruitment agencies, schools/TAFE/universities, word of mouth
ACQUISITION: Selection
WHAT: Involves gathering and use of information about each applicant to choose the most appropriate applicant.
Selecting the most appropriate candidate may include: written application, testing, interviews, background checks
Why is it important? Affects the productivity and efficiency of the business
ACQUISITION: EXPLAIN
Explain/analyse (why/how)
Assist a business with attracting the most suitable candidates
Assists with appropriate candidates applying for the job
ACQUISITION: Implications
ADV: 1. INTERNAL recruitment - incentivising current staff, increasing employee satisfaction, and promote a positive corporate culture 2. EXTERNAL recruitment - new perspectives and skills, dilutes internal politics, access to wider pool of applicants
DIS:1. INTERNAL recruitment - lack of new perspectives and skills, potential conflict within workplace and competitive tension 2. EXTERNAL recruitment - difficulties with determining whether candidates would be appropriate/ideal, cost intensive 3.Acquisition process can take a significant amount of financial resources, human resources (HR) and time
DEVELOPMENT
Define: Development is the process of developing and improving the skills, abilities, and knowledge of staff, through induction, ongoing training and further professional development.
Development refers to helping employees reach their potential, thus increasing productivity.
OBJ: Improvement in corporate culture, Reduction in staff turnover, Improvement in worker satisfaction, Improved productivity and quality, Increase in sales, market share and profit
DEVELOPMENT: Induction
WHAT: Familiarising new staff with their working environment.
- Gives employees a positive attitude to the job and the
business
- Builds a new employee’s confidence in the job
- Stresses the major safety policies and procedures, and
explains their application
- Helps establish good working relationships with co-
workers and supervisors
DEVELOPMENT: Training
WHAT: Seek a long-term change in employee’s skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in order to improve work performance in the business
- Allows a business to strategically target weaknesses, develops strengths, and promote staff commitment - can give a business a competitive advantage
Increased training improves the productivity
OBJ: Worker Sat, Change staff turnover
Types: On the job, Off the job (outsourced training), Skills training, Management training, Webinars, Assessments, Ongoing training
DEVELOPMENT: Organisational
Less hierarchical and flat structure
Team and project based structures - improves employee autonomy and efficiency
Strategies: job enlargement (given more to do in the same job), job rotation (multi skilling), job enrichment (given more challenges and independence in their job), job sharing, self-managing teams
DEVELOPMENT: Mentoring and coaching
Mentoring: mutually agreed role for experienced employees to transfer knowledge and skills through succession planning. Usually more informal/unstructured.
Coaching: focused on improving skills and performance, and on helping individuals manage specific work roles more effectively. Usually more formal/structured.
DEVELOPMENT: Performance Appraisal
WHAT: A systematic process of analysing and evaluating employee performance for strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for development.
Tools: observation scales, 360 degree feedback and graphic rating scales
Provides feedback and acts as a measurement
Help the business monitor its employee selection
Identify training and development needs
DEVELOPMENT: Explain/HOW
Increases staff retention (significant cost saving)
Improved quality and productivity
Flow-on-effect - training reduces wasted time and materials, reduces absenteeism, and recruitment costs
Important due to rapidly changing technology
An established learning culture within a business will make it easier to adapt to new changes and improve a business competitive advantage
Development can have a measurable impact on performance and the bottom line
Research shows that productivity increases while training takes place (2.5 times more productive)
DEVELOPMENT: Implications
Advantages:
Benefits for employees - promotion, job satisfaction, challenge, adaptability, independence
Benefits for employers - higher productivity, ability for business change, employee loyalty, less staff turnover
Benefits of performance appraisals - feedback provided, remuneration and promotion opportunities, training needs identified
Disadvantages:
Short term cost and time
MAINTENANCE
Define: Maintenance is the process of managing the needs of staff for health and safety, industrial relations and legal responsibilities, including compensation and benefits, of all staff.
Ultimately, maintenance focuses on the RETENTION of employees through effective HRM.
WHY: → Retain staff - reduce staff turnover
→ Manage employee wellbeing at work - reduce absenteeism
→ Improve productivity
MAINTENANCE: Communication and workplace culture
Communication and workplace culture
Positive and regular communication with staff is important for building effective workplace relationships.
Regular team meetings, staff newsletters, email and surveys
Poor communication will result in employee dissatisfaction and high staff turnover rates
HR also needs to develop a supportive workplace culture where staff feel valued, e.g. recognition of achievements, constructive feedback.
MAINTENANCE: Employee Particiaption
Employee empowerment and involvement - giving employees greater responsibility and encouraging them to participate in decision-making - results in increased employee satisfaction and commitment.
Methods of promoting employee participation:
Involvement in meetings, including board of directors’ representation , Participation through (share) ownership , Participation in collective bargaining, Employee surveys and feedback on performance appraisals
Through involving employees in decision making processes - more valued and thus maintenance is maximised, leading to an improved workplace culture.
