HR review

CH- 1"Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage"

1. Introduction to Human Resource Management (HRM)
Definition and Importance: Human resources, in the form of human capital (employees' skills,
experience, etc.), are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable. HRM involves policies,
practices, and systems that influence employees' behavior, attitudes, and performance.
HR Department Responsibilities: Functions include analysis and design of work, recruitment and
selection, training and development, performance management, compensation and benefits,
employee relations, data and information systems, legal compliance, and support for business
strategy.
HR as a Business with 3 Product Lines: Human Relations, Administrative Services and
Transactions (Traditional function), Business Partner Services (New HR function), and Strategic
Partner (New HR function).
2. Strategic Role of the HRM Function
Changing Roles: Time spent on administrative tasks is decreasing, while strategic roles are
increasing. The shared service model helps control costs and improve HR relevance.
Challenges and Competencies: Challenges include self-service and outsourcing. HR managers
need nine competencies, such as HR technical expertise, business acumen, and ethical practice.
3. Competitive Challenges Influencing HRM
Sustainability: Meeting various stakeholder needs, including shareholders, employees, and the
community, while adapting to a dynamic environment and emphasizing intangible assets like
human capital.
Globalization: U.S. businesses must develop global markets, improve global competitiveness, and
prepare employees for global assignments.
Technology: Social networking, artificial intelligence, robotics, and high-performance work
systems impact HRM.
4. HRM Practices to Meet Competitive Challenges
Dimensions of HRM Practices: Managing the HR environment, acquiring and preparing HR,
assessing and developing HR, and compensating HR.
Meeting Challenges: HR helps companies deal with sustainability, globalization, and technology
challenges and should be evidence-based.
5. Conclusion
HR plays a crucial role in organizations by managing various functions and adapting to different
challenges. It has multiple product lines and requires managers with specific skills and
competencies to contribute effectively to the company's success.

CH-2 "Strategic Human Resource Management"

1. Trends in Human Resources Management
Labor Force Changes: Aging workforce, rising healthcare costs, and a more diverse workforce
in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender. Immigration affects the workforce, with diverse teams
important for innovation. Skill deficiencies exist as the economy shifts, and employees now
need to be more customer-focused and creative.
 High-Performance Work Systems: These systems aim for the best fit between social and
technical systems. Knowledge workers contribute specialized knowledge. Empowerment gives
employees decision-making authority, and teamwork involves groups with different skills
working together.
Other Trends: HR focuses on strategy, including cost reduction through downsizing,
outsourcing, and reengineering. Technology change allows for better data management and
self-service for employees. The employment relationship has changed, with a focus on
psychological contracts, flexible work schedules, and staffing levels.
2. Strategic Human Resources Management
Introduction: The goal of strategic management is to gain a competitive advantage by
deploying resources. HRM must be involved in the strategic management process, and a
business model determines how a firm creates value.
Business Model Accounting Concepts: Fixed costs are incurred regardless of production,
variable costs change with production, margins contribute to covering fixed costs, and gross
margin is the total margin.
Strategic Management Process:
Strategy Formulation: Involves mission (organization's purpose), goals (medium- to long-
term objectives), external analysis (identifying opportunities and threats like new markets
and competitors), and internal analysis (assessing strengths and weaknesses in resources).

Strategy Implementation: Variables include organizational structure, task design, people

selection and development, and reward systems. HRM must ensure alignment with the
strategic plan through recruitment, training, and performance management.
Linkages between Strategic Planning and HRM: Administrative linkage focuses on daily HR
activities. One-way linkage has the strategic plan inform HRM but doesn't consider HR during
formulation. Two-way linkage allows for HR consideration in both formulation and
implementation. Integrative linkage builds HRM into the entire process.
HRM Practice Options: Job analysis/design, training/development, labor-employee relations,
recruitment/selection, pay structure/incentives/benefits, and performance management are all
important. Pay can attract and retain employees and tie to performance. Labor relations involve
decisions about employee treatment.
Directional Strategies:
Concentration: Focuses on increasing market share or creating a niche.
Internal Growth: Focuses on new market and product development.
External Growth: Focuses on acquisitions.
Downsizings: Planned elimination of personnel, with challenges in maintaining employee
morale.
Mergers & Acquisitions: HR must be involved.
Emergent Strategies: Evolve from the organization's grassroots and require effective
communication facilitated by HRM.
3. Conclusion and Discussion
 HR is a crucial asset and cost in the business model. HR professionals need various
competencies. HRM impacts strategic plan implementation by aligning practices to ensure a
motivated and skilled workforce. After COVID-19, the labor environment has changed, and
organizations must adapt to challenges such as remote work, new health and safety
requirements, and changes in employee needs and expectations. This may involve flexible work
arrangements, upskilling/reskilling, and focusing on employee well-being.

CH-4 "The Analysis and Design of Work"

1. Introduction to Analyzing Work and Designing Jobs
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to designing jobs and structuring organizations. A
proper fit between environment, strategy, philosophy, jobs, and organizational design is crucial
for competitiveness. Job analysis focuses on understanding existing jobs for various HR
decisions, while job design aims to make jobs more efficient or motivating.
2. Job Analysis
Job analysis is the process of gathering detailed job information. It includes creating a job
description (listing tasks, duties, and responsibilities) and a job specification (identifying the
knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics required). This information is essential for
multiple HR functions like work design, planning, selection, training, and performance
appraisal.
3. Job Design
Job design defines how work is performed and tasks are assigned. Outcomes include
designing efficient jobs (using industrial engineering) and motivating jobs. Motivational factors
involve the job characteristics model (skills variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy,
feedback), along with concepts like job enlargement, extension, rotation, and enrichment. Self-
managing work teams and flexible work schedules (flextime, job sharing, compressed work,
telework) are also part of job design.
4. Work-Flow Design and Organization Structure
Work-flow design analyzes tasks for product or service production before task assignment. It
involves understanding work output, input (raw materials, equipment, human skills), and
processes (operating procedures). Organization structure is the formal network of job
interconnections. Centralization and departmentalization are two key dimensions. Functional
structures are centralized and efficient but less flexible, while divisional structures are
decentralized, semi-autonomous, and more adaptable.
5. Importance and Methods of Job Analysis
Job analysis is vital for line managers to understand work-flow, make hiring decisions, and
know job requirements. The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) and Occupational
Information Network (O_NET) are two recognized methods. PAQ has sections on information
input, mental processes, work output, relationships, job context, and other characteristics.
O_NET uses a common language to describe occupations more broadly.
6. Dynamic Elements and Approaches to Job Design
Job redesign changes existing job tasks or work methods. Four job design approaches exist:
Mechanistic: Focuses on specialization, which can reduce training time and errors but may
lead to lower job satisfaction.
Motivational: Based on organizational psychology, it can increase job satisfaction and
motivation but may require more training.
 Biological: Rooted in biomechanics and ergonomics, it aims to reduce physical demands,
leading to less fatigue and higher satisfaction but may involve higher costs.
Perceptual-Motor: Focuses on human mental capabilities to reduce errors and stress but
may result in lower job satisfaction.
7. Conclusion
Job analysis and design are critical for competitive advantage. Managers need to understand
the work-flow process for efficiency and have detailed job information. By redesigning jobs
effectively, work units can achieve goals while individuals benefit in terms of motivation,
satisfaction, safety, health, and achievement.

CH-5 "Human Resource Planning and Recruitment"

1. Human Resource Planning Process
Forecasting: Involves predicting labor demand (derived from product/service demands)
and supply (affected by internal movements like transfers, promotions, turnover). Leading
indicators help predict future labor demand. Comparing forecasts determines labor surplus
or shortage.
Options for Surplus and Shortage:
Surplus: Downsizing (fast but with high human suffering), pay reductions, demotions,
transfers, work sharing, hiring freeze, natural attrition, early retirement, and retraining
(slower with lower human suffering). Downsizing may disrupt social networks and harm
long-term performance. Early retirement programs are used due to an aging workforce
but may be less viable now.
Shortage: Overtime, temporary employees, outsourcing, retrained transfers, turnover
reductions, new external hires, and technological innovation. Overtime and temporary
employees are fast but less revocable.
2. Recruitment
Definition and Process: Recruitment aims to identify and attract potential employees. The
process involves vacancy characteristics, applicant characteristics, recruiter traits and
behaviors, and recruitment sources.
Personnel Policies: Affect vacancy nature and recruitment. Policies include internal vs.
external recruiting, extrinsic vs. intrinsic rewards, employment-at-will, due process, and
image advertising.
Recruitment Sources:
Internal: Advantages include known applicants, realistic job expectations, and lower
cost. External sources are used when no internal candidates or new ideas are needed.
External: Direct applicants, referrals (cost-effective but may seem unfair), advertising
(online/offline, trade publications), employment agencies (public for blue-collar, private
for white-collar), and colleges/universities (good for entry-level).
3. Recruiters' Role
Recruiters influence applicants' job perceptions. Their traits like realism impact the
recruitment process.
4. Conclusion
 HR planning forecasts labor supply and demand to handle shortages and surpluses.
Recruitment creates an applicant pool. In the UK, Brexit has shown the importance of
effective HR planning as job losses occurred due to trade border changes. HR in the UK
faces challenges like anticipating and addressing labor market disruptions, attracting and
retaining talent in a changing economic environment, and dealing with the relocation of
businesses and its impact on the workforce.

