Human Resource Function

Recruitment
Meaning
 The process to identify vacancies in the business and attract suitable candidates for it
 It is an on-going process as employees leave their jobs for other jobs as new technological
skills are required

Recruitment procedure
 HRM should indicate the job specification to attract suitable candidates
 Choose a method of recruitment to reach suitable candidates
 The advertisement should be prepared with relevant information
 Place the advertisement in the selected media that will ensure that the best candidates
apply

Job recruitment/specification
Job Recruitment
 Describes responsibilities of a specific job
 Written description of a specific job and its requirements
Job Specification
 Specifies the minimum requirement acceptable personal skills needed for the job
 Written description of specific qualifications needed for the job

Method of recruitment
External Recruitment
 New candidates bring new talents into the business
 Business has a larger pool of candidates to choose from
 External sources of a business can be expensive
 Information on CVs may not be reliable
 New candidates generally take longer to adjust to a new work environment
Internal Recruitment
 Cheaper to fill the post
 Provides opportunities for a career path within the business
 Placement is easy, as management knows the employees’ skills
 The number of applicants is limited to current staff only
 Current employees may not bring new ideas into the business

Source of Recruitment
External recruitment
 Recruitment agencies
 Billboards
 Head hunting
 Walk-ins
Internal recruitment
 Internal e-mails
 Staff meetings
 Office board notice
 Recommendation by current employees

Selection
Selection procedure
 Determine fair assessment criteria on which selection will be based
 Receive application forms and certified copies of IDs
 Determine which applications meet the minimum job requirements and separate these from
the rest
 Compile a shortlist of potential candidates identified

Meaning of screening
 Check application documents against the requirement jobs
 Do background checks of applicants who qualify for the job
 Prepare a shortlist of suitable candidates after screening

Purpose of an interview
 To determine a candidate’s suitability for the job
 Obtains more information form the candidate
 Evaluate the skills and personal characteristics of the applicant
Role of an interviewer
While Preparing for an Interview
 The interviewer should develop a core set of questions based of skills required
 Check the CV pf every candidate for anything that they may need to explained
 Book and prepare the venue for the interview
 Inform all shortlisted candidates about the date and place for the interview
During the interview
 Allocate the same amount of time for each candidate
 Make the interviewee feel at ease
 Record candidates’ response for future reference
 Do not mislead the candidate
Roe of an interviewee
 Greet the interviewer with a solid handshake and a friendly smile
 Listen carefully to the questions before responding
 Make eye contact and have good posture
 Be inquisitive and show interest in the business
Meaning of an Employment Contract
 An agreement between the employer and the employee and is legally binding

Contents of an Employment Contract

 Personal details of the employee
 Job title
 Date of employment
 Hours of work
 Fringe benefits

Legal Requirements of the Employment Contract

 The employer and employee must both sign the contract
 Employer and employee must agree to any changes of the contract
 The employment contract should include the code of conduct and code of ethics
 Conditions of employment must be stipulated clearly
Reasons for Termination of an Employment Contract
 Employer may no longer have work for redundant employees
 The employer may not be able to pay the employees
 Employees decided to leave by resigning voluntarily for better job opportunities
 By mutual agreement between the employer and employee
 Induction
Meaning of Induction
 New employees are familiarised with their new physical work environment
 New employees are informed about the procedures of the business

Purpose of Induction
 Ensure that the employees understand their roles so that they will be more efficient
 Familiarise new employees with the organisational structure
 Give new employees a tour of the building
 Communicate information about the products offered by the business

Induction Programme
 Overview of the business
 Information about the business products
 Tour of the premises
 Safety regulations and rules

Benefits of Induction
 Allows new employees to settle in quickly and work efficiently
 Ensure that the employee understand the rules of the business
 Minimise the need for on-going training and development
 Increase quality of performance

Placement

Meaning of Placement
 A specific job is assign to the selected candidate
 The qualification of a selected candidate is matched with the requirements of a specific job

