hr management study guide
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Study GUide for final exam Human resource managementTRANSCRIPT
Final Exam Review
C H A P T E R 10
1. Turnover (rates): the rate at which employees leave the firm. Voluntary. Costs of turnover
are high. To manage turnover, identify its causes and address them. Food service = HIGH.
Employee reason: salary. Top five employer reasons:
1) Promotion
2) Career development
3) Pay
4) Relationship with supervisor
5) Work-life balance
2. 9 – Box Matrix Method To measure competence, use prior performance, tests or assessment
centers to evaluate promotable employees. Promotion potential.
9-Box Assessment: performance potential is important. 9 Box matrix displays three
levels of current job performance (exceptional, fully per, not yet fully) across and
three levels (eligible for promotion, room for growth in current position, and not
likely to grow) down
3. Retention Talent management issue, best strategies are multifunctional. More likely to leave
if: 1) uninterested in job 2) not suited for job 3) undercompensated. Institute effective and
comprehensive talent management (recruit, select, train, appraise, compensate).
1. Selection. Choose the right worker and also right supervisor.
2. Professional Growth – Training and career development programs help.
3. Provide career direction – Discuss with employees their career preferences.
4. Meaningful work & ownership of goals – clear expectations regarding performance
and what their responsibilities are.
5. Recognition and rewards – employees need and appreciate recognition for a job well
done.
6. Culture and environment – Tense vs. comfortable environment.
7. Promote work life balance – flexible work arrangements, telecommuting.
8. Acknowledge achievements – frequent recognition of accomplishments.
Job Withdrawal: voluntary turnover and poor attendance. Basically any action intended to
place physical or psychological distance between employee & work.
4. Top reasons top performing employees leave 1) Pay
2) Promotional Opportunities
3) Work-life balance
4) Career development
5) Health care benefits
5. IBM On-demand staffing strategy – aims to ensure that its current employees get the
training and coaching they need to play roles in IBMs future. Identifies needed skills, spot
gaps for skills that are in short supply, trains, and assesses its executives, managers, and
regular members. Improves retention.
6. Mentoring: key managerial skill. Focuses on helping employees navigate longer-term career
hazards. Traditionally means having experienced senior people advising, counseling, and
guiding employees’ longer-term career development. May be formal or informal. Effective
mentors set high standards, are willing to invest the time and effort, and actively steer peeps
into important projects, teams, and jobs.
7. Coaching: educating, instructing, and training subordinates. Addresses an employee’s short-
term job skills.
8. The role of a manager in career development: before hiring should give realistic job
interviews. With college graduates, should give challenging first jobs and give an
experienced mentor. After a while, give career-oriented appraisals.
Providing accurate performance feedback!
9. Flex time – plan whereby employees’ workdays are built around a core of midday hours like
11-2pm. Workers determine their own starting and stopping hours.
10. Prior performance – need to measure competence for promotions. Prior performance is a
guide. If they did well before, they’ll do well at the new job.
11. Retaliation – federal and state employment laws contain anti-retaliation provisions. Court
allowed a claim of retaliation when woman gave evidence her employer turned her down for
promotion bc she had accused her previous supervisor of sexual H.
12. Retirement planning – why? Are firms doing this? Why? – Enables employer to retain, in
some capacity, the skills and brain power of those who would normally retire and leave the
firm.
13. Methods used to recruit retirement age workers – institute HR policies that encourage and
support older workers. Offer part-time jobs, hire them as consultants or temp workers, offer
flexible work arrangements, encourage them to work past traditional retirement age,
providing training to upgrade skills and instituting a phased retirement program.
14. How do managers help with engagement? Employee engaged if:
1. Understand how their departments contribute to the company’s success
2. See how their own efforts contribute to achieving the company’s goals
3. Get a sense of accomplishment from working at the firm.
“Say, stay, and strive.” How positive the employee speaks of the organization, who stays
with the company, and do employees take an active role in the overall success of the
company
C H A P T E R 11
15. Performance-based compensation – competency based pay is based on skill.
16. Walsh-Healey Public Contract: sets basic labor standards for employees working on a
government contract that amounts to more than 10K dollars
17. FLSA – who is exempt? contains minimum wage, maximum hours, overtime pay, equal
pay, record keeping, and child labor provisions that are familiar to most working people.
