Explain the objectives of effective compensation management.
The absolute objective of effective compensation management is to have reasonable salaries and wages amongst employees. This salary scale ought to match the employees’ qualifications and other qualities that may be unique to different employees. It also seeks to enhance fairness in salary package by determining salaries and wages that are in harmony with prevalent labor laws.
Identify the major issues that influence compensation management.
Factors that may influence compensation for employees include skills possessed, experience, academic qualifications, capacity of work, the prevalent labor laws and the nature of work. All these factors play a critical role of enhancing the effectiveness of compensation management.
Explain the difference between “equal pay for equal work” and “equal pay for work of equal value”.
Equal pay for equal work refers to a concept of compensation in which the employees receive remunerations in accordance to the quantity of work they have done. The amount of work is quantifiable in terms of time used to complete the work. However, this concept is applicable to employees holding similar positions (Schwind, Das & Wagar, 2010). On the contrary, equal pay for work of equal value refers to the compensation that solely focuses on the value of the work done as opposed to the amount of time used.
Describe the objectives of indirect compensation.
Indirect compensation involves the benefits and services that an employee receives as a part of compensation. Although the indirect compensation is a form of remuneration in many companies, it rarely relates to the performance of an employee. Indeed, it represents an extension of the employment package that and employee receives upon employment. It serves to enhance retention of employees by addressing the social issues that the employees’ dependants may face.
Describe the costs of employee benefits and way to control them.
Companies incur various costs associated with employees’ compensation. First, the employees receive both direct benefits in terms of wages and salaries. Besides, the employees receive indirect compensations such health insurance, covers and pensions among many others. Both direct and indirect compensation balance constitute a huge percentage of the total costs that accrues the employers. To reduce these costs, it is critical for employers to reduce the number of employees and increase productivity through ‘down-sizing’. Besides, employers can reduce the cost by assuming the appropriate benefit plans.
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of flexible benefits plans.
Flexible benefits plans have the advantages of being less expensive that the traditional plans since they allow employers to make savings on both benefits and taxes. For employees, it is possible to make saving by purchasing pretax benefits. In addition, they are flexible, aid retention of employees and provide a comprehensive compensation package. Nonetheless, they are expensive to roll out and they reduce the employer’s control of voluntary benefits.
Discuss the importance of downward and upward communication in organizational settings.
Downward communication is an important aspect of communication in which the decision makers communicates to the employees from hierarchical structure of the organization. In other words, the managers are the sole decision makers whose decisions are directed to the rest of the employees. Downward communication is important since it is a quick way of making urgent decisions. On the other hand, upward communication is synonymous to bottom-up communication in which all the members of staff are able to air their views before the company’s management takes a specific decision. It is important since it allows all members of the team to participate in the process of making decisions.
Describe how progressive discipline wrongful dismissal work.
Progressive discipline has become a tool that many organizations use to avert the risk of a legal suit for wrongful dismissal. It requires that an employer give an oral reprimand to employees with perceived inferior performances. Second, the employee should issue a written warning to articulate the concerns that the supervisor raises. This should be in terms of a memo. If the problem continues, the employer should provide the final written warning to the employee.
The supervisor can review the plan of any termination if the poor performance continues and no notable improvement. However, the supervisor should not have the final power to terminate or fire an employee (Schwind et al., 2010). The final phase of progressive discipline involves termination of the worker’s services through a letter of dismissal. By following this process to the letter, the firing company can avoid legal cases.
Outline the major issues relating to downsizing the workforce and thier implications for strategic human resource management.
Schwind et al. (2010) explicate that various issues come together with actions by a company to down size. First, there is loss of talent among experienced employees and consequently, reduction in productivity. Besides, the company may end up having a clash with employees who might want to sue the company for undertaking such moves. These factors may have consequences to the human resource department. At the outset, the HR department may be unable to identify the actual employees to lay-off. This leads having unproductive employees.
Discuss the strategic importance of diversity management today.
In the contemporary world, it is imperative to manage diversity. The rationale is that companies have continued to operate in different contexts some of which are typical of varied cultural orientations. As the companies assume global appeal, management of diversity becomes the focal point in which other people are able to perceive the company.