CH-6 "Selection and Placement"

1. Introduction
Organizations must be cautious in employee selection as it impacts competitiveness
and applicants' lives. Decisions should be in the company's and all parties' best
interests.
2. Selection Method Standards
Reliability: Degree to which a measure is free from random error, measured by
correlation coefficient. Test-retest reliability assesses score consistency over time.
Validity: Extent to which a performance measure assesses relevant job performance.
Types include criterion-related (predictive and concurrent) and content validation.
Generalizability: Degree to which selection method validity extends to other contexts.
Utility: Degree to which selection method information enhances personnel selection
effectiveness, affected by reliability, validity, and generalizability.
Legality: Selection methods must adhere to laws. Laws like Civil Rights Act, Age
Discrimination in Employment Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act are the basis for
many applicant suits.
3. Types of Selection Methods
Interviews: Should be structured, standardized, goal-oriented, and allow for
quantitative rating. Situational interviews confront applicants with job-related issues.
References, Application Blanks, and Background Checks: Reference checks are
weak predictors, but background information is useful.
Physical Ability Tests: Measure muscular, flexibility, balance, and endurance if
essential for the job.
Cognitive Ability Tests: Assess verbal comprehension, quantitative ability, and
reasoning ability but may have adverse impact on some groups.
Personality Inventories: The "Big Five" dimensions (Extroversion, Adjustment,
Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to experience) are used.
Work-Sample Tests: Simulate the job to observe applicant performance; assessment
centers use multiple raters.
Honesty Tests: Polygraph tests are restricted; paper-and-pencil tests assess theft
likelihood.
Drug Tests: Should be systematic, valid, and reliable, with results reported and an
appeal process.
4. Summary and Career Guide
 Decisions on job acceptance or rejection affect applicants and organizations. Selection
methods should meet reliability, validity, generalizability, utility, and legality standards.
Managerial assessment centers use multiple tests for better validity. The career guide
provides tips on interview questions (e.g., "How Would You Describe Yourself?") and
creating a professional CV, including format, contact information, summary, education,
work history, and skills.

