Contribution 10: Current Challenges With Job-Based Pay Structures

In class we discussed current challenges that occur from job-based pay structures. One of the challenges is that job-based pay structures can reinforce top-down decision-making as well as status differentials. Another problem that comes up is the system encourages promotion-seeking behavior, but discourages lateral movement. The last challenge I want to mention is that job-based structure may not reward desired behaviors, where the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed yesterday may not be helpful today and tomorrow.

The challenge of reinforcing top-down decision-making as well as status differentials is that not everyone is looked at equal. This makes a climate tense between different levels of the organization. The next problem that job-based pay structures encourages promotion-seeking behavior, but discourages lateral movement is that employees will only want to move up the latter to get a better pay, but if there is nowhere else for them to go up, they will most likely leave the company. The last challenge I want to discuss is that it may not reward desired behaviors, where the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed yesterday may not be helpful today and tomorrow is problematic. This is a challenge because if someone has a lot of knowledge, skills, and abilities to offer, they will not be compensated for that rather just paid strictly on their position.

I bring up these challenges because I myself am in a position of determining a salary. My current employer has offered me the opportunity to present to them the salary I would like to make. This has been a very stressful situation because I am not certain how they want me to base my salary on. If it was solely on job-based structure, then I would be able to look online what the average salary is and go off of that. Only thing is, I have had over a year experience in HR, created a lot of new forms and policies, and implemented new processes for new hires. I think the experience and changes I have already made within the company is worth being compensated for as well as a base salary based on the job.

Contribution 9: Compensation

In class we worked on some scenarios regarding compensation of employees. One example that stood out to me in particular was the example of having service technicians being currently paid $18 an hour, but with the down turn of the economy the company has to offer new hires $15. The question was at what rate would you start the new hires, and if the existing technicians should have their paid decreased to $15 to accommodate economic hardships. My group decided that you should keep the $18 existing employees at that rate, but start the new employees at $15 and let them work their way up to eventually reach $18.

This scenario stood out to me because at my work place we have a similar scenario but opposite. We have employees that have been working for us for 3+ years at $16 an hour for a certain position, but hiring the exact same role with economy changes, we have to offer $18 an hour to new employees. This creates a hostile work environment for employees that have worked for us for a while towards new employees. It is a very difficult situation because we cannot just bump all existing employees up to this same pay range. We are trying to get them a raise, but are not always easy to get approval from upper management. The answer to this scenario is not always clear or easy to address.

Contribution 8: Types of Interviews

In class we discussed many different types of interviews that organizations use. We distinguished the difference between structured and unstructured interviews. Structured interviews are the most effective because you ask all candidates the same set of questions. Every interview is then similar and you are able to compare all candidates across the board. Unstructured interviews are often looked as just conversations and easy flowing for both managers and candidates. Unstructured interviews are not effective because then you have no way to compare all candidates since each conversation differs.

At my current internship now I often try to shadow and sit in as many interviews as possible to get experience. There is one manager in particular that always conducts an unstructured interview. He prefers to just have a conversation with each candidate. Then at the end, he always has a hard time picking a final candidate. With only having a conversation if each person, this particular manager always seems to pick candidates who is very similar to himself.

Contribution #7: Measurement Issues in Selection

In talking about assessing job candidates to hire, we talked about the test of substance abuse test for candidates. We discussed that currently a lot of employers require pre-drugging before offering employment to a new employee.

It was brought up that for states where marijuana is legalized, it might be difficult to have mandatory pre-employment drug screening. I still believe these states could be able to require drug screening. They may have to be more lenient on the substances they test for.

Employers often require pre-employment drug screening because if they are offering someone a position at their company, they want to be sure they take care of themselves. These individuals are going to be the face of your company and you want to be sure they are not dealing with the wrong people and participating in illegal events.

Pre-employment drug screening may also be a way to eliminate the candidates that may not be dedicated and driven to do their job. The company is protecting themselves by requiring this. Companies do not want to put a worker on a forklift if they have illegal substances in their system effective their judgment. Pre-employment drug screening protects the employer, the candidate, and other employees.

Contribution #6: Recruiting

From our case study last week as well as from our current Chapter 6 on recruiting, we focused particularly on candidate experience. The case talked about how the company could do better on the candidate experience to have better results. Every time a candidate applies to a job, they don’t expect a lot from the company, but at least some interaction.

In order to have effective recruiting practices, companies should at least acknowledge the resumes they receive with a simple, ‘thanks for applying, you will be considered.’ It doesn’t take very long to do. It can be done with a simple auto reply on the companies e-mail address.

My company where I am now does not have a very good candidate experience. A lot of the time my boss just deletes the resumes we receive and never reaching out to any candidates. I have proposed sending out simple thank you e-mail, but she does not feel it is worth our time. I on the other hand, would think it would be very effective. A simple e-mail gesture goes a long way. Even though we don’t pick a particular candidate, but at least acknowledge we received their resume and thank you for applying, shows them that we care and do look at everyone’s resume. With candidates having a positive experience, they are likely to spread a good word about the company even if they are not hired.

Contribution 5: HR Planning

Human resources planning is the process through which organizational goals, as defined in business plans and mission statements, are translated into staffing-level objectives and integrated personnel programs and policies. HR Planning is concerned with the flow of people into, through, and out of an organization.

HR planning focuses on getting the right number of qualified people into the right job at the right time. The concept of HR Planning stood out to me because my work just had our quarterly meeting. During the quarterly meeting we discussed our overall financial results and our forecasts on where we want to be.

