Human Resources Flashcards

1
Q

What is the role of HR?

A
Recruitment
Selection
Training and motivation
Terms and conditions of employment 
Legislation 
Employee relations
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2
Q

Why train staff?

A
  • Keeps the skills/knowledge of the workers up-to-date
  • Allows the firm to offer a better quality p/s to the customer
  • Helps to insure the firm isn’t breaking the law e.g. health and safety
  • Allows the firm to keep/retain staff
  • Allows the business to gain a good reputation
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3
Q

Types of training?

A
  • Induction training
  • On the job training
  • Off the job training
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4
Q

What is induction training?

A

given to new employees when they join the org. Designed to help them settle in by making them aware with:
tasks of the job
procedures to be followed e.g. health and safety
key people within org
background on org
layout of workplace e.g. toilets, canteen

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5
Q

What is on-the-job training?

A

training takes place whilst employees are actually carrying out their job at their place of work. Methods used includes sitting next to nellie: experienced worker/nellie demonstrates what to do then trainee completes the task themselves.
coaching: trainer takes trainee through a task step by step

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6
Q

What is off-the-job training?

A

training carried out whilst the employee is not carrying out their normal job, normally away from the workplace e.g. a training center or college. However it can be offered within the workplace as many organisation do have their own training rooms.

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7
Q

Advantages of on-the-job training?

A
  • Cost effective for employer: no course fees, travel etc
  • Less disruptive for organisation: don’t need to cover staff still doing some work
  • Employee confidence: familiar environment
  • Managers can supervise: can step in and deal with problems
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8
Q

Disadvantages of on-the-job training?

A

-May be of a poor standard and trainee can pick up bad habits

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9
Q

Advantages of off-the-job training?

A
  • Trainer will have specialist skills and knowledge

- Less stressful not completing work and can fully focus on training

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10
Q

Disadvantages of off-the-job training?

A
  • Costs for organisation courses, covers, travel etc.
  • Work of employees undertaking needs to be covered
  • Disruption for employee travel further than the workplace
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11
Q

Costs of training staff?

A
  • Financial costs of courses/trainers/cover etc and additional costs e.g. transport, accommodation
  • Staff may ask for pay rise due to them having additional skills
  • Employees may leave the org (time and money will have to be invested in other employees)
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12
Q

Benefits of training staff?

A
  • Staff will have necessary skills/wide pool of skills, deliver the best quality of p/s to customers
  • Improved image of the org. to customers and it may help attract new members of staff
  • Errors should be decreased and efficiency improved and accidents reduced
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13
Q

What is motivation?

A

motivation is about the way a business can encourage staff to give their best.
motivated staff care about the success of the business and work better.

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14
Q

Advantages of a motivated workforce?

A
  • Increased output caused by extra effort from workers
  • Improved quality as staff take greater pride in their work
  • A higher level of staff retention, workers are keen to stay with the firm and also reluctant to take unnecessary days off work
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15
Q

Monetary methods of motivating staff?

A

Time rate - staff are paid no. of hours worked
piece rate - staff are paid for the no. of items produced
overtime - staff are paid extra for working beyond normal hours
Commission - staff are paid for no. of items they sell
performance related pay - staff get a bonus for meeting a target set by the manager
Profit sharing - staff receive a part of any profits made by the business
Salary - staff are paid monthly no matter how many hours they work
Fringe benefits - payments in kind e.g. company car, staff discounts or private health insurance

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16
Q

Non monetary methods of motivating staff?

A

Job rotation - staff are switched between different tasks to reduce monotony or boredom.
Job enlargement - staff are given more tasks to do of similar difficulty
Job enrichment - staff are given more interesting and challenging tasks
Empowerment - staff are given the authority to make decisions about how they do their job
Teams - putting together groups of workers who are responsible for completing a certain task
Flexible working - offers staff flexi-time, part-time, job share, opportunity to work from home.
Flexitime - staff are able to choose their own start time and finish time as long as they are in work during ‘core time’ which is the peak period of the day and work their contracted hours

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17
Q

Benefits of motivating staff?

A
  • Staff feel a sense of belonging and take pride in their work can lead to higher quality of work and customer services.
  • Companies will have a good reputation easier to recruit and retain staff (reduces training costs)
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18
Q

Consequences of not motivating staff?

A
  • There may be poor employee relations and staff may take part in industrial actions e.g. strike
  • High staff turnover, staff may leave to go to other organisations.
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19
Q

What is recruitment?

A

Recruitment is concerned with finding the best possible employees to work for an organisation

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20
Q

What are steps in recruitment process?

A

Carry out a job analysis
Prepare a job description
Prepare a person specification
Advertise the vacancy

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21
Q

Explain job analysis?

A
  • involve studying what a job actually involves
  • if employee leaves org company decide there’s no need to employ new member of staff
  • work of that employee split amongst remaining staff
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22
Q

Explain job description?

