Human resource management (HRM)

The strategic approach to the effective management of employees so that they help the business gain a competitive advantage. Assign workers to the correct job.

Workforce Planning

Forecasting the numbers of workers and the skills that will be required by the organisation to achieve its objectives. (plan before the time)

HR needs to know exactly what the business needs. i.e. skills, how many workers needed

Workforce Audit

A check on the skills and qualifications of all existing workers/managers. Evaluate workers + managers in the current business.

Labour Turnover equation

number of employees leaving in 1 yr/average number of people employed x 100

Costs of High Labour Turnover

• costs of recruiting, selecting + training
• poor output levels + customer service (less staff = less products)
• difficult to establish customer loyalty due to a lack of regular, familiar contact
• difficult to establish team spirit

Potential benefits of high labour turnover

• low-skilled and less-productive staff might be leaving + could be replaced with more carefully selected workers
• new ideas + practices brought into an organisation by new workers
• high labour turnover can help a business plan to reduce employee numbers, as workers who leave will not be replaced

Redundancy

When a job is no longer required, the employee doing this job becomes unnecessary through no fault of their own.

Employee Morale

Overall outlook, attitude and level of satisfaction of employees when at work

Employee Welfare

Employees' health, safety and level of morale when at work

Work-life Balance

A situation in which employees are able to allocate the right amount of time and effort to work and to their personal life outside work

Equality Policy

Practices and processes aimed at achieving a fair organisation where everyone is treated in the same way without prejudice and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential

Diversity Policy

Practices and processes aimed at creating a mixed workforce and placing a positive value on diversity in the workplace

Employee Appraisal

The process of assessing the effectiveness of an employee judged against pre-set objectives

Piece Rate

Payment to a worker for each unit produced.

Self-actualisation

A sense of self-fulfilment reached by feeling enriched and developed by what one has learned and achieved.

Hygiene Factors

Aspects of a worker's job that have the potential to cause dissatisfaction, such as pay, working conditions, status and over-supervision by managers

Time-based Wage Rate

Payment to a worker made for each period of time worked

Share-ownership scheme

A scheme that gives employees shares in the company they work for or allows them to buy those shares at a discount

Fringe Benefits

Benefits given, separate from pay, by an employer to some or all employees

Job Rotation

A scheme that allows employees to switch from one job to another.

Job Enlargement

An attempt to increase the scope of a job by broadening or deepening the tasks undertaken

Paternalistic Management

A management style based on the view that the manager is in a better position than the workers to know what is best for an organisation.