HR Consultant’s Report On Recruitment Methods And Factors Affecting Employee Performance In Small To Medium Enterprises

Recruiting methods

Senerio ; the right people help businesses to flourish .making a wrong hire costs money ,it can be difficult and the time consuming and having the wrong on board can disrupt the status quo for the other employee (CIPD,2014) therefore the manager need to be aware of the various recruitment methods that are appropriate for their business in addition to this managers needs to be aware of the factors that influence employee performance

As an HR Consultant ,you are asked to write a report to owners /managers of growing businesses with about 50 -60 employee (small to medium enterprises SMEs)

(1)Define the terms recruitment and selection and employee performance your definition should include relevant theoretical references.

(2) Critically discuss the appropriateness of using internal and external methods when recruiting staff.

(3) Identify and analyse the way in which the following TWO FACTORS can influence employee performance the key factors are ;

(a) Training and development

(b) Communication

(c) Reward distribution

(d) Perceptions of fairness

(e) Setting performance objectives

(4) Conclusion and recommendation conclusion should include a summary of the key discussion.

An organization is made of the employees who work in it. Though product, services and strategies play a pivotal role in an organization’s development, the people who implement them are the crux. It is hence, not an exaggeration when one says that the progress of an organization is heavily dependent on the people who work for it. This simple truth has made Human Resource development a primal need in any organizations development. The HR team who work under this department are responsible for selection, recruitment and growth on the employees. They are responsible to choose employees who can value the vision and mission of the organization and work with the organization to achieve their professional goals and organizational goals.

Recruitment can be defined as the process of attracting potential candidates by announcing vacancies through various media and simulating them to apply for the same (Breaugh, 2014). Selection on the other hand can be termed as picking the right employees for the list of applicants or weeding out of unsuitable candidates (Hensvik, 2013). However, an employee selected my look as the right candidate on paper but may not be good in the actual working setup. Or there are situations when employee’s goals are not in line with the organizational goals. To avoid such cases employee performance is evaluated every cycle. Employee performance can be defined as a system that has inputs such as the employee knowledge and competencies, throughputs such as work behavior and work effort and outputs that is expected from the employee (Shields, 2015).

Internal Recruitment

Say a senior position in a company as become vacant. This post has to be filled up by selecting the appropriate candidate for the post. In such cases, the HR department can take up two approaches. The first is to announce the vacancy within the organization, while the second is to announce the same outside the organization. In simple terms these methods are called as internal recruitment and external recruitment respectively (Williams, 2013).

Internal recruitment is the process of looking within the organization to find the appropriate employee who can take up the responsibility of the vacant position. This method is usually used when there are considerable number of the employees below the vacant position. There are several ways the same can happen (DeVaro, 2013).

Promotion: This is the most common way of filling up a senior position in any company. All the employees under this position are filtered using certain norms such the experience, knowledge, relevance to the position, leadership skills, so on and the appropriate candidate is selected. This is the most awaited need of an employee as a promotion means that the efforts of the employees are being recognized. The common issue with promotions is that the chances of office politics is high. In some cases the chances of envy and jealousy may be high when too many people are eligible for the same position. The promotion process has to be performed in an unbiased and clear manner to make sure that the right candidate is selected.

Transfer: One other way to fill up a position is by transferring an employee in the same position as the vacant one from a different department or project to the current available position. Say a project has two project managers. The HR can decide to scale down the number of project managers and move them to new projects instead of recruiting new managers. Though this method is efficient the person being transferred may not have sufficient knowledge in the new work area (Ye, 2016).