Discuss the various steps in managing diversity.
Companies begin to manage diversity by reorganizing their processes of production. This is to avoid the potential economic consequences such loss of productivity. Reorganizing the potential consequences requires that a company should have a strategy solely aimed at managing diversity. According to Schwind et al. (2010), coming up with a strategy is the second phase that ought to involve communication with the staff, assigning various employees their respective in the process and allocating financial resources that are paramount in enhancing process’ success. Thirdly, a company ought to implement an action plan that would enable its ability to appreciate the impending changes. Finally, it is important for company to keep evaluating the diversity strategy to appraise various aspects that may present a challenge.
Discuss the special challenges facing global firms in the context of diversity management.
In an attempt to diversify the constitution of a company’s global customers and employees, global firms experience various handles. First, cultural clash of organizational culture has limited the ability of companies to manage diversity. Besides, the ability of a company to choose the most qualified employees is limited. The rationale is that a company ought to ensure that the members of the society that it operates in are an integral part of the company.
Assess the traditional thinking with respect to occupational health and safety issues.
Initially, the employees had to cater for their occupational health issues that affected them. It was the sole responsibility of the employees to enhance their personal safety in the context of work. The rise of vibrant labor unions and enactment of labor laws across the world has placed the employer at the centre of ensuring that their employees have considerable health covers and are safe in the context of their work.
Outline the safety and health responsibilities of employers and employees.
The employers ought to provide a healthy environment in which the employees are able to enhance their productivity. First, it is upon the employer to provide health insurance for the employees, protective gears in specific industries, functional measures to respond to disasters such as fire as well as to equip the company with all the safety and health related facilities. On the other hand, the employees ought to ensure that they have made ample preparations and acquire knowledge on ways to enhance their safety and health in the workplace.
Describe the structure of Canadian unions.
In the context of Canada, a group of workers that may have important aspects of collective bargaining may vote to join a union. If they are successful, they join a union, which now becomes their agent of bargaining. The members with similar professions are amalgamated to form a bargaining unit under the union. A bargaining unit can elect their respective executive to deal with specific issues that affect the unit. These units may act as the agency of bargaining under the umbrella of the union.
Discuss the major reasons why workers join unions.
There are multiple reasons that make workers to join trade unions. First, the trade unions allow the workers to reap the advantages of collective bargaining in which they are able to advance their grievances. Besides, trade unions are important organizations for the workers since they are able to address issues that a unionized member may experience at work. Most importantly, the unions are able to provide standards for working conditions and compel the employers to comply.
Outline the key steps in negotiating a union contract.
At the outset, the lead negotiator ought to comprehend all aspects of the contract for a successful negotiation. As such, reviewing the contract should be the first step. Second, it is imperative to understand the level of resistance that the company may pose in order to have counterpoints of any of the company’s objections. Third, the lead negotiator ought to compromise on minute issues but remain focused on the sole objectives of the contract (Schwind et al., 2010). This implies however to consult with the rest of the employees. Fourth, the negotiators should be professional and understand that the company ought to treat them as the representatives of the rest of the works. Finally, it is important to accord the company the time to raise its objections by having the requisite listening skills.
Discuss the strategic importance of a human resource audit.
Human resource audit is important for companies for various reasons. First, the audit reveals the areas that an organization ought to bring increased inputs to realize effectiveness. Through audits, the employers are able to establish the employees whose performance requires compensation or appraisal. As such, it acts as the most effective strategy that helps the employers to understand the actual productivity of the workforce.
Describe the steps and research tools used in a human resource audit.
To start with, a company that seeks audit the human resource function ought to begin by determining the range and the type of audit to conduct. The company ought to use questionnaire as the tool that the employees will respond to questions. Therefore, it is vital for the company to develop a comprehensive audit questionnaire. The third step involves data collection in the human resource function. Schwind et al. (2010) say that data analysis should serve as a source of making findings and recommendations. These results ought to be made available to the entire human resource department. This will not only help in the creation of an action plan but also enhance an environment of progression.
Reference
Schwind, H., Das, H., & Wagar, T. (2010). Canadian Human Resource Management: A strategic Approach. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers.