Chapter 6, Employee Selection

When hiring for a specific job, employers look at skills, education, past employment, background, and many other things, including your personal profile online. Some look on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or Orkit. They may also be able to find your Blog and read it, as if reading your journal. I don’t think this is appropriate for a prospective employer to do. Although it is wise for them to find out as much about the person they might hire, as possible; by looking at these personal pages, they might find out more personal information about a person than they would find out in a year of actually working on the job with them. I think it is more appropriate for a prospective employer to call past employers to find out what kind of WORK character they have. “Is this person reliable, are they trustworthy, do they work hard, how is their skill level?” Those are the kinds of questions that are appropriate. A personal networking page or Blog may contain information about problems with their family or it can indicate their religion. If an employer isn’t allowed to ask these questions during an interview, then shouldn’t it also be illegal to base if off information they found snooping around in someone’s personal life?

Chapter 5 Discussion

Today we discussed a lot about layoffs and how they could be avoided or go more smoothly. I think the forecasting technique is something that every business needs to learn. It can be much easier for large businesses that have been around longer, however. I believe that if it is used properly, the economy can survive having as many ups and downs. Some techniques used for forecasting could be looking into the past, to see if history repeats itself, paying attention to an upcoming downturn in your market, and keeping track of the ages of your employees to see if some of them will be looking at retiring so that you can hire ahead of time for training.
I think offering a gradual retirement is a great opportunity for many elderly workers who may be prepared for some reprieve, but who still need some source of income or even a job to feel needed at. My parents are getting closer to retirement age, and I think they would both love the idea.

Chapter 5, Planning

1. In Planning and Recruiting, the Human Resource department must be able to see into the future. But, how is this possible? One way is by looking into the past. There are many employment trends in this economy that have repeated themselves. We have had repeated recessions and depressions. We can now tell that some of these were predictable. The same is the case for major companies. When one company foresees that they will have a shortage of work because of a pending completion of a project, they may one to stop hiring, or start redistributing so that when the day comes that the project is completed, they don't have to lay off half their workers. They can do things like originally hire temps or part-time employees, or put an early retirement program in place for workers who are getting close to retirement age.
2. The Utah Census is hiring 1200 Employees for the Sandy call center. Instead of setting up a whole program of benefits, they are simply offering each employee and additional $3 per hour to compensate for this lace of benefits. Does this seem fair? Even though these employees are being hired for a 6 month position, do they deserve to get the opportunity for insurance during this period?
3. There are many elderly workers preparing to retire. Many companies may want to keep them around and have a gradual retirement, or if they need to make layoff, to offer an early retirement.
4. Is early or gradual retirement beneficial for the company, even if you have to offer them more money to do so? Is this worth it to the employees?

Chapter 4 Discussion

Today we talked about the hiring process and what creating a new position entails. If we create a list of duties and responsibilities for our prospective employee, that is a start in getting them going on their job. But what happens after that is important. They need a lot of advising at first, which many people say they don't get enough of. Others say after training that they would like to be left to grown in their position, but are unable to. One guy in my group complained that he is not allowed to work outside his "box" of duties. In some companies working at specifically what they need you to is important. But only individuals who are content to stay in their "box" without branching out can stay at such a company. It is important to have the right employees for such a position. Other companies want someone who is pro-active. In hiring we need to make sure we are finding people who can assume these roles.

Chapter 4, Creating Job Positions

1. This Chapter talks about creating jobs and what resources, information, requirements, and money will be needed. There is much more to it than I had originally anticipated. I figured you just realize it when you need more help and hire someone. For a small company, like the one I used to work for, that is probably much harder than for a big company where office supplies and work stations are easier to spread around.
2. I think the book talks a lot about preparation for hiring new employees, but I thought maintaining and altering new positions should take just as much, if not more consideration for the HR person. If you hire a new position and it goes the wrong direction, or isn't efficient, you might as well not have even hired for it.
3. You have to involve your staff, even after they're hired to make sure they're all communicating.
You have to make sure the new person understands what they need to do to create this new position.
You also have to check with other employees around you to make sure that the new person is really doing a good job from all perspectives. It is possible that they could only be trying to look good and help out for management, and not anyone else.
4. What should you do when you know a new employee isn't right for a new position you created. Should you cut your losses right away, or keep trying to train them and make them into the person you thought they would be? If not, is it even possible to be that person, for anyone?