A
  • a job description gives details about what a job involves and will include:
    job title
    main duties and responsibilities
    who responsible to and for
    details of pay, working hours, holiday entitlement
    other benefits that come with the job e.g. private health care
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23
Q

Explain person specification?

A
- A person specification is drawn up to identify the type of person that would be suited to a particular post. it will contain:
personal qualities
skills
qualifications required
experience needed
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24
Q

Explain advertising the vacancy?

A

internal - filling of vacancies with people who already work for the organisation e.g. notice board, email, intranet
external - filling of vacancies with people from out with the organisation e.g. internet, website, posters, newspaper

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25
Q

Advantages of internal?

A
  • Employer already knows the person and should know what they are capable of less chance of selecting the wrong candidate
  • Gives existing employees a chance to develop their career can improve staff morale
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26
Q

Disadvantages of internal?

A
  • Another vacancy will be created that will have to be filled
  • It may cause upset and jealousy in org when one gets job over another
27
Q

Advantages of external?

A
  • New ideas will be brought into the org (may be familiar with competitors)
  • Number of people who apply may be higher, attract a wide range of people
28
Q

Disadvantages of external?

A
  • The new employee may have a slower start because they do not know anything about the organisation.
  • Recruitment process may be expensive (cost of placing job adverts)
29
Q

what are the steps involved in the selection method?

A

application form
interviews
tests

30
Q

Explain application form?

A
- Most org. require applicants to fill in an application form so that they can obtain info about the person applying for the post. The application from contains sections that all applicants must complete such as:
personal info: name, address, DOB
qualifications
answer q's skills
hobbies and interests
Name and addresses of referees
31
Q

Explain Interviews?

A
  • most popular method used to decide who the successful applicant should be.
  • involved face to face discussion with applicants and consist of interviewer’s asking applicants questions.
  • need to give candidates equal chance, make them feel welcomed and relaxed and ensure have all relevant info about job and encourage them to say what they think is suitable.
32
Q

Explain Tests?

A

Attainment - find out how good an applicant is at a particular skill e.g. maths, driving, word processing
Aptitude - find out about the natural abilities of a job applicant
Psychometric - find out about the personality, attitude and character of an applicant
Medical - some jobs require applicants to pass medical test before considered for job e.g. police, fire fighters, armed forces etc

33
Q

What is full time?

A
  • set number of hours per day normally five days per week

- anything over 35 hours a week (approximately 40 - not formally defined)

34
Q

What is part time?

A
  • working fewer hours than full time hours: number of hours will depend on type of job
  • 5 half days, 3 full days etc
  • entitled to same rights as full time workers
35
Q

What is flexitime?

A
  • staff must work contracted hours each week, however have flexibility
  • able to choose their own start time and finish time - must be in for core time/ peak period
  • allows employees to be able to deal with personal arrangements e.g. doctor, dental with minimal disruption
36
Q

What is Job share?

A
  • where 2 or more people share a full time job
  • each person is paid accordingly
  • each person may split days, alternate weeks or they may overlap
37
Q

What is homeworking?

A
  • employees undertake work at home: may on occasion have to go into the office
    employees need to book a hotdesk in the office when they need to undertake work in the office
38
Q

What is teleworkers?

A
  • people who work whilst on the go. They amy undertake work from home, whilst travelling etc. They rely on ICT to do this.
39
Q

What is hotdesk?

A
  • A workstation that can be booked in advance by employees who are not based in the office. homeworkers and teleworkers.
40
Q

good impact of flexible working practices on organisation?

A
  • Employers can recruit and retain valued staff who would otherwise have not been able to work e.g. mothers who have young children may only want to work part time
  • Due to employees being able to choose working arrangements that suit them - usually results in increased productivity, improved morale and a reduction in stress levels (absenteeism should be reduced)
  • Introduction of homeworking and teleworking means that office space needed is reduced therefore money is saved on rent
41
Q

negative impact of flexible working practices on organisation?

A
  • It may be difficult to organise meetings and training - homeworkers, teleworkers, people working on flexitime
  • it is harder to control and supervise flexible workers - may feel a loss of control
  • Homeworkers and teleworking:
    cost of purchasing equipment, people within the office can share expensive items such as printers whereas homeworkers would all ned their own
42
Q

What is employee relations?

A

term describes how employees deal and interact with their employees. If there are good relations between employers and their employees, this will result in a happy workforce. Unhappy and uncooperative workforce and this in turn can lead to industrial disputes.

43
Q

Role of management?

A

the role of management in employee relations is to consult and negotiate with employees. done by:

  • having regular meetings with employees to inform them of any major decisions made which might affect them
  • meeting regular with TU representatives
  • having an employee representative on the board of management (worker director)
  • forming a works council
  • forming a quality circle
44
Q

Role of trade unions?