MAINTENANCE: Benifits (Non/Monetary awards)
Benefits (Monetary and non-monetary)
Monetary rewards:
Refers to those rewards that are financial in nature
Examples include:
Share purchase plans , Housing assistance, Travel allowance, Bonuses, Product discounts
Non monetary rewards:
Refers to rewards that have a non-financial value
Examples include:
Flexible work arrangements, Training opportunities, New office, Certificates or awards
MAINTENANCE: Legal and CSR
→ HR needs to comply with industrial relations legislation to avoid legal consequences and maintain employee trust → Providing a safe and healthy working environment can lead to reduced accidents and subsequently costs → Dealing with HR issues is also an ethical and socially responsible manner, e.g. bullying, stress, disputes, conflict → HR needs to create a workplace where employees are treated fairly, equally, and with respect in order to increase wellbeing and retention. → Workplace issues that must be specifically targeted by maintenance include: Bullying, Sexual harassment, Discrimination, Conflict
MAINTENANCE: Implications
Advantages:
1. Rewards can encourage staff to increase their productivity. 2. Increased motivation and commitment, lower levels of absenteeism 3.Easier to retain staff, lower levels of staff turnover. 4. Increased employee satisfaction, increased customer service, increased customer satisfaction
Disadvantages:
1. Costs for a workplace that is not family friendly 2. Potential for court action 3. Loss of return on training costs 4. Higher turnover costs
SEPERATION:
Define: Separation is the process of employees leaving voluntarily, or involuntarily through dismissal or retrenchment processes
SEPERATION: Voluntary (Resignation - Retire - Voluntary redundancy)
RESIGNATION: refers to where an employee leaves the business in order to join another business or to take permanent or non-permanent leave.
RETIREMENT: refers to where an employee leaves the business in order to permanently leave the labour force, effectively marking the end of their career.
VOLUNTARY REDUNDANCY: refers to where an employee voluntarily nominates themselves to be made redundant during a business’ structural change or redundancy process
SEPERATION: Involuntary Redundancy
WHAT: Redundancy occurs when a number of positions or an entire department of a business is terminated because no longer required (skills) (Cause by downturn?)
Acceptable conditions for redundancy include:
Closure of a workplace site
Implementation of technology
Financial difficulties
Structural change within the firm,
The business may also be asked to show that:
The employee’s job was genuinely no longer needed
There was no appropriate work available elsewhere in the business
SEPERATION: Retrenchment
WHAT: Retrenchment occurs when a business is forced to terminate the employment of an employee or group of employees due to the business being unable to provide sufficient work, and is usually caused by an economic downturn.
The choice of retrenchment will be determined by an employee’s: Length of service, Future potential, Whether employees would be willing to separate voluntarily
The business must provide evidence that the business is no longer able to employ the retrenched employee (financial statements can show this)
SEPERATION: Dismissal and summary dismissal
Dismissal refers to where an employee’s employment at a business is involuntarily terminated due to poor performance or serious breach of contract.
Summary dismissal:
WHAT: an instant form of dismissal in response to a significant breach of contract
E.g. theft or serious misconduct
The employee in question must be given the opportunity to respond to the allegations being made
FWC will determine if the breach of contract of misconduct was significant enough to warrant summary dismissal.
SEPERATION: Dismissal on Notice
Dismissal on notice refers to where an employee’s employment at a business is involuntarily terminated due to consistently poor performance.
The amount of notice will vary based on:
awards/contracts, age, length of service, type of employment
Before dismissing an employee on notice, a business must have followed appropriate legal protocol:
E.g. written warnings, advice, support, training and the reason for termination
SEPERATION: Unfair dismissal
FWC deems an unfair dismissal to be one that was:
→ Harsh, unjust, or unreasonable
→ Not a case of genuine redundancy
→ Not consistent with the small business fair dismissal code (if employed by a small business)
Employees are able to claim unfair dismissal if the:
→ Business has more than 15 employees,
→ The processes for dismissal according to legislation or the industrial instrument have not been carried out appropriately.
SEPERATION: Succesful Unfair dismissal?
In the event of a successful claim:
The employee’s reinstatement at the firm; however,
If reinstatement is not in the interest of both parties, COMPENSATION OF UPT TO 6 MONTHS PAY IS MAX financial compensation that may be given to the plaintiff.
SEPERATION: Legal compliance with involuntary dismissal
Must be scrupulously managed by the business in accordance with legislation and industrial instruments so as to prevent legal action
INVOLVES
→ The business providing notice of retrenchment or redundancy that is in accordance with the existing agreement, award or contract
→ The business providing the leave entitlements in accordance with the existing agreement, award or contract
→ The business providing a written statement of termination confirming the termination and date of termination.
