18. Hiring, Training,
and Evaluating
Employees
Action Due to Performance
• Recognition
• Promotion
• Reassigning the employees to new jobs,
suspending them temporarily, or firing them
• Reasons for poor performance
• upward appraisals
• Employee Lawsuits
• Labor Unions
Notes de l'éditeur
Recruitment Internal: An effort to fill open positions with persons already employed by the firm. This can be beneficial because existing employees have already been proven – their personalities are known and their potential can be assessed. Promotions: The assignment of an employee to a higher-level job with more responsibilities and compensation. Many firms, for example have a “promote from within” policy whereby management level positions are only filled by existing employees. External: An effort to fill positions with applicants from outside the firm. Some firms feel that they can recruit more qualified individuals by using external recruiting. Screening: When recruiting externally for employees, the company does not know as much about the candidates as when internal candidates are considered – therefore candidates must be go through a screening process
Diversity There are three main benefits of a diverse workplace: Studies have shown that employees who work in a diverse workplace tend to be more innovative. Employees in a diverse workplace are more likely to understand different points of view and be capable of interaction with a diverse set of customers. A larger proportion of eligible employees with be from minority groups in the future in the labor pool .
Compensation Package: The total monetary compensation and benefits offered to employees. Salary: The dollars paid for a job over a specific period (a wage). For example, $8.00/ hour is a salary level. Stock Options: Allows employees to purchase shares of their employer’s stock at a specific price. For example, employees at a firm may have been given the option to purchase 100 shares of stock at a price of $20 per share. This means that they can purchase the stock for the price, regardless of the stock’s market price. Microsoft attributes much of its success to its use of stock options, because of its strong performance since 1992, its managers who were hired in 1992 or before are now millionaires because their shares are worth more than $1 million. Commissions: Compensation for meeting specific sales objectives. For example, this is usually listed as a percentage of the employee’s total sales volume. Bonuses: An extra onetime payment at the end of a period in which performance was measured. At Disney, for example, 70 percent of bonuses paid to executives are based on specific financial performance measures, such as earnings. Profit Sharing: A portion of the firm’s profits is paid to employees. For example, firms such as Continental Airlines and General Motors offer profit sharing to employees in an effort to motivate employees to perform in a manner that improves profitability. Benefits: Additional privileges beyond compensation payments, such as paid vacation time, health, life or dental insurance, and pension programs. Many firms, for example, provide substantial employee benefits to their employees, and also offer preventive health-care programs to help reduce the high health care costs. Perquisites: Additional privileges beyond compensation payments and employee benefits. These are typically offered to high-level employees, for example, and include “perks” such as free parking, a company car, club membership, telephone credit cards and expense accounts.
Employee Skills Technical: employees must be trained to perform the tasks they engage in daily. For example, Ace Hardware offers courses to train its employees in the use of the products that it sells. Many firms find that due to advances in computer technologies, they must offer technical training to their workers. Decision-Making: Companies should provide guidelines for employees to consider when making decisions and generating ideas. For example, Xerox trains all of its employees to follow a six-step process when generating ideas and making decisions. Customer service: Customer services skills training needs to be provided to employees who frequently deal with customers. For example, Marriott International provides training on servicing customers, with refresher sessions after the first and second months. Safety: Companies often train employees on safety within the working environment, such as how to operate machinery and equipment. For example, United Parcel Service (UPS) implements training programs for its employees on handling hazardous materials. Human Relations: Supervisors may receive training on how to manage other employees. For example, Denny’s offers employee training on diversity to prevent racial discrimination, and to create an environment in which people work together more effectively, thereby increasing the firm’s performance.
Evaluating employee performance For most employees, their overall performance is normally based on multiple criteria. Therefore, an evaluation can best be conducted by segmenting the evaluation into the criteria that are relevant for each particular job position. For example, some employees may have excellent technical skills, yet not be dependable. The exhibit on this slide illustrates hot the measures vary by type of job. Other types of characteristics, for example, that are not shown on this slide, for some positions are organization, communication and decision-making skills.
Firms can follow certain steps to demonstrate fairness and recognition of employee’s rights, while following legal guidelines: Supervisors should communicate job responsibilities to employees when they are hired. They should also communicate any changes in those responsibilities over time, and should be done in writing. The letters, for example, not only provide legal protection, but also force the supervisors to pinpoint the specific tasks for employees in a particular job position. Supervisors should inform of deficiencies when they become aware of them. Many companies do this, for example, in the form a standard periodic review. Some supervisors prefer to inform employees immediately, rather than wait for the review period. Employees should be given the chance to provide feedback. Supervisors should be consistent when conducting performance evaluations. For example, employees who have a similar deficiency should be treated equally in the evaluation process.
The pictures on this slide show some of the types of action that can be taken based on evaluations, namely: Recognition: Employees who receive very favorable evaluations may deserve some type of recognition or even a promotion for their hard work. For example, employees that regularly exceed sales targets may be promoted to the position of sales manager. Punishment: Employees who receive unfavorable evaluations also need attention. The reasons for the bad performance need to be explored. For example, the bad evaluation may be temporarily due to a family illness, or perhaps, a non-temporary bad attitude. Employees need to be made aware of any deficiencies.