Exemption depends on responsibilities, duties, and salary of an employee. Bona fide
executive, administrative (office managers), and professional employees (architects) are
exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements. $455 or less per week, get
overtime. $100K and performing administrative, executive or prof and nothing. If exempt
from minimum, then also overtime. Always exempt overtime: agriculture peeps, taxi
drivers, cinema employees.
Exempt
Lawyers
Medical doctors
Teachers
Pharmacists
Non-exempt
Paralegals
Bookkeepers
Lab technicians
Accounting clerks
18. Employer Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) 1974. Provided for the creation of
government-run, employer-financed corporations to protect employees against the failure of
their employers’ pension plans. Sets regulations regarding vesting rights. Regulates
portability rights. Prevents dishonesty in pension plan funding.
19. Equity theory – people are strongly motivated to maintain a balance between what they
perceive as their contributions and their rewards. IF a person perceives an inequity, a tension
or drive will develop in their mind and they will be motivated to reduce or eliminate the
tension and perceived inequity.
20. Internal & external equity – Internal refers to how fair the job’s pay rate is when compared
to other jobs within the same company. External refers to how a job0s pay rate in one
company compares to the job’s pay rate in other companies.
21. How do you establish pay rates? The first step? – Time-based pay or performance-pay.
Time-based pay is still the foundation of most employers’ pay plans. Piecework.
22. The Equal Pay Act (1963), an amendment to the FLSA, states that a sex can’t be paid wages
at a lower rate than the opposite sex if they do the same work (equal skills, effort,
responsibility and involves similar working conditions). Seniority or merit system not applied
23. Pay grade – job classification is a simple, widely used job evaluation method in which rater
categorize jobs into groups of roughly the same value for pay purposes. The groups are called
grades if they contain jobs that are similar in difficulty but otherwise different.
24. Wage curve – shows the relationship between the value of the job and the average wage paid
for this job.
25. Pay range – appear as vertical boxes within each grade, showing minimum maximum and
midpoint pay rates for that grade. Different pay for people in same pay grade.
26. Why offer stock options? – Long-term incentive aim to encourage the executive to take
actions that drive up the value of the company’s stock. Generally give the executive the right
to purchase stock at a specific price for a specific period.
C H A P T E R 12
27. What was Frederick Taylor concerned about? – “systematic soldiering.” The tendency of
employees to work at the slowest pace possible and to produce at the minimum acceptable
level.
28. Frederick Herzberg – Motivator Satisfaction (2 factors) Hygiene Dissatisfaction. Best way
to motivate someone is to organize the job so that doing it provides the feedback and
challenge that helps satisfy the person’s higher-level needs for things like accomplishment
and recognition. Satisfying lower-level needs like better pay and working conditions just
keep the person from becoming dissatisfied.
29. Edward Deci – psychologist. His work highlights a potential downside to relying too heavily
on extrinsic rewards: may backfire. Extrinsic rewards could at times actually detract from the
person’s intrinsic motivation
30. Victor Vroom - effort & success; expectancy motivation theory. A person’s motivation to
exert some level of effort depends on three things: 1) person’s expectancy that his effort will
lead to performance 2) instrumentality between successful performance and actually
obtaining the rewards and 3) valence, perceived value person attaches to the reward.
M = (E x I x V)
31. B.F. Skinner – Behavior modification. Changing behavior through rewards or punishments
that are contingent on performance. Behavior that appears to lead to a positive consequence
(reward) tends to be repeated. Behavior that appears to lead to a negative consequence tends
to not be repeated. Managers can get someone to change their behavior by providing the
properly scheduled rewards.
32. FLSA – what is included in overtime? It says employers must pay a rate of 1.5x normal
pay for any hours worked over 40 in a workweek. If employee gets time off, employer must
also computer the number of hours at 1.5x rate.
33. Piecework - oldest and most popular individual incentive plan. Pay the worker a sum (piece
rate) for each unit he or she produces
Straight Piecework – a strict proportionality between results and rewards regardless
of output. Piecework standard: job worth per hour (8$). Engineer determines standard
is 20 leads so piece rate is $8 by 20 or .40c.
Standard Hour – Instead of getting a rate per piece, the worker gets a premium equal
to the percent by which his performance exceeds the standard. Tom’s standard is 160
(at .40 so 64$) and he brings 200 so he’d get extra 25% (40/160 = 25) (.25x64 = 16).