CH-7 "Training"
1. Introduction to Training in Business Context
Training must contribute to a company's business strategy to justify its existence. It
helps employees develop job-related skills, which is crucial for business success.
2. Aspects and Types of Training
Continuous & High-Leverage Training: Continuous learning involves employees
understanding work processes, acquiring and applying new skills, and sharing
knowledge. High-leverage training is linked to strategic goals, supported by top
management, follows an instructional design model, and is benchmarked against
other organizations.
Formal and Informal Training: Formal training is instructor-led (face-to-face or
online), while informal training is learner-initiated, occurs outside formal settings,
and can include social media learning. Informal learning can account for a
significant portion of learning within organizations.
Knowledge Management: Involves enhancing company performance through
tools and processes that improve the creation, sharing, and use of knowledge. Tacit
knowledge is personal and hard to codify, while explicit knowledge is easily
documented and transferred.
3. The Training Process and Strategic Initiatives
ADDIE Model and Six-Step Training Process: The ADDIE model includes Analysis,
Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The six-step process
consists of needs assessment (organizational, person, and task analysis), ensuring
employee readiness, creating a learning environment, ensuring transfer of training,
selecting training methods, and evaluating training programs.
Needs Assessment: Organizational analysis considers business strategy,
resources, and management support. Person analysis identifies who needs training
and their readiness. Task analysis determines important tasks and skills for training.
Strategic Training Initiatives: Training should support business strategies like
improving customer service (product knowledge, customer interaction skills),
employee engagement (development opportunities), innovation and creativity
(capturing and sharing knowledge), and growth in global markets (preparing
managers, cross-cultural training).
4. Training Readiness and Transfer
Readiness for Training: Depends on employee motivation, self-efficacy, awareness
of needs, work environment, and basic skills (reading/writing, cognitive abilities).
 Transfer of Training: Requires trainees to understand the learning purpose, have
meaningful content, practice opportunities, feedback, and a conducive work
environment (opportunity to use skills, technological support, manager and peer
support, self-management skills).
5. Training Methods and Evaluation
Training Methods: Presentation methods (classroom instruction, teleconferencing,
audiovisual training) convey theoretical knowledge. Hands-on methods (on-the-job
training, apprenticeships, simulations) teach technical skills. Group-building
methods (experiential learning, adventure learning, team training) focus on team
performance.
Evaluation of Training Programs: Outcomes can be cognitive, skill-based,
affective, results-oriented, or related to return on investment. Evaluation designs
include posttest only, pretest/posttest, with or without comparison groups, and time
series.
6. Conclusion
Training is a vital part of an organization's success. By following a structured
process, considering strategic initiatives, ensuring employee readiness and
transfer, choosing appropriate methods, and evaluating effectively, companies can
develop a workforce that meets business needs and stays competitive.

CH-8 "Performance Management"

1. Introduction to Performance Management
Performance management ensures employees' activities align with
organizational goals. It involves defining, measuring, and providing feedback on
performance. Performance appraisal is one method, and effective appraisal ties
employee goals to company strategy and uses the same standards for similar
jobs.
2. Effective Performance Management Process
The process includes defining company, division, and department performance
outcomes, developing employee goals and actions, providing support and
ongoing discussions, evaluating performance, identifying improvements, and
providing consequences. Employee skills, behaviors, and work group norms all
impact performance.
3. Purposes and Criteria of Performance Management
Purposes: Strategic (aligning performance with company goals), administrative
(decisions like pay and promotions), and developmental (employee growth).
Criteria: Congruence (with strategy), validity (measuring relevant aspects),
reliability (consistency), acceptability (perceived fairness), and specificity (clear
expectations).
4. Approaches to Measuring Performance
Comparative Approach: Ranking (simple, alternation), forced distribution, and
paired comparison. Easy to develop but may not link to organizational goals.
Attribute Approach: Graphic rating scales and mixed-standard scales.
Generalizable but may have vague standards.
 Behavioral Approach: Focuses on defining effective job behaviors. Includes
critical incidents, behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS), behavioral
observation scales (BOS), and competency models. Based on job analysis but
requires monitoring and revision.
Results Approach: Focuses on job or work group results. Includes
management by objectives (MBO) and productivity measurement and
evaluation system (ProMES). Minimizes subjectivity but objective measures can
be affected.
Quality Approach: Incorporates company values. Focuses on improving
customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Relies on attributes and
results but companies may be reluctant to change traditional systems.
5. Sources of Performance Information
Managers are most frequently used. Peers are good when supervisors can't
observe. Subordinates are valuable for evaluating managers. Self-ratings can
be useful but not sole source. Customers can provide unique insights. The 360
technique uses multiple raters for a more comprehensive evaluation.
6. Technology in Performance Management
Web-based systems improve efficiency and access to information. Social media
provides timely feedback. Gamification makes the process engaging. Electronic
tracking and monitoring systems ensure performance.
7. Effective Performance Feedback and Analyzing Poor Performance
Feedback should be frequent, in the right context, involve employee
participation, focus on behavior/results, and lead to goal-setting. Analyzing
poor performance considers input (job understanding, resources), employee
characteristics (skills, knowledge), feedback (quality), performance standards/
goals, and consequences (rewards, incentives).

