Week 23: Reward

 Week: 23 Reward

Rewards are seen as key when looking to motivate there staff. When I previously worked for a organisation I experienced the rewards they offer. The previous organisation I worked for have may different ways of rewarding staff for their performance. The range of rewards varied depending on the action or performance that they were rewarding, this was done so it would be seen a fairer was of receiving rewards. Below is shot list of some of the rewards that were used.

Vouchers: Shop vouchers were giving to employees who highlighted a potential safety issue. How ever the reward was only given if the issued raised was sufficient enough for the company to act on it. This was done so that employees only raised the issues that needed addressing, this prevented employees using this reward to gain fee vouchers. The vouchers were always kept at the same value, even if it was a large safety issue or a small safety issue. This was because the company saw every safety issue as important as each other.

Team Bonus: A team bonus is given every quarter. The same amount is given to every member of the team, and is given as long as the team meet targets and also if there is no accidents which required external medical attention and time out of work. The organisation keep each amount the same for every team member in order to encourage team work rather than individuals working just for themselves and their bonus.

The organisation also changed the rewards they offered depending in the departments. This is because each department will have different targets and different work. The organisation offers the rewards for reaching goals and going further in the relevant work the team or individual does. This is done to keep it fair for each departments and each site across the whole company.

Chief Executives Bonuses

It is portrayed a lot in the media that even though companies are making losses and banks are in debt the bankers and Executives still receive a large bonuses. There is a split of people who agree and disagree with these bonuses.

My view is the grey area is what the term “under performed” is. If a company makes a loss does that mean its under performed? I personally believe that a company can still make a loss but over performed for example if company x is forecasted to make £50m profit but makes £25m profit and company y is due to make £50m loss but makes a £25m loss personally I think that company X and under performed and company Y as performed better than forecasted executives are entitled to bonuses. But however companies should look at what bonuses they are giving at the same time as if the company are making job cuts etc. Below is a list of for and against the bonuses

FOR                                                                                  AGAINST

Motivates executives                                               Causes bad press if people disagree

Encourages better Performance                              More cost to company

Subsidise salary for bonuses                                 Takes away from profit and potential investment

                                                                                          Can frustrate share holders 

Week 22: Performance Management

Week 22: Managing Performance

Appraisals

In previous work I have had my own appraisal. My appraisal was done after 3 months and then 6 months i.e. every quarter.  The first appraisal was based on the training that I had done and weather I had settled into the role. This was seen has a trial period. This appraisal was very short as due to the work I could not of worked by myself and the organisation could not give me a full detailed appraisal. In the 2^nd appraisal I had the organisation looked at the work I was currently doing from my tracking forms that I had to fill in each day when working. They also looked at the quality of my work and my understanding of the plant as a whole. From the appraisal they gave me more targets and also spoke about future opportunities. They backed up the reasoning for the high targets from my current levels of work which they monitored. This appraisal I think was not only really positive for me but also was extremely well pre pared for with evidence and future targets and also they had made it clear what my rewards would be if I reached the targets.

My personal mentor

When it comes to having a personal mentor, I will talk to different people depending on what subject I am looking for advice on. For example when looking career advice I will go to my dad or my older brother for advice. This has affected my decision on where I went to university and also what course I chose.

What makes a good mentor?

Below is a link to a article I have read about mentoring

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3778514.ece

Below is a bullet pointed lists of what skills I think makes a good mentor

·         Good listening and communication skills

·         Open and outgoing personality

·         Patience

·         Trustworthy

·         Honest

·         Experience and knowledge

·         Good team working skills

Evaluation

In order for mentors to be effective they have to be wanted by both parties i.e. the mentor and mentee. If a person does not want a mentor then the method wont work as the person will hold back and will not be able to open up and use their mentor effectively. I also believe that performance management is key at keeping a business successful. Monitoring performance can also be used to motivate staff and also show companies direction which can help to make change if needed also help create aims and objectives. 

Week 20: Selection

Week 20: Selection

3 Selection Methods

Interviewing

Interviewing is the most common selection method used and is used in all role selections. The main factor for this is because the organisation will be able to interact with the candidate face to face. The organisation can then also use role play, general discussing or phone interviews to find out key information on the candidates personality attitude and skills. The Issues with interviewing is that it can take along time if there a lot of candidates. This will also cost the organisation a lot in manager’s time. This means in order to keep the costs down the recruitment process must be effective in order to cut down the amount of interviews needed.  Another draw back is that people in interviews will often be answering what they think the organisation wants to here. This means that the organisation must prepare for interviews in order to ask the right questions and filter the information into what they are looking for.

Assessment Centre

Assessment Centres I believe are the most effective way of recruiting people. The reason for this is that a organisation can bring all candidates together and often put them through a range of methods such has test, role plays, interviews etc. The min drawback with assessment centres are they cost a lot In money and also take time to organise and carry out. Because of the high cost assessment centres are only used when necessary to fill a role, this is often when recruiting for specialist roles, roles which require high level of skills/ knowledge. A example of this is a friend who had to attend a assessment centre in order to get into a flying college.

References

References are another very common use of selection method. They are also sometime placed on a C.V or “Available upon request”.  I think references are wasted time as the candidate can choose who they want to use as a reference unless company asked for specific past employers. Also a lot of companies now will not give references because of fear of being sued. References I think there for don’t hold much value as they are open to be bias or will be very restricted as to what information they give.

Personal Interview

In a particular interview I took part in the interviewee’s first question he asked me was “What football team I support?” This instantly made me think that we had a common interest and also broke the ice between us. However it also made me wonder how seriously they were taking the interview and weather my response would affect the outcome. After discussing the job I was applying for and what my role would be we then went for a walk around the site. Whilst talking to me the interviewee was very laid back about the language used and was keen to show me around the site. This suggested to me that they didn’t have a lot of experience in interviewing people or that they had a laid back casual personality, through out my time in t role I found it out to be both of those reasons. I also do not think they had really pre pared well for the interview as they did not ask many questions about my skills, qualifications. They were also referring to notes quite a lot in the interview to prompt them on what was to be discussed. I don’t believe the interview was effective looking at it from a companies view as the interview wasn’t very well pre pared and they did not look into what I could bring to the company and why I fitted the role. This could of lead to some one who was not adequate getting the role.  It was effective for me because I felt that the interview had already made his mind who he wanted to get the job and I also felt that I could talk to him and I could control what was being discussed in the interview because they were too laid back and ill pre pared.

The recommendations I would make to improve the selection process would be to have a wider range of people interviewing and also pre pare for the interview. I would do this so there will be more than one persons view on how the interview went and also if two people are taking the interview there will be two views on the applicant.

Conclusion

From my experiences and findings in order to have a effective selection the recruitment process must be done effectively in order to filter the best candidate through.  I also believe that the most effective selection method depends on the role needed to fill and a lot of organisations just follow what is most common i.e. interview and reference rather than planning the selection methods around the role and person they are looking for. If the recruitment and selection process is planned and carried out correctly it will also save organisations money and time in the long term due to selecting the correct person first time rather than having a high turn over of staff until correct person is found.