Pros – understandable, appear equitable in principle, can be power incentives.
Cons – Workers may resist justified attempts to raise production standards. No
quality bc workers worried about number of outputs for more money. Resistance for
intro new technology.
34. Merit pay any salary increase awarded to an employee based on his or her individual
performance. Two types:
1. Lump Sum once a year. Doesn’t make the raise part of employee’s salary so it’s
more like a bonus. It’s a more dramatic motivator than a traditional merit raise.
2. Tie awards to individual and organizational performance
35. Recognition programs – nonfinancial reward. Refers to formal programs like employee of
the month programs. Recognition has a positive impact on performance, either alone or in
conjunction with financial rewards.
36. Straight salary – sales: make sense when the main task involves finding new clients or
account servicing. For turnover, too. Makes it easier to switch territories or to reassign
salespeople. Foster sales staff loyalty.
37. Combination salary plans – usually 70/30 base and incentive. Cushions the downside risk
of earning nothing while limiting the risk that the commissions could get out of hand.
38. Stock options – salespeople at high performing companies are twice as likely to receive
stock options as their counterparts at low performing companies are.
39. The Scanlon Plan – an incentive plan developed in 37 by Joseph Scanlon and designed to
encourage cooperation, involvement, and sharing of benefits.
40. Gainsharing – an incentive plan that engages employees in a common effort to achieve
productivity objectives and share the gains. Lincoln, Rucker, and Improshare plans.
C H A P T E R 13
41. Benefits indirect financial and nonfinancial payments employees receive for continuing their
employment with the company
- Indirect financial payment: pay in the form of financial benefits such as insurance
- Nonfinancial payments
42. Benefits covered by federal law – social security, unemployment insurance, workers’
compensation, leaves under FMLA.
43. Supplemental pay benefits – pay for time not worked. Includes holidays, vacations, jury
duty, funeral leave, military duty, personal days, sick leave, sabbatical leave, maternity leave,
and unemployment insurance payments.
44. Unemployment insurance Provides benefits if a person is unable to work through no fault
of his or her own. The benefits derive from a tax on employers
45. FMLA – 1993. States that:
1. Private employers of 50 or more must provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of
unpaid for serious illness, birth or adoption of child, care of ill child spouse or parent.
2. Employers may require employees to take any unused paid sick leave.
3. Employees taking leave are entitled to receive health benefits while on unpaid leave.
4. Employers must guarantee most employees the right to return to their previous or
equivalent position with no loss of benefits at end of the leave.
GUIDELINES: To be eligible, employee must have worked for a total of 12 months and
have worked for 1,250 or more hours in the past 12 consecutive months. Procedures:
Give no employee a leave until the reason for the leave is clear
If the leave is for medical or family reasons, employer should obtain medical
certification from the medical practitioner
Use a standard form to record both the employee’s expected return date and the fact
that, without an authorized extension, the firm may terminate his employment.
Employers can require independent medical assessments before approving paid
FMLA disability leaves.
46. Workers’ comp – where does the money come from: aims to provide sure, prompt income
and medical benefits to work-related accident victims or their dependents, regardless of fault.
Neither the state nor the federal government contributes any funds for it.
47. What benefits do most employers cover? – Disability, pensions, paid time off, employee
assistance and counseling programs.
48. HMO – Health maintenance organization. A medical organization consisting of specialists
(Surgeons, psychiatrists, etc.) often operating out of a health care center. Provides routine
medical services to employees who pay a nominal fee. “Gatekeeper” doctors must approve
appointments with specialist. HMO receives a fixed annual fee per employee from employer.
49. PPO – Preferred Provider organization. Groups of health care providers that contract with
employers, insurance companies, or third-party payers to provide medical care services at a
reduced fee. PPOs let employees select providers from a relative wide list and see them in
their offices. Providers agree to provide discounts and submit to certain controls
50. COBRA – requires most private employers to continue to make health benefits available to
separated employees and their families for a time. Former employee must pay for the
coverage. Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.
51. Pregnancy Discrimination Act – employers must treat women applying for pregnancy leave
as they would any other employee requesting a leave under the employer’s policies.
52. The Newborn Mother’s Protection Act of 1996 – prohibits employers’ health plans from
using incentives to encourage employees to leave the hospital after childbirth after less than
the legislatively determined minimum stay.
