Chapter 15: Human Resources Management

$Human resources$ are the people employed in a business, commonly referred to as personnel.
Managing human resources is not the same as supervising workers.
$Human resources management$ is the process of finding, selecting, training, and evaluating employees.

A $job description$ is a detailed outline of the duties, qualifications, and conditions required to do a specific job
* The job might also require a certain level of experience and education.
* It could be part-time, full-time, permanent, or temporary.
To attract and keep good employees, businesses must offer competitive compensation.
* $Compensation$ is pay and benefits.
Pay can be in the form of a wage or a salary.
* A $wage$ is an amount of money paid to an employee on an hourly basis.
* A $salary$ is a fixed amount of pay for each week, month, or year.
Benefits are extra compensation that workers receive such as health and life insurance, sick leave, holiday pay, and retirement plans.
Retirement plans provide employees with money after working at a company for a certain number of years.
Some companies offer pension plans.
* A pension plan is a retirement plan that is funded at least in part by an employer.
A profit-sharing plan makes an annual contribution to an employee’s retirement fund when the company makes a profit.
Another type of retirement plan is a 401(k).
* With a 401(k), employees set aside a percentage of funds from each paycheck to go into their 401(k) investment account.
* Many employers match a percentage of an employee’s contribution to a 401(k).
Human resources managers often work as recruiters.
$Recruitment$ means actively looking for qualified people to fill a job

After recruiting job applicants, a human resources manager has to decide which one to hire.
There are four steps to selecting the right person or candidate for the job.
  * First, the recruiter must review each candidate’s application and/or résumé.
    * An application is a form companies give to potential employees to complete.
    * It lists their work experience, education, skills, and references.
    * A résumé is a worker’s summary of academic and work history.
  * Reviewing the application and résumé leads to the screening step.
    * Screening is a system of selecting suitable people for a job
  * The next step is for the human resources manager to interview qualified candidates.
    * An interview is a meeting in which a recruiter asks an applicant questions to see if the applicant is right for a job.
  * Many companies test job candidates as part of the interview process.
    * Testing helps companies make sure that job candidates have the right skills and character for a job.
The human resources manager’s final step before hiring a new employee is to check the applicant’s background and references.
A $background check$ is the process of verifying certain information provided by a job applicant
A $reference$ is someone who comments on a job applicant’s character and qualifications for a job

$Orientation$ is the process of helping new employees adjust to a company.
New employees usually need some training for the specific job they were hired to do.
* On-the-job training involves learning a new job by actually doing it.
* $Group training$ involves teaching several employees in a class.
Job rotation moves employees to different tasks or departments to help them gain experience.
* Job rotation also prevents boredom and increases morale.
* Morale is the general level of confidence or enthusiasm felt by a person or group of people.
Soft skills refer to personality traits and personal abilities such as social skills, language skills, personal habits, and friendliness.
* Soft skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job.
A $performance appraisal$ is an evaluation of how well an employee is doing a job.
Employees are evaluated periodically.

A $promotion$ gives an employee a higher-level job with more authority, responsibility, and pay.
* Promotions are also given on the basis of seniority.
* Seniority is the status given to an employee based on rank or length of service.
A $transfer$ is a move to another job within a company, usually at the same level and pay.
$Separation$ is leaving a company for any reason.
  * A voluntary separation occurs when an employee resigns or retires.
    * When an employee voluntarily leaves, an exit interview is given to pinpoint why the employee is leaving.
  * Involuntary separations include layoffs and terminations.
    * A worker may be fired or terminated if he or she breaks rules, becomes unable to perform at the expected level, or cannot get along with others.
  * If the company needs to downsize, employees might be laid off.
    * A layoff occurs when there is not enough work for all employees.
$Turnover$ is the number of employees who leave an organization and are replaced over time