Unit 8: Recruitment, selection and training of workers

Question 1

Work of human resources

Answer 1

# Recruitment and selection: Attracting and selecting the best candidates
# Wages and salaries: Make sure they are enough to retain people
# Industrial relations: Achieve effective communication between the management and the workforce 
# Training programmes: Assessing and fulfilling the training needs of the employees
# Health and safety: Make sure that it complies with all the laws
#Redundancy and dismissal: Shedding employees according the laws

Question 2

Recruitment

Answer 2

the process from identifying that the business needs to employ someone up to the point at which applications have arrived at the business.

Question 3

Recruitment Process

Answer 3

1) Vacancy arises
2) job analysis
3) job description
4) job specification
5) job advertised in appropriate media
6) application forms and short listing
7) interviews and selection
8) vacancy filled

Question 4

Job analysis

Answer 4

identifies and records the responsibilities and tasks relating to a job. First step of the recruitment process. Necessary to know what tasks the new employee will do.

Question 5

Job description

Answer 5

outlines the responsibilities and duties to be carried out by someone employed to do a specific job. It is given to the candidates so they know exactly what the job entails. It will allow for a job specification. They usually contain:
 Job title
 Who they are responsible to and for
 Main purpose of the job
 Main duties
 Occasional duties
 Conditions of employment (salary, hours of work, pension scheme)

Question 6

Job specification

Answer 6

a document which outlines the requirements, qualifications, expertise, and physical characteristics needed for a job. (Level of educational qualifications, amount of expertise, special skills or knowledge, personal characteristics).

Question 7

Internal recruitment

Answer 7

when a vacancy is filled by someone who is an existing employee of the business. It can be advertised on a company noticeboard.

Advantages
Saves time and money
Person already known to the business and their reliability, ability and potential are known
The person knows the organisation’s way of working
Can be very motivating for other workers

Disadvantages
No new ideas or experience
There may be jealousy or rivalry among existing employees

Question 8

External recruitment

Answer 8

when the vacancy is filled by someone who is not an existing employee and will be new to the business. The advertisement can be placed in a:
 Local newspaper: for office or manual positions. Jobs that do not require high level of skill so many people locally could fill the vacancies.
 National newspaper: for more senior positions where you need skilled and expertise people. This will be read by people from different parts of the country, therefore they should be highly paid so they are willing to move.
 Specialist magazines and journals: for particular technical people such as scientists
 Recruitment agencies: they will advertise and interview people for particular types of jobs and when a suitable vacancy arises they will put forward the candidates. They are expensive.
 Centres run by the government: usually for unskilled and semi-skilled jobs.

Question 9

Application forms and CV/s résumés

Answer 9

the applicant of the job advertisement should apply in writing by an application form or by a letter of application including a curriculum vitae or résumé. A curriculum vitae should contain: name, address, telephone, birth, nationality, education, work experience, positions of responsibility, interests; and it should briefly outline why the applicant wants the job and why he/she feels suitable for it.

Question 10

Interviews

Answer 10

their main purposes are to assess the applicant’s ability to do the job, any personal characteristics that are an advantage or disadvantage and the general personality of the applicant. They might include test such as a skills test, which shows the ability of the candidate to carry out certain tasks, and aptitude test, to show the candidate’s potential, a personality test, used if a particular type of person is needed for the job, or a group situation test which tasks applicants to complete in group situations.

Question 11

Contract of employment

Answer 11

it is a legal requirement for employers to provide the new employee with a contract of employment to sign. It contains: name of employer and employee, job title, date when employment begins, hours of work, rate of pay, when payment will be made, and holiday entitlement.

Question 12

Part time worker

Answer 12

considered to be between 1 and 30-35 hours a week.

Advantages for the business
More flexible in the hours of work
Easier to ask employees to work at busy times
Employee is willing to accept lower prices
Less expensive than paying a full time

Disadvantages for the business
Less likely to be trained
Takes longer to recruit two part time workers than on full time worker
Less committed to the business
Less likely to be promoted because they will not have gained the skills

Question 13

Full time worker

Answer 13

usually work 35 hours or more a week. Their advantages and disadvantages are the opposite of the part time workers.

