Video summary

As Level | Unit 2 Chapter 10 Human Resource Management | Business with Saifullah

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main Ideas / Lessons (Human Resource Management – HRM)

HRM Definition & Purpose

  • Human Resource Management (HRM) is a strategic approach to effectively managing an organization’s workers so they help the business gain a competitive advantage.
  • HRM is essentially the function of the HR department, focused on managing and supporting employees across the organization.

Core Roles / Functions of HRM

HRM roles/functions (also called “functions of HRM”) include:

  1. Workforce planning
  2. Recruitment and selection
  3. Developing employees (e.g., training)
  4. Employment contracts
  5. Ensuring HRM operates across the business (keeping employees motivated, guided, and productive)
  6. Employee morale and welfare (monitoring performance, improving it, incentive systems)
  7. Providing proper systems (IT systems, payment systems, etc.)
  8. Monitoring performance (measuring and monitoring employee performance)

Detailed Methodology / Processes and Key Instructions

1) Workforce Planning (process + reasoning)

Definition

Workforce planning = analyzing and forecasting the number of workers and the skills required to meet organizational objectives.

How workforce planning is done

  1. Begin with a workforce audit:
    • Check existing employees’ skills/qualifications
    • Check current number of employees
  2. Forecast needs:
    • Determine how many additional workers are required
    • Determine what skills those additional workers must have
    • Link staffing needs directly to business objectives

Example logic (as described)

If you have 200 employees and you need an additional 300, you:

  • assess the skills/qualifications of the existing 200, then
  • identify which positions the additional 300 should fill.

Reasons used to determine required employee numbers

  • Demand forecast (increasing sales/product needs → more staff)
  • Productivity level
    • Low productivity → may require more employees to raise output/productivity
  • Business objectives
    • Example: maximizing sales → hire staff who can sell effectively and produce needed output
  • Changes in working rights / labor economics
    • If labor is cheaper (average salary decreases) → hiring may increase
  • Labor turnover and absenteeism
    • Labor turnover = employees leaving the organization
    • Absenteeism rate = employees taking leave; may require more staff coverage

Labor turnover measurement (formula stated)

[ (\text{Employees leaving annually on average} \div \text{Average number of employees}) \times 100 ]

Example (as described):

  • Average employees = 100
  • Employees leaving yearly (on average) = 30
  • Labor turnover rate = 30% per year

Impacts of high labor turnover

  • Costs / negative effects
    • Higher recruitment & selection costs
    • Higher training costs
    • Poorer output and worse customer service
    • Difficulty maintaining team spirit
  • Potential benefits
    • Low-skilled/less productive workers may leave on their own
    • New ideas/practices may enter through new hires
    • Can support rationalization plans (less need to fire because people leave naturally)

Skills determination factors

  • Pace of technological change
    • Fast change → need highly skilled, flexible, multi-skilled staff
  • Avoiding excessive specialization
    • In dynamic environments, specialization may be impossible; employees may need capability across multiple products/tasks

2) Recruitment and Selection (stages + internal vs external)

Definitions

  • Recruitment = identifying candidates (from vacancy to application stage, generally).
  • Selection = choosing the best candidate from those recruited.

Job definition documents

  • Job description: detailed list of key tasks and responsibilities
  • Person specification: qualities, skills, and qualifications required

Recruitment & Selection stages (as presented)

  1. Establish the nature of the job
    • Create job description
  2. Draw up person specification
    • Define required qualities/skills/qualifications
  3. Prepare job advertisement
    • Recruitment can be internal or external
  4. Shortlist applicants
    • Review CVs for suitability
  5. Select between candidates
    • Use steps such as:
      • interviews
      • references
      • testing
      • assessment centers (practical tasks/assessment criteria)

Internal recruitment (benefits listed)

  • Applicants may already be known to the organization
  • Organization knows internal performance
  • Less need for training or introduction (employees already know business methods)
  • Faster than external recruitment

External recruitment (benefits listed)

  • Brings new ideas and practices (especially from other organizations)
  • Wider choice of applicants (not limited to internal staff)

Internal recruitment (drawbacks mentioned)

  • Risk of resentment/demotivation among employees not promoted
    • Example: one promotion may make others feel unrecognized

When recruitment/selection is necessary (reasons stated)

  • Business expansion (need more employees)
  • High labor turnover (need repeated hiring)

3) Employment Contracts (contents + part-time vs full-time)

Definition

An employment contract is a legal document stating the terms and conditions of a worker’s job.

