Exam 4 MHA 702
Consultants
•Expert advice and assistance is needed or appreciated in almost any business or organization
•Such help can come from an external consultant
•usually experts in their field
•work with an organization's employees when seeking solutions to problems
•Engaging the services does not constitute outsourcing
Terminations
that involve the least risk to an organization are those for which good cause is evident AND
DOCUMENTED
Previous
Play
Next
Rewind 10 seconds
Move forward 10 seconds
Unmute
0:00
/
0:15
Full screen
Brainpower
Read More
Documentation
•An organization's best protection against wrongful termination policies are fair personnel
policies that are consistently applied
•Performance appraisal systems must be fair and complete
• clear evidence of employee wrongdoing
Discharge
•ineligible for unemployment compensation
Dismissal
•eligible for unemployment compensation
,Constructive Discharge
•A resignation that it is forced by extreme or intolerable conditions or treatment
•Another occurs when an individual who is approaching termination for cause is allowed to
resign in lieu of discharge
Reasons for reducing employee counts
-New technology that requires fewer employees
-Reengineering
-Mergers, acquisitions and other changes
-Layoffs and terminations
Reengineering
•systematic redesign of a business's core processes, starting with desired outcomes and
establishing the most efficient possible processes to achieve those outcomes
often called downsizing, rightsizing, reorganizing, repositioning, revitalizing, and modernizing
but, these terms are NOT the same.
For most people, synonymous with eliminating jobs
Mergers
lead to the reduction of management jobs as well as staff positions
Managers who remain are left with greatly enlarged spans of control
Employees of one organization usually fear absorption
Successful supervisors
•maintain a dialogue with their employees and keep them informed of what is known
•They keep lines of communication open and provide the best information that is available
•Honesty/transparency is an absolute requirement for maintaining personal credibility
•Eliminate the use of all temporary employees
-Impose a hiring freeze
-Close open positions
allows internal reallocation of personnel
•Specific individuals or groups cannot be targeted as this is discriminatory
Seniority
•is the fairest and safest means of determining who leaves and who remains
,•requires definition and can be determined by time in the organization, time in a specific
department, time within a particular task or job class or time within a department
Bumping
•when the job of an individual of greater seniority is eliminated.
This person is then allowed to displace or bump persons having lesser seniority from their
positions.
•This process continues until the person having the least seniority is laid off
Policy to govern layoffs
•consistency in how the guidelines are applied is critically important
•If employees are represented by a union, a collective bargained agreement between employer
and union will delineate how employees are chosen for layoff
lay offs
•Charges of discrimination are likely if patterns based on age, gender or race emerge among
those slated for layoff
•The goal of an ideal layoff will be an organization that has reduced its personnel costs but
retained its best employees
Phased-in layoffs
•easier to administer, but morale and productivity are adversely affected
•Teamwork becomes secondary to survival
•Low morale is replaced with anger an despair for those who remain
•For employees, they produce more stress and anxiety than a single mass layoff
Severance pay
•is ordinarily based on a formula using an individual's final salary in combination with length of
service (with some limits)
•It can be as little as 2-weeks salary
•layoffs that are considered permanent
Employee assistance programs
• utilized to help ease the transition for both laid-off staff and stressed-out survivors
healed with the passage of time
•For many individuals, the loss of a job is as traumatic as a death in the family
, Discharged employees
that prove hardship are frequently granted unemployment compensation benefits
unemployment compensation
hr makes an initial determination as to which claims to contest and which to concede
•involve an honest judgment of the merits and validity of the claim
•Only those claims that appear invalid or questionable should be contested
employee privacy
•All terminations should be accomplished in private
•They should be accomplished near the end of the workday AND workweek
•Terminated employees should be allowed as much dignity as possible
•Managers must weigh considerations of trust and caution
HR role in termination
•responsibility to recover keys, employee identification cards and other organizational property
Security role in termination
responsibility to delete any electronic access codes given to former employees.