Question 14

Training

Answer 14

it may be used to: introduce a new process or equipment, improve the efficiency of the workforce, make unskilled workers valuable for the company, decrease the supervision needed, improve the opportunity for internal promotion, and decrease the chances of accidents. There are different types of training: Induction training, On the job training, Off the job training.

Question 15

Induction training

Answer 15

an introduction given to a new employee, explaining the firm’s activities and procedures and introducing them to their fellow workers. (few days)

Advantages
Helps new employees to settle in quickly
May be a legal requirement to give Health and Safety training at the start of the job
Workers are less likely to make mistakes

Disadvantages
Time consuming
Wages are paid but no work is being done
Delays the start of the employee commencing their job

Question 16

On the job training

Answer 16

when a person is trained by watching a more experienced worker doing the job. Only suitable for unskilled and semi-skilled jobs.

Advantages
It is given in the workplace so the employee doesn’t need to be sent away
Ensures there is some production from the worker while they are training
Training to the specific needs of the business

Disadvantages
Trainer will not be as productive as usual because they are training the trainee
Trainer may have bad habits and may pass down these on the trainee
May not necessarily be recognized training qualifications outside the business

Question 17

Off the job training

Answer 17

the worker goes away from the workplace. It could be in a different part of the building or in different place altogether. It is used for more complex tasks.

Advantages
Broad range of skills can be taught
If these courses are thought after work it will be cheaper for the business as the employee will still carry out their normal duties so the business will not lose output
Employees might become multi skilled which makes them more versatile.
It often use expert trainers

Disadvantages
Costs are high
Wages are paid but no work is being done
Additional qualifications means it is easier for the employer to leave and find another job.

Question 18

Workforce planning

Answer 18

establishing the workforce needed by the business for the foreseeable future in terms of the number and skills of employees required. It will depend upon the firms sales forecast, its objectives and its future plans.

Question 19

Reasons for downsizing

Answer 19

introduction of automation, falling demand for their goods, factory/shop/office closure, relocating their factory abroad, a business has been merged or taken over and some jobs have become surplus to the combined business.

Question 20

Dismissal

Answer 20

where a worker is told to leave their job because their work or behaviour is unsatisfactory. However, the employee may take the business to court if they feel they have been unfairly dismissed.

Question 21

Redundancy

Answer 21

when an employee is no longer needed and so loses their job. This could be during a period of falling sales or in an economic recession. The employee has to be given money to compensate them. In order to decide which employees to make redundant a business may look into the following factors: some worker may volunteer, the length of time employed in the business, worker with essential skills that are needed by the business should not be made redundant, which departments of the business need to lose workers and employment history of the worker.

Question 22

Legal controls over employment issues

Answer 22

there are laws that affect equal employment opportunities. People should be treated equally. This means that businesses have to be careful when wording an advice, when selecting an employee for a job they must treat them all equally and they should recruit and promote staff by merit alone. Employees need protection in the following areas: Protection against unfair discrimination, Health and safety at work, Protection against unfair dismissal, and Wage protection

Question 23

Protection against unfair discrimination

Answer 23

some employees discriminate unfairly against workers because they are of a different race or colour, belong to a different religion, are of the opposite sex, are considered to old/young for the job, are disabled in some way. This sort of discrimination are illegal.

Question 24

Health and safety at work

Answer 24

nowadays, there are laws that make sure that all employers: protect workers from dangerous machinery, provide safety equipment and clothing, maintain reasonable workplace temperatures, provide hygienic conditions and do not insist on excessively long shifts.

Question 25

Protection against unfair dismissal

Answer 25

examples of unfair dismissal: for joining a trade union, for being pregnant, when no warning are given before dismissal.

Question 26

Wage protection

Answer 26

governments are taking action against employers who pay low wages, often in the form of a legal minimum wage.

Question 27

Legal minimum wage

Answer 27

Advantages of legal minimum wage
Prevents strong employer from exploiting unskilled workers
Unskilled workers will be receiving higher wages which might encourage their employers to train them
Low paid workers will earn more and will be able to spend more

Disadvantages of legal minimum wage
Increases business costs which will force them to increase prices
Some employers might not be able to afford these wage rates and might make employees redundant instead.
Workers receiving just above minimum wage might ask for higher wages to keep the same differential between them and the lower paid workers.