Typical contents listed

  • Type of work/tasks
  • Whether work is permanent or temporary
  • Working hours and flexibility (part-time/full-time)
  • Work schedule details (full time vs part time)
  • Payment system and entitlements
  • Holiday entitlement
  • Notice period before leaving (how many days in advance)

Types of contracts described

  • Part-time contract
    • Work 40 hours or less per week
  • Full-time contract
    • Work more than 40 hours, typically around 40 hours, and sometimes overtime up to ~45–50 hours/week

4) Redundancy and Dismissal (unfair dismissal + redundancy)

Dismissal definition (as given)

Dismissal = removal from job due to incommitment/inadequacy and breach of discipline.

Unfair dismissal

Firing a worker without fair/just reason, including discrimination under the law.

Example discrimination (as described):

  • Based on religion/community (e.g., not belonging to a certain group → being fired)
  • Historical example mentioned: racial discrimination in the US after World War II (Black vs White employment outcomes)

Redundancy definition

Redundancy occurs when the employee is no longer needed through no fault of their own, because:

  • the job is no longer available, or
  • the organization/business situation changes (e.g., business closes down → guard not needed)

HR role

HR looks after redundancies and dismissals.

5) Staff Morale and Welfare (appraisal + work-life balance)

HR responsibility

HR motivates employees and improves morale/welfare to help achieve organizational objectives.

Employee appraisal method (as described)

  • HR assesses performance and assigns a grade such as A, B, C, or D (with A implied as best).
  • Rewards depend on category:
    • A grade: bonus (example: double bonus)
    • B grade: larger bonus (example: bonus equal to salary amount)
    • C grade: smaller increment/bonus

Work-life balance

  • HR should ensure employees are not overloaded so they still have personal time outside work.
  • Context mentioned:
    • Example claim: work-life balance is emphasized in countries like US/Canada
    • In Pakistan, it’s said to be less emphasized

Ways work-life balance is achieved

  • Flexible working
    • Example: changing working/class hours based on schedule needs
  • Teleworking
    • Working from home
  • Job sharing
    • Two people share one full-time position on a part-time basis, each paid a proportion of full-time pay

Equality and diversity policies (HR welfare practices)

  • Equality policy
    • Used when workforce is more “equal”/similar
    • Example: leave for Eid only for Muslim-majority; Christmas for others where applicable
  • Diversity policy
    • Used when workforce is diverse
    • Example: give leave on employees’ relevant festivals so coverage continues fairly
    • Example described: Muslims take Eid off while Hindus work on that day, and vice versa on Diwali

6) Training (types + costs/risks)

Definition

Training = developing employees’ skills to increase workforce effectiveness and efficiency.

Three types of training

  1. Induction training
    • Introductory training when an employee joins; explains organization practices
  2. On-the-job training
    • Senior teaches/attaches and trains during normal work
  3. Off-the-job training
    • Training away from normal work at a specific place

Disadvantages/expenses and risks mentioned

  • Training can be expensive
  • Trained employees may leave for better opportunities (company invests, but employee may move)

Why not training can be worse

  • Lower productivity due to lack of skills
  • Business becomes less flexible
  • Higher chance of accidents (if employees don’t know how to operate machines)
  • Employees may become bored/demotivated without development

7) Management–Workforce Relations + Trade Unions + Collective Bargaining

HR role

  • Maintain the relationship between management and the workforce.
  • If cooperation exists:
    • fewer strikes/industrial actions
    • easier introduction of change (e.g., automation)
    • better recognition of workforce contributions through rewards/pay/benefits
  • If conflict exists:
    • trade unions may form

Trade unions

Workers join trade unions to protect workers’ rights.

Reasons workers join trade unions (listed)

  1. Power through solidarity
    • Collective bargaining strength: individual demands may be ignored, but union-backed demands are harder to dismiss
  2. Support for individual cases
    • Union supports workers facing unfair treatment or legal/case needs
  3. Legal support and employer pressure
    • Unions push employers to meet legal requirements and labor/safety rules

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining = negotiation between business and trade union.

Benefits listed:

  • Employer negotiates mainly with union representatives, not individually with all workers
  • Union officials act as a communication channel to workers
  • Union discipline can reduce disorderly industrial actions
  • Employer learns from disputes/union pressure and improves practices

Industrial actions described

If negotiations fail, unions may:

  • work to rule (do only duties specified in employment contract)
  • ban overtime
  • strike activities (generally described)

Employers may respond by:

  • negotiating first
  • using PR/media/government contacts
  • threatening redundancy
  • offering contract changes requiring acceptance/resignation
  • using lock-out
    • employer closes/locks workplace; workers return later when lock is lifted

Speakers / Sources Featured

  • Speaker: “Business with Saifullah” (presenter/teacher; Saifullah mentioned in the video title)

Original video