CH-9 "Employee Development"

1. Training vs. Development
Training focuses on current job skills, is mandatory, and uses work
experience less. Development prepares for future changes, is voluntary, and
highly utilizes work experience.
2. Employee Development in the Context of Careers
Protean Career and Psychological Success: A protean career is self-
directed, aiming for psychological success (pride and accomplishment from
achieving life goals). The development planning system identifies and meets
employees' development needs for career growth.
Boundaryless and Changing Careers: Careers may be more identified
with a job or profession than an employer. Influenced by personal/family
factors, employees can change careers based on self-awareness and the
need for work-life balance and stimulation.
Career Management Process:
Self-Assessment: Employees use information (e.g., Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator, Self-Directed Search) to understand career interests, values,
aptitudes, and behavioral tendencies.
 Reality Check: Information from performance appraisal about how the
company evaluates skills and where the employee fits in company plans.
Goal Setting: Employees set short and long-term development
objectives related to position, skill application, work setting, or
acquisition, often discussed with managers and written into a
development plan.
Action Planning: A written strategy to achieve career goals.
3. Approaches to Employee Development
Formal Education: Includes off-site/on-site programs, short courses,
executive MBA, and university programs. Tuition reimbursement may be
offered.
Assessment:
Personality Tests: Measure dimensions like extroversion, adjustment.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is popular.
Assessment Centre: Exercises like leaderless group discussion,
interviews, in-baskets, role-plays.
Performance Appraisals: Evaluate job performance.
Upward Feedback: Subordinates evaluate managers.
360-Degree Feedback: Comprehensive evaluation from multiple
sources.
Job Experiences:
Stretch Assignments: Mismatch between employee skills and job
requirements.
Job Enlargement: Adding challenges/responsibilities.
Job Rotation: Series of job assignments in different functional areas.
Transfers: Assignment to a different area (may be lateral).
Promotions: Advancement with more challenges/responsibility/
authority.
Temporary Assignments: Employee exchanges, sabbaticals, etc.
Interpersonal Relationships:
Mentoring: Experienced employees help less experienced ones. Formal
programs have advantages (access for all, clear expectations) and
disadvantages (artificial relationships). Successful programs have
characteristics like voluntary participation and evaluation. Benefits
include career and psychosocial support, and reverse mentoring.
Coaching: Peers/managers help employees learn, develop skills, and
provide feedback.
4. Special Issues in Employee Development
The Glass Ceiling: A barrier to advancement for women and minorities.
 Succession Planning: Identifying and tracking high-potential employees
for higher-level managerial positions. Tools like the 9-box grid compare
employees based on performance and potential, guiding different
development plans for each category (stars, poor employees, technical
experts, etc.)

CH-10 "Employee Separation and Retention"

1. Introduction and Types of Turnover
Organizations need to manage turnover to retain good performers and
address low performers. There are two types:
Voluntary Turnover: Initiated by employees the company may want
to keep.
Involuntary Turnover: Initiated by the organization, which can lead
to workplace violence and requires a systematic approach to
discipline and discharge.
2. Managing Involuntary Turnover
Employment-at-Will Doctrine: Allows either party to end the
employment relationship without a specific contract. Wrongful
discharge suits can occur if the discharge violates an implied contract
or public policy.
Principles of Justice:
Outcome Fairness: Judging outcomes relative to others.
Procedural Justice: Focuses on the fairness of the methods used,
with determinants like consistency and bias suppression.
Interactional Justice: Concerns the interpersonal implementation
of outcomes, including explanation and empathy.
Progressive Discipline: Involves documentation and progressively
severe punitive measures. Alternative dispute resolution (open-door
policy, peer review, mediation, arbitration) can be used to handle
workplace issues. Employee assistance programs help employees with
personal problems, and outplacement counseling aids displaced
employees.
3. Managing Voluntary Turnover - Job Withdrawal
Progression of Withdrawal Theory: Dissatisfied employees may
engage in a sequence of withdrawal behaviors related to job
dissatisfaction.
Job Withdrawal Behaviors:
Behavior Change: Employees may try to change dissatisfying
conditions, e.g., through union grievances or whistle-blowing.
Physical Job Withdrawal: Includes leaving the job, internal transfer,
absenteeism, or tardiness.
Psychological Job Withdrawal: Involves low job involvement and
organizational commitment, and may lead to retaliatory actions.
 Job Satisfaction and Withdrawal: Job satisfaction depends on values,
importance, and perception. Sources of dissatisfaction include working
conditions, personal disposition, tasks, supervisors, coworkers, and pay.
Survey feedback interventions can help assess and address job
satisfaction issues.
4. Conclusion
Involuntary turnover is organization-initiated, while voluntary turnover is
employee-initiated and can be managed through surveys and
addressing problems. Organizations can gain an advantage by
strategically handling separations and minimizing retaliation.