•Discharged employees should be escorted out of the building
•Terminations occasionally require the presence of security personnel
•A security officer's presence should be discrete, not especially visible but readily available
Outplacement services
•These are individualized services intended to assist the person in preparing a resume, initiating
a job search and securing future employment
often extended as part of the severance arrangement made with a manager or professional
employee
survivors
•Employees that remain must not only keep an organization running but also pick up the slack
created by the loss of those who were discharged
commonly feel overworked, if not overwhelmed
overall decrease in morale, productivity and employee loyalty
Skilled technical and professional employees
Consultants
•Expert advice and assistance is needed or appreciated in almost any business or organization
•Such help can come from an external consultant
•usually experts in their field
•work with an organization's employees when seeking solutions to problems
•Engaging the services does not constitute outsourcing
Terminations
that involve the least risk to an organization are those for which good cause is evident AND
DOCUMENTED
Previous
Play
Next
Rewind 10 seconds
Move forward 10 seconds
Unmute
0:00
/
0:15
Full screen
Brainpower
Read More
Documentation
•An organization's best protection against wrongful termination policies are fair personnel
policies that are consistently applied
•Performance appraisal systems must be fair and complete
• clear evidence of employee wrongdoing
Discharge
•ineligible for unemployment compensation
Dismissal
•eligible for unemployment compensation
,Constructive Discharge
•A resignation that it is forced by extreme or intolerable conditions or treatment
•Another occurs when an individual who is approaching termination for cause is allowed to
resign in lieu of discharge
Reasons for reducing employee counts
-New technology that requires fewer employees
-Reengineering
-Mergers, acquisitions and other changes
-Layoffs and terminations
Reengineering
•systematic redesign of a business's core processes, starting with desired outcomes and
establishing the most efficient possible processes to achieve those outcomes
often called downsizing, rightsizing, reorganizing, repositioning, revitalizing, and modernizing
but, these terms are NOT the same.
For most people, synonymous with eliminating jobs
Mergers
lead to the reduction of management jobs as well as staff positions
Managers who remain are left with greatly enlarged spans of control
Employees of one organization usually fear absorption
Successful supervisors
•maintain a dialogue with their employees and keep them informed of what is known
•They keep lines of communication open and provide the best information that is available
•Honesty/transparency is an absolute requirement for maintaining personal credibility
•Eliminate the use of all temporary employees
-Impose a hiring freeze
-Close open positions
allows internal reallocation of personnel
•Specific individuals or groups cannot be targeted as this is discriminatory
Seniority
•is the fairest and safest means of determining who leaves and who remains
,•requires definition and can be determined by time in the organization, time in a specific
department, time within a particular task or job class or time within a department
Bumping
•when the job of an individual of greater seniority is eliminated.
This person is then allowed to displace or bump persons having lesser seniority from their
positions.
•This process continues until the person having the least seniority is laid off
Policy to govern layoffs
•consistency in how the guidelines are applied is critically important
•If employees are represented by a union, a collective bargained agreement between employer
and union will delineate how employees are chosen for layoff
lay offs
•Charges of discrimination are likely if patterns based on age, gender or race emerge among
those slated for layoff
•The goal of an ideal layoff will be an organization that has reduced its personnel costs but
retained its best employees
Phased-in layoffs
•easier to administer, but morale and productivity are adversely affected
•Teamwork becomes secondary to survival
•Low morale is replaced with anger an despair for those who remain
•For employees, they produce more stress and anxiety than a single mass layoff
Severance pay
•is ordinarily based on a formula using an individual's final salary in combination with length of
service (with some limits)
•It can be as little as 2-weeks salary
•layoffs that are considered permanent
Employee assistance programs
• utilized to help ease the transition for both laid-off staff and stressed-out survivors
healed with the passage of time
•For many individuals, the loss of a job is as traumatic as a death in the family
, Discharged employees
that prove hardship are frequently granted unemployment compensation benefits
unemployment compensation
hr makes an initial determination as to which claims to contest and which to concede
•involve an honest judgment of the merits and validity of the claim
•Only those claims that appear invalid or questionable should be contested
employee privacy
•All terminations should be accomplished in private
•They should be accomplished near the end of the workday AND workweek
•Terminated employees should be allowed as much dignity as possible
•Managers must weigh considerations of trust and caution
HR role in termination
•responsibility to recover keys, employee identification cards and other organizational property
Security role in termination
responsibility to delete any electronic access codes given to former employees.
•Discharged employees should be escorted out of the building
•Terminations occasionally require the presence of security personnel
•A security officer's presence should be discrete, not especially visible but readily available
Outplacement services
•These are individualized services intended to assist the person in preparing a resume, initiating
a job search and securing future employment
often extended as part of the severance arrangement made with a manager or professional
employee
survivors
•Employees that remain must not only keep an organization running but also pick up the slack
created by the loss of those who were discharged
commonly feel overworked, if not overwhelmed
overall decrease in morale, productivity and employee loyalty
Skilled technical and professional employees
