Human Resource Management

Recruitment

• Advertising
• Job Description
• Person Specification
• The process by which a job vacancy is identified and potential employees are notified.
• The nature of the recruitment process is regulated and subject to employment law.
• Main forms of recruitment through advertising in newspapers, magazines, trade papers and internal vacancy lists.
• Job description – outline of the role of the job holder
• Person specification – outline of the skills and qualities required of the post holder
• Applicants may demonstrate their suitability through application form, letter or curriculum vitae (CV)

Selection

• Short Listing
• Interview
• Presentations
• In-Tray Exercises
• Psychometric Testing
• Aptitude Testing
• The process of assessing candidates and appointing a post holder
• Applicants short listed – most suitable candidates selected
• Selection process – varies according to organisation
• Interview – most common method
• Psychometric testing – assessing the personality of the applicants – will they fit in?
• Aptitude testing – assessing the skills of applicants
• In-tray exercise – activity based around what the applicant will be doing, e.g. writing a letter to a disgruntled customer
• Presentation – looking for different skills as well as the ideas of the candidate

Employment Legislation

• Equal Opportunities
• Discrimination
• Union Recognition
• Contracts
• Health and Safety
• EU Directivies
• Increasingly important aspect of the HRM role
• Wide range of areas for attention
• Adds to the cost of the business
• Even in a small business, the legislation relating to employees is important – chemicals used in a hairdressing salon for example have to be carefully stored and handled to protect employees.
  

Discrimination

• Crucial aspects of employment legislation:
  –Race
  –Gender
  –Disability
• Disability is no longer an issue for employers to ignore, they must take reasonable steps to accommodate and recruit disabled workers.
  Copyright: Mela, http://www.sxc.hu

Discipline

• Grievance Procedures
• Dismissal
• External Agencies - ACAS, Tribunals, EU
• Firms cannot just ‘sack’ workers
• Wide range of procedures and stepsbin dealing with workplace conflict
  –Informal meetings
  –Formal meetings
  –Verbal warnings
  –Written warnings
  –Grievance procedures
  –Working with external agencies

Development

• Opportunities
• Promotion
• Personal Development
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
• Developing the employee can be regarded as investing in a valuable asset
  –A source of motivation
  –A source of helping the employee fulfil potential +

Training

• New skills
• New systems
• Improve efficiency
• Similar to development:
  –Provides new skills for the employee
  –Keeps the employee up to date with changes in the field
  –Aims to improve efficiency
  –Can be external or ‘in-house’

Rewards Systems

• Pay
• Benefits
• The system of pay and benefits used by the firm to reward workers
• Money not the only method
• Fringe benefits
• Flexibility at work
• Holidays, etc.

Trade Unions

• Role
• Necessity of consultation
• Importance of building relationships with employee representatives
• Role of Trade Unions has changed
• Importance of consultation and negotiation and working with trade unions
• Contributes to smooth change management and leadership

Productivity

• Output per worker per period of time
• Measuring Performance

1. How to value the workers contribution
2. Difficulty in measuring some types of output – especially in the service industry
3. Appraisal
   –Meant to be non-judgmental
   –Involves the worker and a nominated appraiser
   –Agreeing strengths, weaknesses and ways forward to help both employee and organisation