One specific segment of our company was extremely below what was expected of them to be at in this point in time. This specific segment of the organization has been adding a lot of new positions but not getting the results they needed to make. Obviously during the quarterly meeting it was brought to attention that the HR planning for this segment of business was not carried out very well.

The segment was adding too many people into the organization at the wrong time. The people we did bring in were not meeting expectations of the organization. Therefore, the manager of this department was let go earlier this week and now we will be in the whole new process of hiring a new manager for that division. This time I feel the HR department will plan a little better for the expectations of the division and hire the right person and the right time.

Contribution #4: Generations of Workers in the U.S. Workforce

I am a senior and soon going to be entering the workforce. There are many different types of workers in the workforce currently. We have a lot of ‘Generation X’ workers who were born between 1965-1980. These workers are also known as ‘baby busters’ and there are approximately 50 million Americans, one-third of the workforce. These individuals demand interesting work assignments and thrive on open-ended projects that require sophisticated problem solving

There are also Generation Y or ‘Millenials’ in the workforce and soon to be entering the full time workforce. These individuals were born between 1981-1995. These workers grew up with sophisticated technologies and often e-mail and text. Multitasking is easy for this generation as well. Generation Y workers will have a huge impact on future products, marketing, and management practices.

I bring this up because I am going to be graduating in May and entering the workforce with both of these generations. It worries me working with this mix of people because others may intimidate some or not agree on big decisions. Right now I am a HR intern to a Generation X boss and I feel as if she is intimidated by my age and knowledge straight out of school. I feel I am not given the opportunities I should be given because she is in fear I will challenge her position and ‘give her a run for her money.’ I hope after I graduate and start apply for jobs, that most places will not look at me as intimidating but rather as an opportunity to better the company with my new knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Contribution 3: Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986

In class we discussed the Immigration Reform and Control Act that was put into place in 1986. It prohibits the employment of individuals who are not legally authorized to work in the U.S. This act provides penalties for companies and individuals who knowingly hire illegal aliens. In order to avoid hiring illegal aliens, employers must collect sufficient information from job applications.

Employers cannot discriminate and ask for additional documents beyond the required because of their suspicion. Employers can’t refuse to accept valid documents. The fines for not complying with this act could be a civil fine up to $10,000 per violation, back pay/front pay, and attorney’s fees.

This topic stood out to me because at my place of employment we had accidentally hired an illegal immigrant. This individual had presented us the required documents to complete the I-9. He showed us a work card that authorized him to work in the US as well as a social security card. We ended up finding out that the social security number we had been reporting to was actually an invalid number to his name. In this case he then provided us with paperwork stating that his social security card is in processing and he will be getting it soon. We continued to let him work and then report under a different social security number.

In a case like this, is an employer aloud to request a different type of ID than a social security card since the one he presented in the past was fraud?

Contribution #2: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

In class we discussed the legal definition of sexual harassment. We concluded that is very difficult to identify and be particular on what exactly qualifies as sexual harassment.

We talked about if it was sexual harassment if dating in the work place. If it is welcome before, and not forced into a relationship or to get any advance or a threat in someone’s position, then it is not considered sexual harassment. With that being said that it is not sexual harassment, many organizations have policies set up in regards to interoffice relationships.

We discussed how St. Norbert College has a consensual relationship policy. This means that no teachers can date students, but a teacher can date a teacher. The difference is that in a student and teacher relationship, the student has an advantage to gain and the power difference, whereas if a teacher dating another teacher has no advantage or power from the relationship.

This conversation in class stood out to me because where I currently work, we have interoffice relationships going on. It was never directly stated, but the two show up to work together, leave together, and always in one another office. We do not have a policy set up in place for interoffice dating. For coworkers, this relationship is very uncomfortable because sometimes they disagree and the tension gets think at work and also when they are talking about personal stuff and you need to talk business with one of the two, it gets extremely frustrating.

Overall, I think every workplace needs to have an interoffice relationship policy in place. If the relationship was to go wrong and someone wanted revenge on the other. They could twist the situation and say that there was sexual harassment that occurred and that the behavior was not welcome and interfere with their ability to work.

Contribution #1: Absenteeism in the workplace

Absenteeism is defined to be, any failure of an employee to report for or to remain at work as scheduled, regardless of reason. Along with absenteeism we talked about the pros and cons of taken your personal time off that employees are entitled to.

This conversation in class stuck out to me because there seemed to be more cons to taking PTO than pros. A few of the pros would be, being able to take care of a sick child/family member/self and getting a mental break from the workplace and work itself. Some of the cons we listed in class about taking PTO were that you get behind on work, come into a lot of missed emails and phone calls, deadlines become crunch for time, co-workers may look at you as not committed for taking off during busy times, and coworkers may think you are not a team playing by taking personal time off.

TO me I find this extremely striking because PTO is time that an employee has earned throughout their career and should not feel uncomfortable taking their entitled time off. Employees’ absenteeism in the work place may be unknown to coworkers, which could cause some tension.

I have worked in the HR office for about 7 months now and am in charge of the PTO for the company. Where I work, people are very particular about their PTO. Some individuals who have been with the company for several years have over 200 hours of PTO! I’ve noticed that a majority of the individuals with that amount of PTO simply don’t take the full amount. Not only because they want to be able to carry some over into the next year, but simply because taking a lot of time off because more work in the end.

I do not think absenteeism should be looked down upon in the work place. If it is non excusable and constant, then yes it is a problem. In the terms of personal time off, it is no ones business what the employee uses their time off for and should not give them a hard time for taking their earned time off.