Placement Procedure
 Determine the relationship between the position and the competencies of the new
candidate
 Business should outline the specific responsibilities of the new position including skills
required for this position

Skills Development
 Insure training in the workplace is structured
 Identify the training needs of the employee and provide them with training opportunities so
that they will perform the tasks efficiently
 Appoint a full/part time consultant as a skills development facilitator
 Salary Determination

Salary determination methods

Piecemeal
 Workers are paid according to the number of items produced
 Mostly used in factories particularly in technology industries
Time-Related
 Workers are paid according to the amount of hours they spend at work
 Many public and private sector businesses use this method

Salary determination vs BCEA

 The BCEA sets out conditions to ensure fail labour and human resources practices
 Payment of salaries is based on whether the employee is permanent or employed on a fixed
contract
 Businesses are supposed to deduct income tax from the employees’ taxable salaries

Fringe Benefits

Types of Fringe Benefits

 Pension
 Medical Aid
 UIF

Impact of Fringe Benefits

 Improves productivity resulting in higher probability
 A business saves money s benefits are tax deductible
 Fringe benefits can be used as leverage in salary negotiation
 Are additional costs that may result in cash flow problems
 It can lead to corruption if allocated unfairly
 Errors in benefits may lead to costly lawsuits

Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF)

 Assists the dependants if a contributing worker who has died
 The employer and the worker each contribute 1%
 Contributions are paid to UIF or SARS
 Legislation

Labour Relations Act

 Provides a framework where employees, trade unions and employees discuss matters
relating to employment
 The human resource manager should allow workers to form workplace forums to promote
the interest of all employees
 Promotes orderly negotiations and employee participation in decision making in the
workplace

Basic Conditions of Employment Act

 Workers should only work 9 hours per week in a 5-day work week or 8 hours per day in a 6-
day work week
 Overtime may not exceed 10 hours per week
 They must have a break of 60 minutes after 5 hours of work
 Workers can take up to 6 weeks paid sick leave during a 36-month cycle

Employment Equity Act

 Equal pay for work of equal value
 Ensure that affirmative action promotes diversity in the workplace
 Do medical test fairly to all employees when deemed necessary
 HR must promote equal opportunities in the workplace

Skills Development Act

 Ensure training in the workplace is structured
 Assist manage in identifying training needs to help then to introduce learnerships
 The business should contribute 1% of the salary bill to the skills development levy
 Appoint a full or part time consultant as a skills development facilitator
 Quality
Concept of quality
Quality
 A service’s ability to satisfy a specific need
 Is measured against specific criteria such as physical appearance

Quality control
 Inspection of the final product to ensure that it meets the required standards
 Checking products to ensure that high standards are maintained

Quality assurance
 Inspections carried out during and after the production process
 Ensures that the required standards have been met at every stage of the process

Quality management
 Tools used to improve the quality of a product
 Can be used for accountability within each of the business functions

Quality performance
 Total performance of each department measured against a specific standard
 Can be obtained if all departments work together towards the same quality standards

Benefits of a good quality management system

 Effective customer services are rendered, resulting in increased customer satisfaction
 Time and resources are used efficiently
 Business goals may be achieved
 Business has a competitive advantage over its competitors

General management function

 Effectively communicate shared vision, mission and values
 Set direction and establish priorities for their business
 Monitor effective strategic plans
 Understand changes in the business environment on an on-going basis

Administrative function
 Ensure a fast and reliable data capturing processing systems
 Make reliable information available to management on time
 Handle complaints quickly and effectively
 Use modern technology efficiently
Financial function
 Obtain capital from the most reliable sources
 Negotiate better interest rates in order to keep financial cost down
 Draw up a budget to ensure sufficient application monetary resources
 Draw up accurate financial statements regularly

Purchasing function
 Businesses should buy raw materials in bulk at lower prices
 Required quantities should be delivered at the right time and place
 Maintain stock control systems to ensure the security of stock
 Maintain optimum stock levels to avoid overstocking

Production function
 Use machines and equipment efficiently
 Accurately calculate the production cost
 Businesses should have good after-sales services and warrantees
 Empower workers so that they can take pride in their workmanship

