Theme 1-1.4

• staffing- the process of hiring staff for a business
• staff:

  • staff viewed as assets as they have valuable skills that are desired
  • more training means they become a more valuable asset can then participate in decision making
  • staff can they get given more choice in which jobs they want to do
• Staff as cost:

  • cost of recruitment - job vacancy opens up, need advertisement for the job, cost of interviewing, time to go through candidates. if used agency they will require payment
• Staff as costs:

  • cost of training - improve skill of staff, cheaper in the long term to train staff at beginning then not train them at all
• Staff as costs:

  • cost of minimum wage -business has to pay wages, inpact business when minimum wage increases
• Staff as cost:

  • cost of salaries and wages -salaries payed to permanent staff, wages payed on how many hours done
• Staff as cost:

  • cost of staff welfare - facilities provided to staff, ensure staff working conditions are safe
• Staff as cost:

  • cost of redundancy - when job is no longer needed, have to pay a months wage for every year worked at business
• flexible workforce:

  • multi-skilled
  • provide staff with multiple skills, allows them to be flexible with certain tasks

  +reduce staff,reduce costs

  -lose benefit of having specialist staff
• Full time work:

  • 35+hrs ,illegal to work more that 48hrs in week

  +more motivated

  +loyal to business

  -might not need full time workers

  -increase costs
• Part-time work:

  • less hours
  • paid for hours worked

  +cheaper for business

  +more flexible

  -more difficult to get promotions
• Temporary work:

  • seasonal work
  • cover shortage of staff

  +ideal for businesses who need specialist staff at certain times of the year

  +useful for temporary demand

  -agency staff may be expensive

  -staff would need some level of training
• Permanent work:

  • indefinite contract by being employed by company until the job is made redundant

  +staff focused on business

  +staff are motivated in the work place

  -could develop negative attitude to job, become idle

  -can become involved in office politics
• Flexible hours:

  • hours suit the company not the employees

  +motivation for staff

  +creating loyalty in employees

  -could lead to skeleton crew in vital times

  -could confuse suppliers or consumers who want to speak to certain employees
• Zero hours contracts:

  • not guaranteed to get any hours

  +good for work places where hours are unpredictable

  +gives employer flexibility

  -employees may not give commitment

  -employees may become unsatisfied
• Home working:

  • working from home has become increasingly more popular since pandemic

  +cheaper costs for business

  +staff could become more motivated as they are able to have freedom in their tasks

  -staff could become less motivated as they are distracted

  -difficult to track employees progress
• Outsourcing

  • as company grows it cannot afford to be an expert in all areas
  • may not want to take on full time staff
• moving call centres to India

  advantages:

  • good IT skills
  • have good language skills
• moving call centres to India:

  disadvantage:

  • loss of confidentiality
  • loss of management control
• Dismissal- fired

  reasons:

  • absenteeism
  • gross misconduct
  • theft of company money or property
• Redundancy

  • workers job no longer exists
  • voluntary redundancy- a worker willingly takes pay out
  • compulsory redundancy -staff need to go
  • usually a result of economic change
• problems at work:

  • can be represented by a member of the trade union- rep can argue on behalf of employee
  • collective bargaining is the rep talking to the manager on behalf of staff
• Trade unions:

  • works on members behalf
  • look after employees interest such as:

  -negotiating agreements with employers on pay

  -discussing arge change

  -going to disciplinary with employees
• Recruitment- process of hiring someone to work for the business
• stages of recruitment: Stage 1- identify the vacancy

  • business will identify a job vacancy
  • reasons for this are:

  -retiring

  -moving to different job

  -promotion
• stages of recruitment: Stage 2- write a job description

  • includes all responsibility of the job
• stages of recruitment: Stage 3- person specification

  • Includes:

  -personal qualities

  -qualifications

  -work experience

  -qualities in a person the business would like to have

  -skills
• stages of recruitment: Stage 4- advertise Vacancy

  • a business may advertise the vacancy within the company
  • a business may advertise outside the business to expand the candidate pool
• stages of recruitment: Stage 5- candidates apply

  • candidates may have to send off for an application
  • advert will usually have a end date to hurry candidates along
  • CV’s may be required
• stages of recruitment: Stage 6- candidates are shortlisted

  • candidates are shortlisted based on how well their application fit with the person specification and job description
• stages of recruitment: Stage 7- shortlisted candidates are interviewed

  • may be face to face interview with a panel or just one person
  • may be carried out on the phone
  • common for candidates to be called for more than one interview
• stages of recruitment: Stage 8- candidates may participate in another recruitment activity

  • assessment centres allow candidates to take part in a team building exercise
  • Psychometric testing, candidates are tested to see if they would be a good cultural fit
  • may be asked to come back for another interview of another activity
  • helps identify possible leaders and managers
• stages of recruitment: Stage 9- offer suitable candidates the job

  • candidates get offered job and will receive instructions on next steps
• Advertisements:

  • a business needs to advertise job vacancy whether internal or external
  • add to business cost, business may become less competitive
• Agency fees:

  • external way of advertise
  • expensive as agency wants a pay out
• types of training - induction::

  • learn how the business works e.g fire drills, management line
  • applies to all level of job

  +cheaper in long term

  +increase productivity

  -can take a long time

  -all information may not stay with the employee
• Off the job training

  • get trained by a company

  +more focused and motivated

  +less stressful

  -more expensive

  -employers may not be able to make link between training and job
• Organisational design

  • a diagram or chart which shows the line of authority/layers I the hierarchy of a business
• structure - hierarchy:

  • system were employees are ranked according the their status
  • employees can usually work up to a higher position in the business, include a pay rise
• structure - chain of command:

  • length of hierarchy
  • higher up the more delegation has to be done to subordinates
  • information flow down the chain and the reaction on how the instruction where received flows back up the chain