53. Full retirement age – for non-discounted social security benefits traditionally was 65. Now
67 for those born in 1960s or later.
54. Social Security – where does the money come from? Three types (if insured under Social
Security Act)
1) Retirement benefits provide income when you retire at 62 or after.
2) Death benefits provide monthly payments to your dependents regardless of your age
at death.
3) Disability payments provide monthly payments who become disabled totally if they
meet certain requirements.
55. Pension plan – plans that provide a fixed sum when employees reach a predetermined
retirement age or when they can no longer work due to disability.
56. 401(k) – defined contribution plan. Employee authorizes employer to deduct a sum from his
or her paycheck before taxes, and to invest it in the bundle of investments in his or her 401K.
57. Cafeteria benefit plan – individualized plans allowed by employers to accommodate
employee preferences for benefits. Employer gives each employee a benefits fund budget and
lets the person spend it on the benefits they want with two conditions: 1) employer limits the
total cost for each employee’s benefits package and 2) employee’s benefits plan must include
certain required items (SS, WComp & Unemployment Ins.)
58. Compress workweek – work fewer days each week but each day they work longer hours.
Hospitals or airline pilots.
C H A P T E R 14
59. Ethics – the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group; specifically, the
standards you use to decide what your conduct should be.
60. Sarbanes – Oxley Act: inject a higher level of responsibility into executives’ and board
members’ decisions. Makes them personally liable for violating their responsibilities to their
shareholders.
61. Non-punitive discipline. Should be effective (discourage unwanted behavior) and fair.
1) Rules and Regulation – address issues such as theft, drinking, insubordination. Rules
inform employees ahead of time what is and isn’t acceptable. Employee handbook.
i. Poor performance is not acceptable.
ii. Alcohol and drugs have no place at work.
2) Progressive Penalties – penalties range from oral warnings to written warnings to
suspension to discharge. Severity of the penalty usually reflects the type of offense
and the number of times it has occurred. (ie: unexcused lateness).
3) Formal Disciplinary Appeals Process – all union agreements contain this, but not
only unions. 1) Management review, the complainant submits a written complaint to a
member of management 2) Office complaint, complainant submits a written appeal to
the VP or SVP of the division and 2) Executive appeals Review, complainant may
submit a written complain within 7 days of step 2 to the employee relations dpmt.
Appeals board then reviews all relevant info and makes decision to uphold, overturn,
etc.
62. Four main types of employee privacy violations: 1) intrusion 2) publication of private
matters 3) disclosure of medical records 4) appropriation of an employee0s name or likeness
for commercial purposes.
63. Dismissal – most drastic disciplinary step. There should be sufficient cause for the dismissal
and (as a rule) you should only dismiss someone after taking reasonable steps to rehabilitate
the employee. EEO and other laws limit mgmt’s right to dismiss.
64. Termination at will – without a contract, either the employer or the employee could
terminate at will the employment relationship. The employee can resign for any reason and
the employer can dismiss an employee for any reason.
65. Insubordination – form of misconduct. Refers to disobedience or rebelliousness.
66. Exit interview – interviews usually conducted by a HR professional prior to the employee
leaving. Elicits information about the job or employer with the aim of giving employers
insights into what is right or wrong about their companies.
67. Seniority – ultimate determinant of who will work. Can give way to merit or ability but
usually only when no senior employee is qualified for a particular job. Based on the date the
employee joined the organization not the date they took a particular job.
68. Social bullying – spreading rumors, leaving people out on purpose, breaking up friendships.
C H A P T E R 15
69. Unions – about 14.7 million US workers (11.9%). Transportation and public utilities, 26% of
employees are union members. Most union members are in the public sector.
70. “Closed shop” – company can hire only current union members. Outlawed in 47.
71. Union shop – company can hire nonunion people, but they must join the union after a
prescribed period and pay dues. If not, they can be fired.
72. Preferential Shop – union members get preference in hiring, but the employer can still hire
nonunion members.
73. Right to work – state statutory or constitutional provisions banning the requirement of union
membership as a condition of employment. Don’t outlaw unions but outlaw any form of
union security.
74. AFL-CIO – American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. A
voluntary federation of about 56 national and international labor unions in the US. Merged in
1955. 3 layers: 1) local chapter, 2) national union 3) national federation (AFC-CIO).
75. “Yellow dog” contract – management could require nonunion membership as a condition
for employment.