A
  • to represent workers in their dealing with employers to protect employees and to improve their pay and conditions.
    Individuals workers have little power when dealing with employers, but by joining a trade union this will make their position stronger.
    To become a member of a trade union, employees must pay an annual subscription
45
Q

Worker directors?

A
  • Workers are chosen by their co - workers to sit on the board of directors to contribute to discussions. (worker directors have no power or privileges but are able to express views of employees directly to the directors)
46
Q

Works council?

A
  • a works council is a group that is made up of employees and managers. The group meets regularly to discuss any changes which are to be introduced or any other matters that may affect employees. Employees get an opportunity to express their views on any matters affecting the workforce. They are able to report back to their fellow workers, and at the next meeting of the works council express their employees view to management.
47
Q

Quality circles?

A
  • small groups of workers meet to discuss where improvements can be made and then suggestions will be taken to management for approval.
48
Q

Open door policy?

A
  • Employees are encouraged to stop by whenever they feel the need to meet and ask questions, discuss suggestions or address concerns. This also allows employees to by pass their line manager and go to senior managers.
49
Q

What is HASAWA?

A

The health and safety at work act sets out the responsibilities employees and employees and employers have in the workplace. both have a responsibility to ensure everyone is kept safe.

50
Q

HASAWA employer’s duties?

A
  • provide safe entry/ exit
  • ensure safe working conditions: safe place to work
  • ensure equipment is safe
  • Provide training on H&S
  • Provide protective clothing (if necessary)
51
Q

HASAWA employees duties?

A
  • Take care of own H&S and others
  • Co-operate with employer on H&S matters e.g. training
  • Not interfere with anything provided for H&S purposes e.g. fire extinguishers
52
Q

Working time regulations Act?

A
  • All employees are entitled to a set amount of paid holidays each year. The number of holidays granted varies according to the organisation and the amount of service which individuals have accumulated in the organisation. Most employees receive national holidays such as christmas day, new years day and certain bank holidays.
53
Q

Sickness?

A
  • contact their workplace as soon as possible to let org know that they will be unable to report for work.
  • allows the org to make other arrangements.
  • employees who are unable to attend after 5 days of illness must produce a doctors certificate outlining the nature of illness and the time they are expected to be absent from work.
  • if employee been with org for certain length time will be paid while they are absent on sick leave.
  • if however absences is expected to be of long term nature, may only be allowed to receive fully pay for certain period of time.
54
Q

National Minimum Wage Regulations?

A

this act states the minimum amount which should be paid to employees.

55
Q

Equality Act 2010?

A

The equality act 2010 replaced all anti-discriminatory laws with a single act. introduces nine protected characteristics which are grounds upon which it is unlawful to discriminate.

  1. Age
  2. Disability
  3. Gender
  4. Gender reassignment
  5. Marriage and civil partnership
  6. Pregnancy and maternity
  7. Race
  8. Religion or belief
  9. Sexual orientation
56
Q

Examples of Industrial action?

A
  • Strike (employees will select a day/s/ on which they will not come into work: legal procedures that must be followed by unions, not just allowed to strike)
  • Picketing (Employees protest outside their place of work and try to increase support for their cause by communicating info and persuading others not to work.
  • Sit in (Employees occupy their workplace in an attempt to stop employer closing unit)
  • Work-to-rule (Employees work strictly to their terms of employment do not carry out any other duties - will not breach their contract)
  • Go slow (Employees deliberately attempt to slow down productions whilst till working within the terms of their contract.
  • Overtime ban (Employees refuse to work any additional hours over contracted hours
  • Boycotts (Employees refuse to carry out new duties, use new machinery or undertake new working procedures.
57
Q

What info will be recorded relating to all employees?

A
  • Personal details e.g. Name and addresses
  • Bank Account details: in order to pay wages
  • Employment start date
  • Department and Job title
  • Qualifications and experience
  • Performance reviews
58
Q

What are employees records recorded by?

A

using a database e.g. microsoft access

59
Q

What is a database?

A

is a collection of related data stored in tables, each table has fields or headings e.g. first name, surname etc.
A complete set of info for one person is called a record.

60
Q

Advantages of databases?

A
  • Info can be sorted into a specific order e.g. alphabetical order of surname
  • Info can be searched/queried to find record which have something in common e.g all staff who work in a particular department
  • Information can be presented in different formats e.g. tables, report or forms
61
Q

Why use spreadsheets?

A

HR department use spreadsheets to record pay details for employees.

62
Q

Data Protection Act?

A

All orgs storing data electronically must comply with the principles of the Data Protection Act.
Data users - the person or org storing the info
Data subjects - individuals about whom the data is stored

63
Q

Data Protection Act Principles?

A

Data must be:

  • obtained fairly and lawfully
  • processed fairly and lawfully
  • used for the registered purpose only
  • adequate, relevant and not excessive
  • accurate and kept up to date
  • held for no longer than necessary
  • available to the person it relates to
  • kept secure