Many records are now stored on computer and HR departments have to be very aware of what they can and cannot do with the information under the data protection act 1894. However all personnel records must be kept safe, secure and confidential.
Description of services covered by HR
Recruitment and selection of staff is carried out as a joint exercise by the managers of the section requiring the staff and the human resources department. The first thing the HR department has to do is identify the job vacancy. This means what job vacancy has arisen and why. There are various reasons why a vacancy may arise, some of which are shown below.
- Retirement
- Dismissal
- Promotion
- Expansion
- Changed to job roles
The HR department have various questions which need to be asked when a post arises;
- Do they really need the post? – the business may be making cut backs and make the decision not to fill the post.
- Should changes be made to the job description? A vacancy gives a business the chance to re-examine the job. A decision will have to be made as to whether the job still exists, the decision will have to be made after consultation with the following;
- Line manager of the department
- Other line managers who may think they have a equal chance at getting the job
- Personnel department – as these have the overall responsibility on recruitment.
- The finance department – which has to confirm that the organisation can afford anew recruit.
Job description
Once the job has been authorised the job description will need to be prepared. This is a thorough job analysis. The aim of this is ensure the job fits the needs of the organisation. Each job will have a written job description that can be referred to if there is any dispute over employees responsibilities. Job descriptions may need to be updated when a persons role change. There are various things that a job description will included these are;
- Job title
- Grade
- Department
- Location
- Responsible to and for
- Purpose of the job
- Duties and responsibilities
- Qualifications
- Special notes – I.e. noisy environment
- Reference:
Next the company will prepare the person specification which is basically describing the best person for the job that is advertised. When this is complete they company will advertise the post. they will need to decide which way is better for them to advertise. They could either advertise internally locally or nationally. This will help they find they person candidate for the job. Once this has been complete the company will issue application forms and then from this they will shortlist who they think the best candidates are and issue them with a interview. At the interview they will decided which person they should appoint by which person fits the person spec and job description better and appoint.
Hours of work
The hours of work are very important to individuals as they may need hours which must fit in with other commitments. The human resource department will either issue an applicant with the hours that they are to work or they will compromise to fit in with a persons other commitments e.g., the candidate may have young children.
Holidays
The human resources department will organise how many days holiday an employee will get each year, they may get a rise in holidays after they have been in the company for a certain amount of time. They also need to keep a record of when each employee has booked holidays for as they may need to organise cover for them.
Discipline
Members of staff will be told when they start their job what the companies’ method of discipline is so they do not get a shock if any action needs to be taken against them. The human resources department will be in charge if disciplinary action which will be taken again staff who break rules.
Wages
The human resources department will be in charge of putting together an adequate wage/ salary for a new recruit. This may be based on how much the business can afford. The human resources department will also be in charge or producing all the way slips for each individual employee.
Training
Staff may need to be trained before they can start a job. This means the business will have to either on the job train new recruits or train them off the job. This will enable the candidate to provide the best quality service to the company. The company may also have continuous training so they their existing employees are always being taught how the can provide a better quality service to the company. This will ensure everybody can provide the best quality service.
Advertisement
There are various ways in which the human resource department can advertise their job vacancy. They can either chose to advertise the job internally or externally. If the job is advertised externally then they may have to decide which form of advertisement is better e.g. local radio, job centre, newspaper. This may be influenced by the businesses advertising budget.
Contracts
The human resources department will be in charge of drawing up contracts for new recruits. This is similar to a job description but this is a legal requirement which will tell the employee what their main duties are and their wages, who they are responsible to and their hours of work.
Complaints
Human resources department will take care of all the complaints either made by staff or clients / customers. They will have a procedure for dealing with complaints which they will follow every time a complaint is made.
