Chapter 15: Human Resources Management

Employees: The Key to Success

Human Resources

• 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.

Meeting Staffing Needs

• 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

Considering Job Applicants

• 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

Developing and Retaining Employees

Developing Employees

• 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.

Changes in Employee Status

• 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