76. Norris-LaGuardia Act – 1932. It guaranteed to each employee the right to bargain
collectively “free from interference, restraint, or coercion.” Declared yellow dog contracts
unenforceable.
77. National Labor Relations Board – The agency created by the Wagner Act to investigate
unfair labor practice charges and to provide for secret-ballot elections and majority rule in
determining whether or not a firm’s employees want a union.
78. Taft-Hartley Act – Prohibited unfair union labor practices and enumerated the rights of
employees as union members. It also enumerated the rights of employees. Aka: Labor
Management Relations act. Strikes.
79. Landrum-Griffin Act – 1959. Aimed at protecting union members from possible
wrongdoing on the part of their unions. Aka: labor management reporting & disclosure act.
80. The steps in the union drive process:
1) Initial Contact – union determines the employees’ interest in organizing, and
establishes an organizing committee.
2) Obtaining Authorization Cards
3) Hold a Hearing – 1) if employer doesn’t contest union recognition at all, no hearing
is needed. 2) if employer doesn’t contest union right to an election, no hearing needed
3) if an employer does contest the union, it can insist on a hearing.
4) The Campaign – precedes election. Union and employer appeal to employees for their
votes.
5) The Election – 30-60 days after NLRB issues its Decision & Direction of Election.
It’s by secret ballot. NLRB provides booths, counts votes, certifies results.
81. Union authorization cards – for the union to petition the NLRB for the right to hold an
election, they must get cards. Authorize the union to seek a representation election and state
that the employee has applied to join the union
82. Decertification – legal process for employees to terminate a union’s right to represent them.
83. Collective bargaining – The process through which representatives of management and the
union meet to negotiate a labor agreement.
84. Severance pay – a one-time payment some employers provide when terminating an
employee.
85. Picketing – having employees carry signs announcing their concerns near the employer’s
place of business. One of first activities of strikes. Purpose is to inform the public about the
existence of the labor dispute and often encourage others to refrain from doing business with
the employer.
86. What are some of the things unions negotiate? Union security and improved wages, hours,
working conditions, and benefits. For security:
1. Agency shop – employees who don’t belong to the union still must pay the union an
amount equal to union dues (if union efforts benefits all employees)
2. Maintenance of membership arrangement – employees do not have to belong to the
union but union members employed must maintain membership in the union for the
contract period.
Improved things: labor agreement also gives the union a role in other HR activities like
recruiting, selecting compensating, promoting, training, and discharging employees.
C H A P T ER 16
87. US Dept. of Labor – enforces the standards set by OSHA.
88. Supervisor’s role in safety – safety inspections should be part of the supervisor’s daily
routine. “Daily walk-through of your workplace.” Use a checklist of unsafe conditions.
89. Occupational Safety and Health Adm. – created by the Occupational Safety & Health Act
of 1970, OSHA’s basic purpose is to administer the act and to set and enforce the safety and
health standards that apply to almost all workers in the United States. Ensures compliance.
Workers with 11 or more employees must maintain records of and report certain
occupational injuries and occupational illnesses. Inspection in 24 hours.
90. Occupational Illness – any abnormal condition or disorder caused by exposure to
environmental factors associated with employment like acute and chronic illnesses caused by
inhalation, absorption, ingestion, or direct contact with harmful substances.
91. Workplace accidents – chance occurrences (out of mgmt. control), unsafe conditions, and
employees’ unsafe acts. Unsafe conditions is #1.
92. Industrial accidents – 1/3 of these accidents occur around forklift trucks, wheelbarrows, and
other handling and lifting areas. Occur by metal and woodworking machines and saws, or
around transmission machinery like gears, pulleys, and flywheels.
93. What does a chief safety officer do? Responsible for accident prevention by 1) reducing
unsafe conditions and 2) reducing unsafe acts.
94. Reducing workplace accidents – reduce conditions and acts through the following:
Selection and placement
training
Motivation: posters, incentives, and positive reinforcements.
Behavior-based safety
Employee participation.
Conducting safety and health audits and inspections
95. Industrial hygiene – managing exposures to hazardous substances and limiting them to 600
chemicals. Involves recognition (possible exposure hazards), evaluation (determining how
severe it is), and control (eliminating or reducing the hazard).
96. What are occupational respiratory diseases? – Disease bc exposed to asbestos, silica, lead,
and carbon dioxide.
