Training and Development
The aim of training is to seek a long-term change in employee's skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in order to improve work performance in the organization. Managers, supervisors and employees all require training and/or development in order to have the skills and competencies to achieve the goals and objectives of the business.
An effective induction program is carefully planned to introduce the mew employee to the job, their co-workers, the organization and its culture. A well prepared induction program includes:
- Positive attitude towards the job.
- Builds confidence.
- Stresses major policies.
- Helps establish good working relationships with co-workers and supervisors.
Steps For Induction:
- Assess the needs.
- Determine the objectives of the training program for the organization, job and individual.
- Consider the internal and external influences.
- Determine the process that is the content.
- Evaluate the training program.
An important element in the training process is allowing the employee to learn by performing under actual working conditions, with close supervision that can identify any mistakes and continue to improve their performance.
Training strategies used by business:
- Apprenticeship and on the job training.
- Job shadowing.
- Scavenger hunt/research.
- Team training.
- Mentoring/buddy system.
Measures of Effectiveness
Effectiveness is measured by its impact on the human resource performance in the organization. Methods of measuring performance include; an information system, which measures each of:
Levels of staff turnover
While some staff turnover is inevitable and is cause by factors beyond the businesses control, if it becomes a regular occurrence it should be looked into. Happy and healthy work environments have low levels of staff turnover.
Absenteeism
Unhappy workers tend to have higher levels of sick leave which disrupt the work place.
Disputation
Dissatisfied workers are also involved with many more industrial disputes that in turn costs the employers, employees and society.
Quality
Quality is the worth of a good or service created by our ability to set and meet specifications. An emphasis on quality saves costs. Some businesses have quality circles which examine ways of improving the quality of their output.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a way of analyzing the performance of an organization by looking at best practices outside the company. It compares manufacturing and management processes. Benchmarking can be defined as:
'A continuous, systematic process for evaluating the products, services, and work processes of recognized best practice organizations for the purpose of organizational improvement. It is a strategic response by organizations to an increasingly competitive international environment.'
The three major objectives companies seek from benchmarking are; improving quality of goods and services; reducing production costs; and improving delivery and response time. All are key aspects of customer satisfaction.
Employment Relations Audits:
- An Human resource audit can be used to systematically analyze and evaluate employment relations activities and their effectiveness.
- Quantitative evaluation based on key indicators and trends should be combined with qualitative evaluation based on analysis and feedback from staff and customers.
- Quantitative measures - these should be able to demonstrate the actual effect of indicators in economic terms.
- Benchmarking of indicators is undertaken frequently by business seeking to operate at world's best practice. Leaders in benchmarking focus on quality do more training and have fewer industrial disputes and accidents.
- Qualitative evaluation involves detailed feedback and research on key issues which allows judgments to be made about changed in behaviour or quality of service provided. Key areas includes: Industrial disputes, feedback from performance appraisals, supervisors and interviews.
Ethical and Legal Issues
To reflect the wider context of employment, governments have enacted laws that outline the ethical and legal responsibilities of the employer. By regulating pay and working conditions it is hoped that the businesses interests of low costs and competitiveness can be combined with employee interests of fair pay, safe working conditions and enjoyable work. The law of employment is based on common law wait many statutes modifying the legal situation. There are two main types of contracts related to work situations, and different rules apply:
Contracts of service:
These are based on employer/employee relationship whereby the employer has control over the employee and the right to tell them how work is to be performed. The employer is vicariously liable.
There is usually an agreement to perform a specific task for a specific sum on money. The person providing the service is the independent contractor. The employer does not control the way the contractor does the work. The employer is not vicariously responsible for civil wrongs of the contractor.
Independent contractors are unlikely to have the same entitlements as employees, such as holidays, sick leave, working conditions and rates of pay, protection from unfair dismissal.
Statute law has added to these common law duties. For example the common law duty to provide a safe place of work was supplemented by the OH&S Act 1983 (NSW).
There are three types of contracts in the workplace; awards, workplace agreements, and certified agreements. Contracts are enforceable in the courts.
