1.4.1 - Approaches to staffing Flashcards
What is staff
- Staff are the employees in a business
What is staffing
- Staffing is the process of hiring, training and supervising employees in an business.
What is staff as an asset (value)
- Staff can be viewed by the business as an asset
- An asset is: a useful or valuable thing or person
- Staff which support the manufacturing process (1) or who give great customer service (2) can both contribute to the value of the output – add value to the product
What is staff as an asset (developing staff)
- Treating staff as an asset means that they are developed with training and seen as a benefit to the business
- A member of staff will have been recruited, trained and developed and as such has unique skills relevant to the business
What is staff as an asset (participation in decision making)
- Advantages to the business of treating staff as an asset is:
- Staff are allowed to participate more in decision making
- The business is more able to respond quickly to market changes
- Staff have more autonomy over their work, which is more motivating for the staff and will increase retention rates and reduce absenteeism
What is staff as a cost (cost of recruitment)
- The costs of recruitment can be high.
- A business may carry out the recruitment themselves, costs add up, from the advert for the job to the employee time away from their job to carry out interview
- If a business decides to use an agency to hire their staff this can mean a payment of up to £2,000 per employee that they take on
What is staff as a cost (Cost of training)
- Staff training is often viewed as a cost rather than adding value, however companies with
innovative learning and development programmes are increasing sales revenue and retaining their staff for longer - Training is an ideal way to close the skills gap in a business
What is staff as a cost (minimum wage)
- A business in the UK is bound by employment laws
- One of these laws is the minimum wage law, businesses must pay these rates or higher to their workers - if the don’t they face high fines and “naming and shaming”
What is a salary
- A salary is paid to permanent staff and is usually a year’s salary divided into 12 equal monthly amounts e.g. £1,200 a month
What is a wage
- Wages are paid to staff on an hourly basis e.g. £7.83 an hour
What is staff as a cost (cost of staff welfare)
- Staff welfare is an umbrella term that can mean anything and everything from facilities and benefits, to working conditions and retirement pension rates.
- An employee who is well cared for will be more fulfilled and satisfied in their job so are less likely to leave
- For example staff who work off site need to be provided with suitable toilet facilities , which is why you may see a port-a-loo on a building site
What is staff as a cost (cost of redundancy)
- Employees are made redundant when the job no longer exists. In comparison being fired is when an employee does not do their job correctly.
- Employees may be entitled to redundancy pay and this depends on how long they have been employed
What is multi-tasking
- This means having a workforce that can be moved around from one job to another.
What are the advantages of multiskilling
✓Less staff are needed, those that are employed are used to capacity not standing around
✓More interesting jobs for the workers as there are a variety of tasks
✓This can increase efficiency, quality and productivity while reducing costs
What are the disadvantages of multiskilling
- Workers become a “Jack of all trades master of none”
- Businesses lose the benefits of having specialist staff
What is full time work
- There is no specific number of hours that makes someone full or part-time, but a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more a week
What are the advantages of full time work
✓May be more highly paid per hour than part-time
✓Access to more holiday entitlement
✓Employees are committed to the business and may be more productive
✓Loyalty to the business
What is part time work
- A part-time worker is someone who works fewer hours than a full-time worker.
- So this is someone who works less than 35 hours a week
- Part time workers should get the same benefits as a full-time worker on a “pro rata” basis
- Example part-time jobs; delivery driver, accountant, graphic designer, shop worker
What are the advantages of part time work
✓ Good way to keep costs down while a business is growing
✓ Part-time jobs attract a wide pool of applicants with experience and skills who might not want a full-time job
✓ Flexible to respond to seasonal changes in demand
✓ Part-time employees have the same employment rights as full-time employees
✓ The availability of part-time work can attract skilled workers who are unable to work full-time
What are the disadvantages of part time work
- Employees might not give the business the commitment and loyalty that a full-time worker would
- Employee may work more than one job which would make them inflexible
- Employee might leave if they find a full-time job
What is temporary work
- A temporary (temp) job is one where the employer only needs extra staff to cover a seasonal period
- If you ever had a supply teacher – this was a temporary job
- Other examples are Christmas staff in retail stores and holiday reps in resorts
- The business can cover staff shortages and keep their costs low
- Temporary staff can be employed directly by the business or can be employed from an agency
What are the advantages to temporary work
- Ideal for a business that needs extra workers for a special project
- Useful to meet seasonal demands, and work fluctuations
- Useful to meet employee shortages
- Agencies may complete all the paperwork
What are the disadvantages of temporary work
- Agency staff may be expensive but it may be cheaper than hiring permanent staff
- Injury rates are higher in temp workers
- All staff will need some kind of training to get them started, this costs time and money
What is permanent work
- A permanent contract is the most common type of employment, an indefinite contract whereby you are employed by the company until either the employee leaves is fired or made redundant
What are the advantages of permanent work
- Staff will be very focussed on the business, they will look to the long term to build up their professional development profile with the business.
- Higher staff morale as they know they have a secure job
- Employees have loyalty to the business which reduces absenteeism and increases productivity
What are flexible hours
- Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s needs, e.g. having flexible start and finish times, or working from home
- All UK employees have the legal right to request flexible working - not just parents and carers
- Work is divided up into “core” and “flexi time”
What are the advantages of flexible hours
✓From a business perspective flexible working can keep valuable staff from leaving and can also cover busy periods
✓Can accommodate the work life balance needs of employees with busy lives and families
What are the disadvantages of flexible hours
- Can sometimes confuse suppliers or customers who may want to speak to the same member of staff
- The business may need extra staff to cover unmanned periods
What are zero hour contracts
▪ Zeros hours contracts means that employees are “on call” to work when you need them, but they have no fixed hours of employment
▪ The employer does not have to provide the employees with work
▪ The employees can say no if the employer calls and offers them work that day
▪ 910,000 employees in the UK are on zero hours contracts; hotels, fast food, Sports Direct etc.*
▪ Zero hour contracts are banned in New Zealand (fact)
What are the advantages of zero hour contracts
✓Great for a business where work can be unpredictable
✓Ideal where staff are needed at short notice
✓Gives the employer great flexibility, no staff standing around with nothing to do
