Goals:
Key Terms
Managing Human Resources
Human resources management ensures that needed employees are available, productive, paid, and satisfied with their work.
If human resources management does it job well, the company will have employees who do their jobs well.
This will result in a successful, profitable, business.
Human resources management begins by analyzing where the business currently is interms of its personnel and where it wants to be.
The decision to hire a person must be made carefully.
Once an employee is hired, the person’s salary must be pair whether the company isprofitable or not.
An employee should be hired when the work of that employee will add more to the company’s profitabilitythan it will cost.
The company must decide whether the person to be hired will be permanent or temporary.
Permanent Employee is one to whom the company makes a long-term commitment. It is expected that the employee will work for the business as long as the business is profitable and the employee’s performance is satisfactory.
Temporary employee is one hired for a specific time or to complete a specific assignment.
Because permanent employee feel that they are a part of the business, they are often more productive than temporary employees.
There is more control over the company resources when temporary employees are hired. The employee is paid only until the temporary assignment ends. Temporary employees are usually hired during a busy time for the b usiness or when a special task needs to be done.
Full-time Employee – regularly works a schedule of 30 or more hours a week.
Part-Time Employee – has a shorter work schedule with fewer hours each day or fewer days each week.
Before starting the hiring process, human resources staff studies the work that must be done in the job. Specific information about each job must be known in order to hire people with the right skills. This information is often collected by completing a job analysis. A job analysis is a specific study of a job to identify in detail the job duties and responsibilities.
Once the specific need and skill requirements are determined, prospective employees must be located. If this search is not done properly, the employer may spend a great deal of time and money and still be unable to locate the appropriate employee.
There are several effective sources for locating prospective employees that wil help to minimize the time and costs involved with employee searches
The Application Process
Most companies ask prospective employees to fill out an employment application. The application asks for personal information, information on education, and work experience. It may also ask for specific skills related to the job and names of people who can serve as references. For career-level jobs, the applicant may be asked to submit an application letter and a resume.
Applications are the first step in the screening process and are used to remove clearly unqualifiedapplicants from the search as well as to identify people who appear to be especially qualified.
New Employee Orientation
The final step in the hiring process is to help the new employee get a good start in the company.
The new hire will meet with the human resources specialists to complete all of the paperwork needed to receive pay and benefits. There will usually be several days of training. Sometimes the new hire will be paired with an experienced worker (mentor).
The mentor will answer questions and help the new employee to become more familiar with and better acclimated to the work environment. The company may have a probationary period of several weeks to several months. At the end of that time, the new employee is evaluated to be sure job performance is meeting the company’s expectations.
One of the reasons people come to work is to earn money. Compensation is the amount of money paid to an employee for work performed. Compensation is made up of two parts. Salary and wages are direct payment of money to an employee for work completed. Compensation in forms other than direct payment is known as benefits. Examples of benefits are insurance, retirement plans, and health and fitness programs.
Compensation Methods
A time wage pays the employee a specific amount of money for each hour worked. A straight salary pays a specific amount of money for each week or month worked. Neither of these types of compensation are based on the amount or quality of work done. They are determined by the amount of time spent on the job.
Incentive systems connect the amount of compensation to the quality or the quantity of an employee’s performance. Some businesses pay commissions in which an employee is paid a percentage of sales for which he or she is responsible. Another pay-for-performance plan is known as a piece rate. An employee receives a specific amount for each unit of work produced. Piece rates are most often used in factories and data processing or telephone call centers.
Some companies have base plus incentive compensation system. Combines a wage or a salary with an additional amount based on the employee’s performance.
Employee Benefits
On average for all businesses, an additional 20 to 40 per cent of an employee’s wages is spent on benefits. If an employee earns $7 per hour, 30% added for benefits increases the hourly cost to $9.10. If the employee works 40 hours per week for 50 week, the additional cost is $4,200.
Benefits include compensation for overtime hours worked, social security, Medicare, and contributions to funds for injured employees and unemployed workers.Full-time employees may expect companies to offer insurance plans including health, life, dental and disability insurance.
Time off for vacations and paid vacations are also popular benefits for employees. Paid sick leave may be included. These are extremely costly benefits because the employee is being paidfor time when they are not working. On the other hand, the time off may result in a more content and productive employee.
Promotion-the advancement of an employee to a position with greater responsibility. Companies want to keep good employees. They want to place employees in positions where they can provide the greatest benefit for the company. When positions for advancement within the company come available, companies should fill open positions with current employees.
Transfers-the assignment of an employee to another job in the company with a similar level of responsibility. The job may provide a new challenge for the employee or may be a better match with the person’s skills.
If performance does not meet the company’s expectations or if jobs are being reduced,the company may have to terminate the employee. A termination ends the employment relationship between a company and an employee. The termination may be a discharge that ends the employment due to inappropriate work behavior. A layoff is a temporary or permanent reduction in the number of employees due to changing business conditions.
The company should complete all terminations carefully. The terminations must meet legal requirements and be as helpful as possible to the employee who is asked to leave the business.
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