Need base selection: In this method the organization would announce the vacancy to all the employees through email flashes, bulletin boards, fliers etc., with a minimum qualification clause. All the employee who fulfill the minimum qualification can apply for the vacancy and the appropriate one would be selected. This is one of the best method of selection as all the employees are given equal opportunity

1. The cost of recruitment is very low
2. The time required for recruitment is low
3. People are already familiar with the business model and the processes in the organization
4. Little or no training is required
5. Recognizes employees efforts and hence is a motivating factor
6. Minimum background checks

1. High chances of politics
2. Dissatisfied employees may resign
3. Chances of getting new innovative ideas into the organization is zeroed.
4. In case of promotions, the candidate selected may not be eligible

This process of recruitment opens the doors of the organization to invite new innovative talent into the company. Many organizations use this form of recruitment as it provides a wider base of eligible candidates and is majorly used for higher positions in the organization (Hesselgreaves, 2016)

Advertisement: This is the most common form of recruitment. Vacancies are announced social media, recruitment sites, newspapers, bill board’s and so on inviting candidates who fulfill minimum qualification. This attracts huge number of candidates and would take a longer period of time. The selection process would contain several levels to eliminate unsuitable candidates

References: In this method, the employees working for the organization can recommend candidates for the position. Since the employee is aware of the work environment and the candidate, the chances of getting suitable to candidates is high. However, appropriate references may not be received for challenging positions (Ã…Å¡lusarczyk, 2014).

Campus Recruitment: Majorly followed in case of lower position recruitment. In this method the organization would provide employment offers to student from various universities and colleges. The candidates would have no experience, however, highly motivated and enthusiastic candidates can be selected.

External Recruitment

Third party recruitment: In cases of positions where the need to understand the organization is not high, third party vendors can be used. Head hunters on the other hand are used to select candidates with specific traits. In both cases, the candidate may not be in line with the organizations vision (Fox, 2015)

1. Larger pool of candidates is available for recruitment
2. An outsider would have a new perspective of work and hence bring in new ideas
3. Previous experience can be integrated and used for the growth of the organization (Yuan, 2012)
4. Branding of the company increases

1. Time consuming
2. High Cost
3. Candidates may not be able to adopt to the work culture
4. Existing employees of the organization may resist change and hence may not co-operate (Jamil, 2013)
5. Demoralizes existing employees
6. Getting the right profile can be challenging

Recruitment and selection are only the starting steps of human resource. It is not necessary that every candidate selected fits perfectly in the organization. No matter what the method of recruitment is, the actually performance of the candidate on field can vary drastically to what is seen in the recruitment process. To ensure that candidates work at their maximum potential and work for the growth of the organization, employee performance evaluation is key. However, before evaluating an employee it is crucial for the organization to make sure that the employee is being provided with all the key inputs required to perform well (Bakker, 2012). Below mention are such two factors that highly influence the performance of an employee

Learning is a continuous process. Especially in a business that changes continuously adapting new and innovative methods. Any employee that joined an organization would want to make sure that his professional development is ensured. No one would work for somebody who is self-centered. These two key points makes training and development an important factor in an employee’s performance.  Training and development is the means to learn new methods and technologies, there by developing the knowledge base and skills of an employee which are then used in the work being done by the employee. This method is one way that effects the growth of the employee as well as the organization (Salas, 2012).

Almost all major organizations around the world have a training and development wing the work to ensure that the employees of the organization gain all the tools required to perform a job. The need to have an employee base with updated skill set will allow the organization provide best services to its clients. There are several Training and development method adopted in any organization. Classroom sessions may be conducted to help employees learn a new technology (Torraco, 2013). E-Libraries, providing journal articles etc., and working in focus groups may also be adopted. Some organizations conduct seminars inviting SME to speak on a particular topic or workshops are conducted for the same. The most common method is on job training, where one can shadow and learn on the field.

Factors that influence Employee Performance

Training and development ensures that the employees learn more and develop skills and enhance their knowledge base, thereby ensuring a sense of job satisfaction and professional development which would in turn effect employee performance positively.

Working without an objective would be like riding a bike blind folded. Say one is asked to run a race and a goal has not been given, how long would one run? It can be frustrating in working in such environments. And if one is evaluated based on a parameter they dint know, no one would not be satisfied with the evaluation. Performance objectives can hence be defined as a list of things to finish within certain set limits and the final work is evaluated on set parameters.