Marketing function
 Achieve a greater market share through good customer services
 Adhere to ethical advertising practices when promoting products and services
 Identify competitive edge and conduct regular market search
 Differentiate products to increase the target market

Public relation function

 Dealing quickly with negative publicity
 Providing regular press releases
 Implementing sustainable CSI programmes
 Positive feedback from public surveys on business image

Humane resource function

 Ensures fair and equitable selection process
 Fair remuneration packages that aligned to the industry
 Good relationship with employees
 Low rate of staff turnover in the business

Total quality management(TQM)

What is TQM
 It is an integrated system applied throughout the organisation which helps to produce
quality products to customers
 It is a thought revolution in management, where the entire business is operated with
customer orientation in all business activities
 Focuses on achieving customer satisfaction and looks for continuous improvement in all the
business’s processes, products and services
The TQM elements
I. Continuous skill development
 The commitment of a business to participate in continuous skill development of all
employees at all levels within the business
 The effective programmes must be provided to train employees for the correct application
of the various TQM processes

Impact
 Ability to afford skilled employees
 May be able to hire qualified trainers to employ employees on a regular basis
 Human resources experts ensure that training programmes are relevant to increase
customer satisfaction
 Trained employees may leave for better jobs after they gained more skills
 De-motivates employees, if they do not receive recognition for training
 It may be difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of training

II. Total customer satisfaction

 The ability of a business to achieve total customer satisfaction
 The business must strive to produce quality products to meet customer expectations

Impact
 Large businesses use customer surveys to monitor customer satisfaction
 Continuously promote a positive company image
 May lead to increased profitability
 Not all employees may be committed to total customer satisfaction

III. Continuous improvement to processes and systems

 The ability of a business to achieve continuous improvement to processes and systems
 The business cannot become complacent with current practices and consistently apply
means to improve processes and systems

Impact
 Large department have more resources to check on quality performance of each unit
 Enough capital resources are available to new equipment required for processes and
systems
 Large scale manufacturing can complicate quality control
 Face the risk of changing parts of the business that are actually working well
 IV. Adequate financing and capacity
 The ability of a business to acquire adequate financing and capacity for all operational
requirements in the pursuit of implementing TQM efficiently
 The business need to ensure that there is adequate financing and capacity available for all
projects to meet TQM requirements

Impact
 Large businesses have sufficient financing to test everything before implementing
 Can afford to purchase raw materials and equipment
 These rapid growing businesses can consume large amounts of capital as they try to balance
normal operations and expansions

V. Monitoring and evaluating quality processes

 The effective implementations of the TQM requires monitoring and evaluation quality
processes throughout the entire business
 The business need to monitor and evaluate quality processes to determine the strengths and
reduce weaknesses in achieving TQM

Impact
 Prevents product defects and minimise customise complaints
 Quality circles meet on regular basis to evaluate the progress in terms of quality
 Allows for quality control checks and procedures at key points
 May be equipped to get things done right the first time
 It often takes longer to detect problems or responds to weaknesses
 It is not viable to check quality of all the products

Steps to improve the quality of products

Plan
 Plan the method and approach

Do
 Implement the processes and systems

Check
 Determine whether it made a difference

Act
 Continuously revise the process

Role of quality roles

 Solve problems related to quality and implement improvements
 Investigate problems and suggest solutions to management
 Ensure that the is no duplication of tasks in the workplace
 Make suggestions for improving systems and processes in the workplace

Impact of TQM if poorly implemented

 Setting unrealistic deadlines that may not be achieved
  Employees may not be adequately trained resulting in poor quality products
 Decline in productivity, because of stoppages
 Investors might withdraw investments, if there is a decline in profits

Ways in which TQM can reduce the cost of quality

 Schedule activities to eliminate duplication of tasks
 Share responsibility for quality output amongst management and workers
 Train employees at all levels, so that everyone understands their roles of quality
management
 Work closely with suppliers to improve the quality or raw materials