97. Exposure limits according to OSHA – 600 chemicals.
98. Infectious disease – To stop them from spreading:
1. Closely monitor CDC travel alerts about health concerns.
2. Provide daily medical screening for employees returning from infected areas.
3. Deny access to your facility for 10 days to employees or visitors from a.a.
4. Tell employees to stay at home if they have a fever or respiratory system symptoms
5. Clean work areas and surfaces regularly
6. Stagger breaks. Offer several lunch periods to reduce overcrowding
7. Emphasize the importance of frequent hand washing and make hand sanitizers avail.
99. Cautious job behavior -
100. Stress – workplace factors can lead to it like work schedule, pace of work, job security,
route to and from work, workplace noise, poor supervision. May lead to alcoholism and drug
abuse. Causes anxiety, depression, anger, cardiovascular disease, headaches, accidents, and
even early Alzheimer’s. Diminished performance, absenteeism, and turnover.
101. Workplace smoking – Employers: higher health costs and fire insurance costs, increased
absenteeism, and reduced productivity. Wellness programs for employees.
102. Causes for workplace injuries?
C H A P T E R 17
103. Geert Hofstede – his study illustrates that societies differ on five values:
1. Power distance – extent to which the less powerful members of institutions
accept and expect and unequal distribution of power
2. Individualism
3. “Masculinity”
4. Uncertainty avoidance
5. Long-term orientation.
104. Chinese managers – concerned about maintaining a harmonious environment.
105. Mexico-Managers and subordinates – high acceptance of unequal power distribution.
106. Hourly wages in production for other countries –
Mexico: $2.92
Taiwan: $6.58
USA: $24.59
UK: $29.73
Germany: $37.66
107. Work councils -
108. Ethics for international firms – establish global standards for adhering to US laws that
have cross-border impacts. Create and distribute a global code of conduct.
109. What is the European Union? – separate countries of the former European Community
who unified into a common market for goods, services, capital and even labor. Tariffs bye.
110. Recruiting for China – difficult to recruit, hire and retain good employees. Employers
must report names, sexes, identification numbers, and contract terms for all employees they
hire within 30 days of hire. Employees are career oriented.
111. Local – citizens of the countries where they are working
112. Expatriate – noncitizens of the countries in which they are working
113. Third party national – citizens of a country other than the parent or the host country.
114. Home country national – citizens of the country in which the multinational company
has its headquarters.
115. Offshoring – having local employees abroad do jobs that the firm’s domestic employees
previously did in-house.
116. Polycentric – a conscious belief that only the host-country managers can ever really
understand the culture and behavior of the host-country market.
117. Ethnocentric – the notion that home-country attitudes, management style, knowledge,
evaluation criteria, and managers are superior to anything the host country has to offer.
118. Cross-cultural – y’know…
119. Balance Sheet – each expatriate should enjoy the same standard of living he or she
would have had at home. Addresses 4 groups of expenses (income taxes, housing, goods and
services, and discretionary expenses like car payments). The employer estimates each of
these expenses in the expat’s home country and in the host country. Employer then pays any
differences such as additional income taxes or housing expenses.
S H O R T E S S A Y T O P I C S:
1. UNIONS, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES, WHY DO PEOPLE JOIN? Unions are a big part of the labor movement. Around 11.9% of the total workforce
belongs to unions. Workers join unions for various reasons. For example, they may look for
union security in order to fight unfairness in the workplace as well as look for improved wages,
hours, and working conditions.
Some of the advantages of joining a union is that members do generally get a greater
number or improved holidays, sick leave, unpaid leave, benefits with insurance, etc.They also
help reduce the impact of downsizings and wage cuts in most industries. They do this through
collective bargaining – the process through which representatives of management and the union
meet to negotiate a labor agreement.
However, unions do also have a disadvantage. If they begin to strike due to an impasse in
collective bargaining (when one party is demanding more than the other will offer), then
employer can look to replace strikers with permanent replacement workers.
2. MERIT PAY, GOOD? BAD? WHY? WHY NOT? Merit pay is any salary increase to employees based on his or her individual performance.
Unlike a bonus, it usually becomes a part of the employee’s base salary. Merit pays, overall,
seem like a good idea for an employer to include in their organization. Oftentimes, employees
are satisfied by doing the minimum required to accomplish tasks and therefore don’t help the
organization develop and succeed.
