Approaches to Human Resource Management Strategy Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering Human Resource Management (HRM) concepts, types of employment contracts, performance measurement indicators, and IT applications in HR.

Hard HRM

An approach to managing employees that focuses on cutting costs by treating workers as business resources to be obtained cheaply, used sparingly, and exploited to keep unit labour costs low.

Soft HRM

An approach to managing employees as valuable assets that must be cared for and developed so they reach their full potential, under the belief that motivated employees are more productive and loyal.

Full-time employment contract

An employment agreement where a worker is contracted to work for a complete working week.

Permanent employment contract

A contract that employs a worker indefinitely unless they are dismissed, made redundant, or decide to leave the organization.

Zero-hours contract

A contract of employment where the employee has no guaranteed hours of work and is paid only for the hours they are called in to work.

Part-time contract

An employment arrangement where workers are hired to work fewer hours per week than full-time employees.

Temporary contract

A contract offered for a fixed period of time that does not require redundancy payments to be made when the contract expires or the work is no longer required.

Flexible contract

A contract allowing a business or employee to vary the number of working hours in any given period based on workload demand.

Homeworking

A work arrangement, also called teleworking, in which employees work from home using modern IT communications to maintain contact with the office.

Hot-desking

An arrangement where employees share workstations or desks rather than having individually assigned seating.

Compressed working hours

A schedule that allows employees to fulfill their normal weekly working hours across fewer days by working longer shifts each day.

Gig economy

An employment environment dominated by temporary, flexible jobs where individuals are hired as independent contractors or freelancers rather than standard employees.

Job-sharing

An arrangement where two or more employees split the responsibilities, hours, and pay of a single full-time position.

Shift working

A system where groups of employees work in rotational shifts to allow continuous business operations up to $24$ hours a day.

Shift work disorder

A sleep disorder affecting about $20\%$ of night and rotating shift workers that can decrease productivity and lead to long-term health problems.

Labour productivity

A performance indicator measuring the amount of output produced per worker over a given period of time.

Absenteeism rate formula

The proportion of total employees absent from work, calculated as $\text{absenteeism (\%)} = \frac{\text{no. of employees absent}}{\text{total no. of employees}} \times 100$.

Employee appraisal

The formal evaluation of an employee's job performance measured against agreed pre-set targets or expected outcomes.

E-recruitment

The process of using online web portals to publish job openings and receive applicant materials, including video skill showcases.