Chapter 8

The Role of the H.R. (Human Resource) Department

Recruitment and selection: attracting and selecting the best candidates for
job posts

Wages and salaries: set wages and salaries that attract and retain employees
as well as motivate them

Industrial relations: there must be effective communication between

management and workforce to solve complaints and disputes as well as
discussing ideas and suggestions

Training programmes: give employees training to increase their productivity

and efficiency

Health and safety: all laws on health and safety conditions in the workplace
should be adhered to

Redundancy and dismissal: the managers should dismiss any

unsatisfactory/misbehaving employees and make them redundant if they are
no longer needed by the business.

Recruitment

Job Analysis, Description and Specification

Recruitment is the process from identifying that the business needs to

employ someone up to the point where applications have arrived at the
business.
A vacancy arises when an employee resigns from a job or is dismissed by the
management. When a vacancy arises, a job analysis has to be prepared. A
job analysis identifies and records the tasks and responsibilities relating to
the job. It will tell the managers what the job post is for.

Then a job description is prepared that outlines the responsibilities

and duties to be carried out by someone employed to do the job. It
will have information about the conditions of employment (salary, working
hours, and pension scheme), training offered, opportunities for promotion
etc. This is given to all prospective candidates so they know what exactly
they will be required and expected to do.
Once this has been done, the H.R. department will draw up a job
specification, a document that outlines the requirements,
qualifications, expertise, skills, physical/personal characteristics
etc. required by an employee to be able to take up the job.

Advertising the vacancy

Internal recruitment is when a vacancy is filled by an existing
employee of the business.
Advantages:
 Saves time and money- no need for advertising and interviewing
 Person already known to business
 Person knows business’ ways of working
 Motivating for other employees to see their colleagues being
promoted- urging them to work hard
Disadvantages:
 No new skills and experience coming into the business
 Jealousy among workers
External recruitment is when a vacancy is filled by someone who is not
an existing employee and will be new to the business. External
recruitment needs to be advertised, unlike internal recruitment. This can be
done in local/national newspapers, specialist magazines and journals, job
centres run by the government (where job vacancies are posted and given
to interested people; usually for unskilled or semi-skilled jobs) or
even recruitment agencies (who will recruit and send along candidates to
the company when they request it).
When advertising a job, the business needs to decide what should be
included in the advertisement, where it should be advertised, how much it
will cost and whether it will be cost-effective.

When a person is interested in a job, they should apply for it by sending in

a curriculum vitae (CV) or resume, this will detail the person’s
qualifications, experience, qualities and skills.The business will use these to
see which candidates match the job specification. It will also include
statements of why the candidate wants the job and why he/she feels they
would be suitable for the job.

Selection
Applicants who are shortlisted will be interviewed by the H.R. manager.
They will also call up the referee provided by the applicant (a referee could
be the previous employer or colleagues who can give a confidential opinion
about the applicant’s reliability, honesty and suitability for the job).
Interviews will allow the manager to assess:
 the applicant’s ability to do the job
 personal qualities of the applicant
 character and personality of applicant
In addition to interviews, firms can conduct certain tests to select the
best candidate. This could include skills tests (ability to do the job),
aptitude tests (candidate’s potential to gain additional skills), personality
tests (what kind of a personality the candidate has- will it be suitable for the
job?), group situation tests (how they manage and work in teams) etc.
When a successful candidate has been selected the others must be sent a
letter of rejection.

The contract of employment: a legal agreement between the

employer and the employee listing the rights and responsibilities of
workers. It will include:
 the name of employer and employee
 job title
 date when employment will begin
 hours to work
 rate of pay and other benefits
  when payment is made
 holiday entitlement
 the amount of notice to be given to terminate the employment that the
employer or employee must give to end the employment etc.
Employment contracts can be part-time or full-time. Part-time
employment is often considered to be between 1 and 30-35 hours a week
whereas full-time employment will usually work 35 hours or more a week.
Advantages to employer of part-time employment (disadvantages of full-time
employment to employer):

 more flexible hours of work

 easier to ask employees just to work at busy times
 easier to extend business opening/operating hours by working
evenings or at weekends
 works lesser hours so employee is willing to accept lower pay
 less expensive than employing and paying full-time workers.
Disadvantages to employer of part-time employment (advantages of full-
time employment to employers)
 less likely to be trained because the workers see the job as temporary
 takes longer to recruit two part-time workers than one full-time worker
 can be less committed to the business/ more likely to leave and go get
another job
 less likely to be promoted because they will not have gained the skills
and experience as full-time employees
 more difficult to communicate with part-time workers when they are
not in work- all work at different times.
Training
Training is important to a business as it will improve the worker’s skills
and knowledge and help the business be more efficient and
productive, especially when new processes and products are introduced. It
will improve the workers’ chances at getting promoted and raise their
morale.
The three types of training are:

 Induction training: an introduction given to a new

employee, explaining the firm’s activities, customs and procedures
and introducing them to their fellow workers.
Advantages:

 Helps new employees to settle into their job quickly

 May be a legal requirement to give health and safety training
before the start of work
 Less likely to make mistakes
Disadvantages:
 Time-consuming
 Wages still have to be paid during training, even though they
aren’t working
 Delays the state of the employee starting the job
 On-the-job training: occurs by watching a more experienced
worker doing the job
Advantages:
 It ensures there is some production from worker whilst they are
training
 It usually costs less than off-the-job training
 It is training to the specific needs of the business
Disadvantages:
 The trainer will lose some production time as they are taking
some time to teach the new employee
 The trainer may have bad habits that can be passed onto the
trainee
 It may not necessarily be recognised training qualifications
outside the business

 Off-the-job training: involves being trained away from the

workplace, usually by specialist trainers
Advantages:

 A broad range of skills can be taught using these techniques
 Employees may be taught a variety of skills and they may
become multi-skilled that can allow them to do various jobs in
the company when the need arises.
Disadvantages:

 Costs are high
 It means wages are paid but no work is being done by the worker
 The additional qualifications means it is easier for the employee
to leave and find another job

Workforce Planning
Workforce Planning: the establishing of the workforce needed by the
business for the foreseeable future in terms of the number and skills of
employees required.
They may have to downsize (reduce the no. of employees) the workforce
because of:

 Introduction of automation
  Falling demand for their products
 Factory/shop/office closure
 Relocating factory abroad
 A business has merged or been taken over and some jobs are no
longer needed
They can downsize the workforce in two ways:

 Dismissal: where a worker is told to leave their job because their work
or behaviour is unsatisfactory.
 Redundancy: when an employee is no longer needed and so loses
their work, through not due to any fault of theirs. They may be given
some money as compensation for the redundancy.
Worker could also resign (they are leaving because they have found another
job) and retire (they are getting old and want to stop working).

Legal Controls over Employment Issues

There are lot so government laws that affect equal employment
opportunities. These laws require businesses to treat their employees
equally in the workplace and when being recruited and selected- there
should be no discrimination based on age, gender, religion, race etc.

Employees are protected in many areas including

 against unfair discrimination

 health and safety at work (protection from dangerous machinery,
safety clothing and equipment, hygiene conditions, medical aid etc.)
 against unfair dismissal
 wage protection (through the contract of employment since it will
have listed the pay and conditions). Many countries have a legal
minimum wage– the minimum wage an employer has to pay its
employee. This avoids employers from exploiting its employees, and
encourages more people to find work, but since costs are rising for the
business, they may make many workers redundant- unemployment will
rise.
An industrial tribunal is a legal meeting which considers workers’
complaints of unfair dismissal or discrimination at work. This will hear both
sides of the case and may give the worker compensation if the dismissal was
unfair.