Performance objectives help in setting the tone for the entire period of work. It helps an employee understand what is expected of them, the time frame within which the expectations are to be fulfilled and how these expectations are evaluated. Many firms engage the employees in a one-on-one session with the person evaluating the employee. The evaluators are usually managers with whom the employees would have to work (Certo, 2015). At the beginning of a work cycle the evaluator and the employee discuss on what needs to be done by the employee. A mutually agreed set of objectives are drawn for the employee to fulfill. These objectives act as guide to the employee helping him align his work. The employee himself would be able to evaluate how well he has performed. This would be a motivating factor in helping him work harder. The employee need not guess what is expected of him but would rather be able to a focus on the set objectives (Bernardin, 2013).  

Performance objectives set perspective of an employee and provide their managers with a guideline of what to expect from the employee there by making evaluation of an employee’s performance easier

Conclusion

Every organization is made up of employee. It is the people that work for an organization who determine how the organizations various aspects would be implemented. Hence it is crucial for the organization to select the right set of candidates who are not only skilled but also are in line with the organizations values, goals, mission and vision. To ensure that the right candidates are selected, human resource department perform recruitment and selection process where vacancies are announced and the right set of candidates from the available pool are selected. Post recruitment the performance of every employee would have to be evaluated to make sure that the productivity is high. Before evaluation it is important that the organization provides all the factors that are needed for an employee to perform well. Two such factors are training and development helping the employee to grow professionally and setting performance objectives that make sure that the employee knows what needs to be done. Though seen as simple factors both the above can be highly motivating thereby helping both the employee and the organization progress

References

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Bernardin, H.J. and Wiatrowski, M., 2013. Performance appraisal. Psychology and Policing, 257.

Breaugh, J., 2014, July. Employee recruitment. In Meeting the Challenge of Human Resource Management: A Communication Perspective (p. 29). Routledge.

Certo, S., 2015. Supervision: Concepts and skill-building. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

DeVaro, J. and Morita, H., 2013. Internal promotion and external recruitment: a theoretical and empirical analysis. Journal of Labor Economics, 31(2), pp.227-269.

Fox, S., 2015. An examination into the importance of recruitment and selection in a business; should it be considered an internal HR function or outsourced to a specialist? (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin, National College of Ireland).

Hensvik, L. and Skans, O.N., 2013. Social networks, employee selection and labor market outcomes: Toward an empirical analysis. Journal of Labor Economics, forthcoming.

Hesselgreaves, H., Wood, B., Carter, M., Gibbins, C. and Illing, J., 2016. Factors affecting recruitment to higher specialty training: a questionnaire study. Future Hospital Journal, 3(Suppl 2), pp.s42-s42.

Jamil, R. and Naeem, H., 2013. The impact of outsourcing external recruitment process on the employee commitment and loyalty: empirical evidence from the telecommunication sector of Pakistan. Journal of Business and Management, 8(2), pp.68-75.

Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S.I., Kraiger, K. and Smith-Jentsch, K.A., 2012. The science of training and development in organizations: What matters in practice. Psychological science in the public interest, 13(2), pp.74-101.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R., Robinson, J., O’Leary, P. and Plimmer, G., 2015. Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press.

Ã…Å¡lusarczyk, B. and Golnik, R., 2014. The recruitment process in transnational corporations. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 10.

Torraco, R.J., 2016. Early history of the fields of practice of training and development and organization development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, p.1523422316659898.

Williams, T., 2013. Internal Versus External Recruitment-Which is Best?.

Ye, M., de Salas, K. and Ollington, N., 2016. Internal versus external recruitment the story of three consecutive project managers in an IT project. arXiv preprint arXiv:1606.00878.

Yuan, Y.K.T., 2012. Internal Promotion or External Recruitment: The President Recruitment Model in Top Asian Universitie [J]. Tsinghua Journal of Education, 1, p.008.