Merit pay would influence employees to put more effort in their work in order to gain
that raise in salary. Although some might do it for the money, it would still benefit the
organization as a whole since the employee would be more efficient, focused, and driven. It
compares to a salesperson having a commission as part of their salary rather than just a straight
salary. This incentive to do well is tied to performance because the better they perform, the more
they will earn – which is like merit pay.
3. EXEMPT / NONEXEMPT FLSA contains minimum wage, maximum hours, overtime pay, equal pay, record
keeping, and child labor provisions that are familiar to most working people. Exemption depends
on responsibilities, duties, and salary of an employee. Bona fide executive, administrative (office
managers), and professional employees (architects) are exempt from the minimum wage and
overtime requirements. $455 or less per week, get overtime. $100K and performing
administrative, executive or prof and nothing. If exempt from minimum, then also overtime.
Employers must pay a rate of 1.5x normal pay for any hours worked over 40 in a
workweek. If employee gets time off, employer must also computer the number of hours at 1.5x
rate.
Always exempt overtime: agriculture peeps, taxi drivers, cinema employees.
Exempt
Lawyers
Medical doctors
Teachers
Pharmacists
Non-exempt
Paralegals
Bookkeepers
Lab technicians
Accounting clerks
4. INCENTIVE PLANS. WHY DO THEY FAIL? There are many incentive plans which can help an employee increase performance and
help the organization like piecework plans, merit pay, dual career ladders, etc. However, many
times incentive plans can be unsuccessful for many reasons.
First, if there is no clear relationship between employee effort and quantity or quality of
output, then incentives will not work. Plans can also lack complete standards which can make the
incentives fail. Next, if an incentive is not motivational, then it will not succeed because the
employees would not strive to obtain the reward which relates to Vroom’s motivation
expectation theory. If a reward has no valence to an employee, it won’t work.
Also, incentive plans can fail if the incentives incentivize the wrong behavior like
increasing production but forgetting about quality. Finally, many plans fail because they may
focus too much on money instead of recognition which an employee seeks.
5. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE Unemployment insurance provides benefits if a person is unable to work through some
fault other than his or her own. The benefits derive from a tax on employers on their taxable
payroll. Different states have different unemployment laws, but they all follow similar
guidelines.
Unemployment insurance isn’t paid to everyone who leaves a job. It must only apply to
those who leave through no fault of their own. Therefore, someone who was fired for being late
often wouldn’t be applicable for unemployment insurance.
In order to protect themselves, employers should keep a list of written warnings issued to
an employee so, if fired, they can deny this type of insurance. Examples of things to write down
could be keeping documented an employee’s lateness and absences or also document poor
performance.
6. FMLA (FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT) – 1993. States that:
1. Private employers of 50 or more must provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of
unpaid for serious illness, birth or adoption of child, care of ill child spouse or parent.
2. Employers may require employees to take any unused paid sick leave.
3. Employees taking leave are entitled to receive health benefits while on unpaid leave.
4. Employers must guarantee most employees the right to return to their previous or
equivalent position with no loss of benefits at end of the leave.
GUIDELINES: To be eligible, employee must have worked for a total of 12 months and have
worked for 1,250 or more hours in the past 12 consecutive months. Procedures:
Give no employee a leave until the reason for the leave is clear
If the leave is for medical or family reasons, employer should obtain medical
certification from the medical practitioner
Use a standard form to record both the employee’s expected return date and the fact
that, without an authorized extension, the firm may terminate his employment.
Employers can require independent medical assessments before approving paid
FMLA disability leaves.
7. MANAGING DISMISSALS PROPERLY To avoid problems, dismissals should only occur after taking reasonable steps to help an
employee improve their performance or errors. Termination at will is when the employer can fire
at will an employee without necessarily having a reason, but dismissals should be due to bad
performance, misconduct, lack of qualifications for the job, or elimination of the job.
Unsatisfactory performance means not carrying out the duties correctly or meeting job
standards and usually includes being late or being absent often. Misconduct is violating the rules
as well as stealing or insubordination which is disobedience of the boss’s authority or orders.
Lack of qualifications for the job is the employee not being able to do the assigned tasks
even if they try. Sometimes, an organization may have to downsize and eliminate positions. If
they cannot allocate the employee to another position or section, then a dismissal should tell the
employee they are eligible for unemployment insurance and maybe a severance pay.