Topic 2 Key Business Functions –

Employment Relations

Role of Employment Relations:

  • Ensure employees work harmoniously
  • Employers must ensure that factors contributing to workers productivity such as staff turnover, lateness and inability to use technology are minimised and promote potential corrective measures, for example better training, better selection, higher wages and induction programs
  • Unitarist – assumption that there is one and only one goal for employers and employees, that is achievements of corporate strategy
  • Pluralist – assumption that employees and employers may have different views on human resource management

The Human Resources Cycle:

  • Acquisition = the recruitment and selection of employees once the identification of staffing needs has been established
  • Selection steps
  • Application forms
  • Interviews
  • Background investigations
  • Referees’ check
  • Medical tests
  • Assessment centres
  • Psychometric tests
  • Interviews with top management
  • Development = training employees in skills for both current and future jobs. A skills audit can be used to identify where skills training is needed
  • Maintenance = includes monetary and non monetary beliefs (rewards etc)
  • Motivation - when employees are motivated they are most productive
  • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
  • Self actualisation – motivates employees by offering a challenge
  • Esteem – motivates employees by giving them acknowledgements
  • Social – opportunity to socialise
  • Safety – a safe workplace or superannuation
  • Physiological – wages for food, shelter etc.
  • Herzberg believes motivation must be intrinsic (come from within a person)
  • Separation = can be voluntary or involuntary but must stay within law and cater for those workers who are leaving
  • Voluntary:
  • Retirement – when people become too old or are disabled to work
  • Resignation – reasons include, moving interstate, loss of job satisfaction, promotion, new career directions
  • Voluntary Redundancy – when a business relocates or downsizes and offer attractive payments to employees to resign
  • Involuntary:
  • Redundancy – when a business needs to remove an employees due to technological innovations, downsizes or mergers
  • Retrenchment – forced termination of employment due to job or position becoming redundant
  • Dismissal – instant or planned, when an employee is ordered to leave because of gross insubordination or misconduct

Rights and Responsibilities

Description
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) /
  • Principle that all employees are entitled to be treated fairly
  • Employees should be selected on the basis of merit
  • 1984 – Sex Discrimination Act
  • Sex discrimination – someone is treated unfairly or harassed because of gender

Anti-Discrimination /
  • Occurs when people are treated unfairly on the basis they belong to a particular minority
  • Age, gender, sexual preference, marital status and religious beliefs
  • 1975 – Anti Discrimination Act
  • Disability Service Act – 1993
  • Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act – 1998
  • Human Rights Act – 1994

Affirmative Action /
  • Refers to gender issue and encouragement of females to have improved access to promotional positions
  • Affirmative Action(EEO for women) Act – 1986
  • Attempts to rectify unequal employment by ensuring employers adopt practises that achieve a fairer distribution of females in promotional positions
  • Employers must develop AA programs and provide a progress report to Equal Opportunities for Women
  • Failure to comply – organisations named in parliament and loss of contracts
  • Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act – 1986
  • Broadens areas of discrimination to include criminal record, bisexuality and trade union activity
  • Complaints are handled by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner (HREOC)

Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) /
  • Health and safety of employees
  • Was result of injuries and deaths at work place
  • Occupational Health and Safety Act – 1983
  • Provide and maintain safe workplace, facilities and access
  • Ensure safe use, handling, storage and transport of substances
  • Providing safety training, information and supervision
  • Creation of a committee

Labour Contracts /
  • Employer rights and responsibilities - duty of care, payment of income, provision of work and right of summary dismissal
  • Employee rights and responsibilities – duty to obey lawful orders, use care and skill and show good faith
  • Awards and enterprise agreements – hours of work, leave, wages and allowances
  • Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA) – individual employees and confidential agreements between employees and employers
  • Concern that employees are forced to sign agreements without support