Introduction
Recruiting is an important process in the activity of any organization. Indeed, the quality of a recruiter’s work defines what employees will be hired and how well they will be able to cope with their labor functions. HR specialists should also consider psychological characteristics of would-be employees to ensure good relationships between the members of a company’s team. To conduct recruitment procedures successfully, it is significant to correctly establish the requirements for the candidate so that the vacancy text would not be perceived as discriminatory. At the same time, the restrictions should fulfill their function of selecting people who might have the knowledge, education, and experience that are appropriate for an organization. The work of a HR manager is especially difficult when he or she is the only worker of a company who is competent in this field. The purpose of this paper is to create a detailed Human Resources plan for the above situation.
Summary of the Business
A HR department of one is usually present in relatively small companies; that is why for this assignment, Choice One Engineering was selected. This is a construction organization that has become one of the best small businesses according to Forbes assessment in 2019 (Godwin et al., 2016). Currently, the company located in Ohio has 2 offices and less than 60 employees (Godwin et al., 2016). At the same time, its revenue for 2018 accounts to more than 7 million of dollars (Godwin et al., 2016). The success of the business is connected with the strategies that ensure stability and equal opportunities for both full- and part-time workers.
In fact, employees of these categories are entitled to owning shares of the company. Furthermore, it is evident that Matt Hoing, the head of the business, puts the initial goals and vision of the company above financial success (Godwin et al., 2016). For example, the CEO has pulled out a million dollar contract partly because of the fact that it was too large for his team while he did not want to increase it seriously (Godwin et al., 2016). Thus, Choice One Engineering adheres to its ideas and goals strictly and puts the quality of work and the benefits of employees in the first place.
Recruitment and Selection Plan
The recruitment system should function not on the principle of filling vacancies but on the basis of creating added value by each hired specialist. For example, in some companies, the following situation might occur: the heads of the divisions has set the task for the HR department to hire new employees for the positions of designers and economists (Hammonds, 2005). The workers were selected and accepted; however, after a while, it became clear that senior management plans to install equipment that will reduce the need for the above specialists. Furthermore, the purchase of special programs that would increase the speed and efficiency of the work of designers and economists is planned. Thus, as a result of the innovations, the hired employees will become unnecessary for the company.
To avoid such situations in the future, it is necessary to develop such a system for the selection of personnel in the company that would take into account general corporate plans and tasks. A HR manager should determine what the personnel structure should be like on the basis of the strategic goals of the organization (Hammonds, 2005). The reason is that only a vision of the business as a whole allows one to accurately predict the needs for human resources in terms of quality and quantity. Therefore, personnel planning should be carried out for a specific period, just like corporate planning, and adjusted if the company’s goals change.
When planning the search and selection of personnel, a HR manager should answer numerous questions. What knowledge, skills, qualifications, behavioral characteristics of future employees are required? Where to look for specialists of the appropriate level? How to get them interested in working for the company? How many candidates for a vacant position are needed for selection? What procedures are to be used to select the best suitable candidates? How to help a new employee get accustomed to the work process and work effectively from day one? When might the selection process of workers be regarded as completed? How effective are the recruiting procedures used in the business? To what extent and how are senior managers involved in this process? The above questions might help the only HR specialist in the organization to conduct selection of candidates effectively. It is especially important for Choice One Engineering, a company that puts the quality of work in the first place and appreciates close relationships between its team’s members.
Carrying out comprehensive recruitment and selection procedures is composed of seven stages with the first one being making up a plan document in an appropriate form. It is prepared for a certain period based on the strategic goals and objectives of the company and is approved by the head of the organization (Hammonds, 2005). At the same time, it must be remembered that even an excellently drawn up draft, as a rule, is subject to corrections (Hammonds, 2005). They might occur due to an unexpected dismissal, an increase in staff turnover, and a sharp change in the company’s plans. Therefore, it is impossible to exclude the appearance of vacancies outside the draft prepared in accordance with all the major conditions. In this case, the same scheme is applied; however, the obligatory approval of the need for the selection of personnel from the head of the company is required.
The second stage of recruitment is the process of creating a vacancy and preparing the corresponding document. It is necessary to formalize the requests of internal customers for the selection of new employees. Oral agreements should be excluded; usually, an application for the selection of workers is drawn up (Killingsworth & Grosskopf, 2013). The document includes key characteristics of the opening position, the agreements between the HR department and the internal customer as well as with higher management.
The third part consists of determining the sources of selection and methods of working with them that can help attract candidates for the vacancy. For such a successful company as Choice One Engineering, a preparation and implementation of an advertising campaign to attract applicants might be required. At the next stage, selection procedures that allow evaluating potential employees and making decisions on them are used (Killingsworth & Grosskopf, 2013). The business under analysis requires qualified and experienced specialists in engineering; thus, apart from interviews, the selection procedures will include profession-related tests. The fifth phase of the process described is the registration of a new employee for work and the beginning of their adaptation. Next, during the sixth stage, taking measures aimed at helping the new worker to adapt to the conditions of the company is continued. They are carried out in close cooperation with the direct supervisor of the novice (Killingsworth & Grosskopf, 2013). The last element of recruitment is the completion of selection; after a probation period, the final decision on the new employee is made.
The listed elements are brought together into a coherent system that strictly meets the needs of Choice One Engineering. At the same time, it is important for all participants of the selection process to interact effectively. This will allow the system to perform its main function of staffing the organization with qualified and successful workers. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that even after the probation period, a new employee should be paid special attention to because it generally takes one a longer period to fully adapt at the workplace.
