Human Resource Performance Key Terms

Human resource objectives

They are goals the business aims to achieve through its human resource department

Employee engagement

They care about their work and about the performance of the company, and feel that their efforts make a difference

Employee involvement

Investment in Employees

Training

The process of increasing the knowledge and skills of the workforce to enable them to perform their jobs effectively

Talent development

It is a process by which an individual's innate capabilities are identified and nurtured

Diversity

The differences in demographics that make people unique

Unit labour costs

The average cost of labour per unit of output produced

Labour turnover

The net departure of employees over a defined period of time

Labour retention

The percentage of employees who stay during a period of time

Human resource plan

The ongoing process of systematically planning ahead to optimise and maximise your business's most valuable asset — high-quality employees

Job design

It includes the roles and responsibilities of the job itself

Job enrichment

The attempts to give employees greater responsibility by increasing the range and complexity of tasks they are called upon to complete and giving them the necessary authority

Empowerment

It is when an employer gives an employee more control over their job, including the ability to decide the best way to fulfill their duties

Organisational structure

It is the way in which a business is arranged to carry out its activities

Organisational design

It outlines the reporting relationships, roles, and responsibilities of employees in the organisation

Employer brand

The way in which organisations differentiate themselves in the labour market, enabling them to attract, recruit, retain and engage the right people

Human resource flow

It describes the employees' life cycle within an organisation

Recruitment & selection

The process of identifying the need for a job, defining the requirements of the position and the job holder, advertising the position and choosing the most appropriate person for the job

Redundancy

This happens in the case where the services of an employee are no longer required by the business

Dismissal

It is a form of employment termination that occurs when an employee is terminated from their job due to misconduct or unsatisfactory performance

Redeployment

It is the moving of an employee from one job or role to another

Division of labour

It occurs where the production process is broken down into many separate tasks

Time and motion study

It analysis of the time spent in going through the different motions of a job or series of jobs

Commission Piece rate

It is a reward for the quantity or value of work achieved

Performance related pay

It is a process that links an employee's salary increase to their individual performance

Variable pay

It is a flexible type of PRP which offers employees a highly individual pay system related to their performance

Employee welfare

The efforts made by the employer to provide comfort and improve the workers' lives at work

Appraisal

It is an evaluation of an employee's performance that considers feedback and opinions from: line managers. peers. subordinates. the employee themselves

Team-working

Where organisations break down production into large units where each unit is responsible for a particular area

Trade union

It is an organisation made up of members (a membership-based organisation) and its membership must be made up mainly of workers

Collective bargaining

It is the process of negotiating the employment terms between an employer and a group of workers

Trade union wage premium

Above the normal competitive market wage

Works council

It is a group of employee representatives within an organisation

Arbitration

The identification of a set of user actions ("events" or "touch points") that contribute to a desired outcome, and then the assignment of a value to each of these events

Industrial dispute

If an employer and a union are not in agreement regarding an issue such as pay, the union may declare that the parties are in dispute

Conciliation

It is a voluntary process in which a professional facilitator assists employers and employees to resolve disputes when their own unassisted efforts have not succeeded

Strikes

The complete stoppage of work

Work to rule

The refusal to undertake duties not specified in contract

Go-slow

Employees work at a reduced pace, possibly at basic rate pay only

Overtime Ban

When workers refuse to co-operate with management demands for overtime working in peak periods of demand