WHAT IS INDUCTION?
Induction is the first act of introducing a new employee to an organisation. Its purpose is to help new recruits to become part of the organisational structure by introducing them to their jobs and their working environment.
WHAT METHODS MAY BE USED?
Visits to different departments in the organisation.
Lectures and talks by Senior Management.
Videos/films about the organisation's activities.
Staff handbooks.
Introductions to colleagues and supervisors.
WHAT MAY BE THE CONTENT OF AN INDUCTION PROGRAMME?
The organisation's rules and policies.
The organisational structure.
Health and Safety measures.
The organisation's services or products.
TRAINING
People are an employer's most important resource and so it is in the interests of an organisation to try to develop the skills and knowledge of its employees. In recent years employers have recognised the increasing importance of effective training programmes for their workforce.
POSSIBLE BENEFITS OF TRAINING
An employer will use training and education to:
Help introduce a new process or new equipment.
Improve efficiency and performance.
Train unskilled workers to avoid a labour shortage.
Reduce the supervision needed.
Provide greater chances for internal promotion.
Improve morale.
An employee may benefit from training by:
Increasing their pay.
Obtaining promotion.
Reducing the chance of accidents.
POSSIBLE DRAWBACKS TO TRAINING
Training is costly.
Other organisations may 'poach' employees who have been trained.
Training may not be appropriate or geared to the ability of the employee.
A good career structure is needed to encourage and retain employees.
WHAT TYPES OF TRAINING
ON THE JOB TRAINING
Demonstration or instruction by another skilled worker.
Job rotation, where employees change jobs frequently.
OFF THE JOB TRAINING
Lectures/talks.
Examination courses - day release or evening work.
Role Play situations.
Youth Training Programme.
Training Agencies - day release or longer courses.
Enterprise Ulster - training and employment for short periods forthe unemployed.
Open learning/distance learning where the employee is guided by a tutor and specially prepared materials and they work at their own pace.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRAINING?
The Personnel Department in association with other departments in the organisation where the employees are currently working.
TRAINING GRANTS
The Government may offer incentives to employers in the form of training grants.
REDUNDANCY & DISMISSAL
REDUNDANCY
This is where the business needs to reduce the workforce. Workers can be made redundant for several reasons:
New developments in technology may replace a worker (e.g. robotics).
Labour costs may have increased and caused the business to reduce the workforce.
A merger between two firms may mean that there are duplicate jobs (e.g. two sales managers).
The firm may move to another part of the country, and the worker may be unable to move with them.
Output may have fallen and a smaller number of workers are required.
Most firms try to avoid compulsory redundancy by the following methods:
Natural wastage - where workers leaving through retirement etc. are not replaced.
Redeployment - where workers are given a different job to replace the job which is not needed. This may involve retraining of the worker.
Early retirement - where an employee is encouraged to retire early and receives the same benefits as at retirement age.
Voluntary redundancy - where an employee agrees to be made redundant, even though they are not first in line. They may have another job to go to which they prefer.
DISMISSAL
A business may dismiss an employee who is
Not working to an acceptable standard.
Guilty of unsatisfactory conduct.
Found to have given false information on their application form.
Incapable of being employed because of a change in circumstances (e.g. a sales representative who has lost his driving licence).
EMPLOYEE PROTECTION ACT 1978
This Government Act specifies the minimum periods of notice and scale of redundancy payments.
An employee can claim unfair dismissal and have the case looked into by the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) (N. Ireland) or the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).
Employees have claimed for unfair dismissal in the past for the following
They refused to join a trade union.
They were pregnant.