Training and Development Plan
The rapid development of technology forces employers to take care of the constant improvement of the level of personnel competence through training. Professional workers increase the competitiveness of an organization and its profits. At the same time, training and development are beneficial for the employees because they allow personnel to become better at performing appropriate tasks which leads to higher salaries and career advancement. In order to achieve the desired results, a HR manager should know the main points of organizing training programs.
Various methods are used to train staff; the choice depends on the method of acquiring knowledge: on-the-job training or education outside the workplace. There are four main techniques for the first kind of professional development: copying, job instruction, rotation, and delegation. While copying, a new employee observes the actions of their supervisor who is a more experienced worker and repeats them. The more accurately the novice does this, the faster he or she will develop the necessary professional skill. As for job instruction, it suggests a supervisor’s giving generalized information about the upcoming responsibilities and assignments, making it easier for a beginner to enter a new position. Rotation is a temporary movement of an employee to another workplace to let them acquire new skills, knowledge, and experience. Benefits of this method include increasing motivation, overcoming stress from the monotony of work, and making new contacts. Delegation refers to a transfer of responsibilities in making decisions on a specific problem or tasks to another employee. All these methods are useful and relevant to Choice One Engineering that strives to constant development of its workers’ skills.
Speaking about education outside the company, the most effective measures are lectures, conferences and seminars, and business games. A lecture is a way to gain theoretical knowledge; experts in a particular field serve as lecturers. Conferences allow participants to find solutions to problems in the process of active collective discussion. At the seminars, the lecture material listened to is consolidated and its mastering is checked. Usually, a seminar takes place in the form of an active discussion of the topic which allows one to consider it from all sides. Besides, this kind of outside training suggests sorting out complex issues using the practical experience of not only the expert but also the students themselves. During business games, a real professional situation is played out in which the participants try to solve the problem posed. This technique allows learning new material and master skills in the process of playing a game. The above techniques might be used for workers of Choice One Engineering in a combination with on-the-job training; this will let the personnel achieve higher results in professional development.
Compensation Package
A compensation package is traditionally understood as a set of various benefits received by an employee in addition to salaries that increases their standard of living. Compensations have several functions, with the main one being attracting skilled workers to the organization (Chhanwal, 2015). Other purposes of implementing the package include retention of employees in the company, stimulation of professional achievements, and optimization of personnel management costs. In Choice One Engineering, both part-time and full-time workers are entitled to having company shares. In addition to this stimulation measure, the organization’s compensation package should include coverage of additional travel expenses and official hospitality, overtime pay, additional vacations, and a payment for education and professional retraining. Moreover, Choice One Engineering should take special care about the personnel’s health by giving the employees prepaid gyms certificates. These methods will help the company to attract qualified specialists and stay successful at the market.
Legal Issues
While hiring new employees, the company under analysis needs taking into consideration several legal issues, with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) being the most significant one. According to the requirements of this federal agency, the only factor that an employer must consider when selecting candidates is their professionalism. Gender, race, sexual orientation, appearance, and other characteristics of potential workers should be of zero importance for a business. Some companies do not hire people whose appearance seems to HR managers to be unattractive or not corresponding to specific standards. Sexual orientation might also become a reason for rejecting a candidate; although such practices are illegal, they cannot be traced and punished for the reject are often officially assigned to other grounds. As for Choice One Engineering follows this principle since it puts the quality of work in the first place.
Performance Appraisal System
Performance appraisal system is an important instrument that belongs to Performance Management. This is a scheme based on assessing the achievement of goals by employees and the level of development of their competencies. In the classic version, this system includes the appraisal of employee performance and their skills in accordance with the current requirements of a company as well as an assessment interview. Performance appraisal is a tool that evaluates all the specified components of the performance management system (Chhanwal, 2015). Evaluating the achievement of goals suggest the correlation of planned results with those actually received. At the same time, this scheme should not be translated into the principle of “done-not done”. The fulfillment of each task must be assessed against predetermined criteria called performance requirements.
An assessment of the level of competencies development explores the relation of the description of the required behavior models (knowledge) with the actual behavior of an employee.
Competence is understood as the amount of professional knowledge and skills, as well as personal characteristics and attitudes, manifested in human behavior and required to perform direct job duties. A competence model is a set of core competencies that workers need to successfully achieve the company’s strategic goals (Bagley et al., 2013). Under an appraisal interview a dialogue during which a worker and a manager agree on the employee’s assessments of performance and the level of development of competencies is understood. The interview also allows a joint creation of the worker’s development plan and drawing up a list of tasks for the next period. Thus, performance appraisal system gives mangers an opportunity to evaluate not only the results of one’s work but also the methods of achieving the goals. All the above methods are relevant for Choice One Engineering and should be implemented together to achieve a high-quality and effective selection of the best specialists.
References
Bagley, P., Dalton, D., & Ortegren, M. (2013, May). Targeted recruiting and retention. The CPA Journal, 83(5), 63-65.
Chhanwal, S. (2015). Putting the ‘person’ in personnel (Links to an external site.). LinkedIn. Web.
Godwin, A., Potvin, G., Hazari, Z., & Lock, R. (2016). Identity, critical agency, and engineering: An affective model for predicting engineering as a career choice. Journal of Engineering Education, 105(2), 312-340.
Hammonds, K. H. (2005). Why we hate HR (Links to an external site.). Fast Company. Web.
Killingsworth, J., & Grosskopf, K. R. (2013). Synergy: A case study in workforce curriculum development. Adult Learning, 24(3), 95-103.