CH-12 "Recognizing Employee Contributions with Pay"

1. Introduction to Compensation and Theories
Organizations can choose different pay methods. Pay programs
impact productivity and ROI. Theories explaining compensation
effects include:
Reinforcement Theory: Rewards for high performance increase
the likelihood of future high performance.
Expectancy Theory: Motivation depends on expectancy,
instrumentality, and valence perceptions, and includes intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation.
Agency Theory: Involves agents acting on behalf of principals.
Sorting Effect and Incentive Intensity: The sorting effect impacts
the workforce composition, and incentive intensity is the relationship
between performance and pay.
2. Types of Pay for Performance Programs
Merit Pay: Permanently increases base pay based on performance
appraisal. Has characteristics like supervisor-rated performance and
annual feedback. Critics argue it can be unfair, discourage
teamwork, and overemphasize individual performance.
Individual Incentives: Rare due to lack of physical output
measures, administrative problems, and potential misalignment with
organizational goals.
Profit Sharing: Encourages employees to think like owners but may
be seen as less controllable by workers.
Ownership: Includes stock options and ESOPs, motivating
employees to focus on organizational success.
Gain Sharing: Based on group/plant performance, sharing
productivity gains. Requires management commitment and certain
conditions for effectiveness.
Group Incentives and Team Awards: Measure group/team
performance, replacing individual competition, but may not
recognize individual differences.
3. Balanced Scorecard and Executive Pay
 Balanced Scorecard Categories: Financial, customer, internal, and
learning & growth.
Managerial and Executive Pay: Special attention is warranted. Can
be linked to organizational performance.
4. Process and Context Issues
Employee Participation: Can affect pay program success.
Communication: Important for employees to understand the pay
process.
5. Conclusion
Pay programs vary in linking pay to individual, group, or organization
performance. Effective pay strategies promote success, while poor
ones can have negative effects. The most effective strategy
depends on the organization, and employees care about pay
fairness.

CH-13 "Employee Benefits"

1. Introduction to Employee Benefits
Employee benefits account for a significant portion of payroll
costs (about 46.3% per payroll dollar and 31.6% of total
compensation). Benefits are highly regulated, often obligatory,
complex for employees to understand, and employers are
shifting some health care costs to employees.
2. Reasons for Benefits Growth
Laws passed after the Great Depression, WWII wage and price
controls, tax treatment of benefits, cost advantage of group
insurance, organized labor, and employer differentiation have all
contributed to the growth in benefits.
3. Types of Benefits Programs
Social Insurance: Includes Social Security (providing various
insurances, taxed, with eligibility ages affecting retirement
decisions) and Workers’ Compensation (covering disability
income, medical care, death benefits, and rehabilitative
services).
Private Group Insurance: Medical insurance is common,
especially in larger workplaces. Disability insurance has short-
term and long-term plans.
Retirement: Qualified retirement plans offer tax advantages for
employers and employees.
Pay for Time Not Worked: Vacation days vary (10 days common
in the U.S., 20 days minimum in Europe). Sick leave provides
salary replacement for a limited time.
Family-Friendly Policies: Family and Medical Leave Act covers
certain family and medical situations, guaranteeing job security
upon return (with some exceptions). Child care support includes
providing information, vouchers, or on-site facilities.
4. Health Care and Cost Control
The U.S. spends a large amount on health care but lags in some
health measures. Employers are shifting costs to employees.
Health Maintenance Organizations focus on preventive care and
have a prepaid model.
5. Staffing and Workforce Considerations
Staffing responses to control benefits cost growth include
having employees work more hours, classifying employees as
exempt, or as independent contractors. Assessing employee
benefits preferences is crucial and can be done through market
research methods.
6. Benefits Communication
Methods include enrollment materials, communication with
representatives, counseling, internet, direct mail, newsletters,
benefit fairs, virtual education, and social media.
7. Regulatory Constraints
Regulations prohibit discrimination in benefits based on sex,
age, and disability.
8. Conclusion
Benefits costs are high and growing, especially health care.
Employers must offer competitive benefits packages,
communicate their value effectively, and consider flexible plans.
Employees are increasingly responsible for their economic
security and health care choices.