Articles in Class

Today we discussed different articles on Human Resources. I was surprised at how many organizations struggle with these issues. It seems like they are often publicized in a negative way, steering the blame at the business. Although, one student's article was about a man who applied at Hooters, simply looking for a lawsuit. When the Judge sided with Hooters (aware of the man's intentions in applying for the job), they said that Hooters has the right to hire employees with certain characteristics. This is confusing to me because other businesses can't even hire based on color of skin. As far as I'm concerned, every business should be an equal opportunity employer based on skill. Now Hooters can continue their hiring practices, while other places must settle with less than qualified employees. My article was on a Hospital in Tennessee which would not hire tobacco users. Most people in my group agreed with the Hospital. While this decision looks good on paper, my feeling is that it may backfire. It is generally not fair to discriminate against people in any way. It will be interesting to follow this story and to find out if there is a lawsuit by someone who is trying to quit smoking, and is simply using a patch or chewing the gum.

Hosptial Hiring Article

The article is found on Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583291,00.html. It states that Chattanooga Hospital in Tennessee will no longer be hiring tobacco users. While I think this is a great standpoint for the medical professionals working there, who don't smoke, it seems like the process won't last long without a lawsuit. Since I am not a smoker I can understand that it is beneficial for society to discourage smoking. But, from an HR perspective, it doesn't seem fair. For decades our businesses have worked and worked at making businesses "equal opportunity employers". But this decision could be seen as discriminatory. At the same time, I can also see the benefits from an HR perspective: lower health insurance costs, more time on the job and less smoking breaks, more accuracy at work without such distractions. It is certainly a controversial issue and it will be interesting to find out what happens. If hospitals are allowed to embrace this throughout the country (which I doubt they will be), then it could have a very positive impact in the future, perhaps causing a decline in the number of smokers in the next generation.

Chapter 3 Discussion Topic

1. Concept and Brief Description
2. Emotional Hook
3. Key Points to Elicit in Discussion
4. Facilitative Questions

1. Avoiding Human Resource Problems. According to the Chapter, there are a plethora of problems you can run into while hiring, managing, or terminating employment of a person who is at a disadvantage, or not. I would like to discuss ways a manager can attempt to avoid all, or many of these situations.
2. Is it possible to make everyone happy in the work place? No, but you can communicate what is expected before, during and after employment.
3. After reading this chapter I decided that communication is the key to avoiding problems with current employees. They need to be informed of the rules before they ever run into problems. Having meeting, and explaining: If you do "x" thing, you consequence will be "y". I know this isn't a perfect solution, but at least when someone inevitably does have a complaint, they can't claim ignorance. Also, when hiring and/or terminating employment, I think communication is a much more delicate matter. If you explain a termination in any way that they can construe as discrimination, you may have problems later. But, if an employee needs to be laid off or terminated, then make sure there is a documented, legitimate reason for it. The same thing goes for hiring.
4. How can an Human Resource person control everything that is happening in the work place? They can't, but they can be informed, and take action.

Chapter 2 Journal

In class we separated into groups and talked about how employment is changing in our country. We hire a lot of employees overseas and are able to give them cheaper wages. But, we decided that although this looks good on paper, that customer service really suffers because people have a harder time communicating with each other when they are from such differing cultures.
Also, I brought up the fact that women and minorities are much more common in the work force, and have been for decades, but they still don't get paid as much as white men. Although this is not fair, it is important from an HR perspective to compare employees based on their performance and pay them all fairly. It isn't fair to either party when a biased or reverse-discrimination decision is made. If one employee is actually working harder and is more knowledgeable, it is fair to pay them more, in that case.

Chapter 2 Discussion Topic

1. The workforce is changing, there are more Women and Minorities. According to the text book, the Hispanic and Asian workers are increasing rapidly. Many of them have to take blue-collar jobs, even if they are qualified for management. Also, the use of women in the work force has been increasing for a few decades. But, Women still aren't paid the same as men.
2. Should Women and Minorities be hired above white men when they have the same as or less experience, simply to avoid discrimination? Is this fair to either party?
3. Women typically make less money than men.
Minorities have a harder time communicating in some cases.
It is fair to everyone that each candidate must be the hardest working and most qualified to get hired, but that must be determined fairly by HR.
4. Is it possible to really treat everyone fairly? If white males are generally more educated than women and minorities, then how can anyone else get a high-paying job? Is is fair to make women and minorities work harder to achieve success when the opportunities to succeed were not as abundant from the get go?

Introduction

Hello, my name is Melody Evans and I am a return student to Utah Valley University. I received my Associates several years ago, right before getting married. I have returned to school to get my Bachelors now and I am hoping to complete it over the next year and a half. I love going to school more than ever now that I have had a long break. I used to feel burdened by learning because I was so burned out, but not anymore! I am a Project Management major in the Digital Media Department. I am interested in Human Resources as a career, even if my major is not specifically directed toward it. I am hoping this class will give me some more clarification for the direction I would like to take in my career.
I live in Sandy and absolutely love it! I also took a few classes at Salt Lake Community College before returning to Utah Valley University because of the closeness in proximity and lower costs. I am now into only upper division classes and am hoping to keep my grades as high as they were at the Community College. I have children who are still very little and they keep me busy, but my window to do homework is between their bedtime and mine.
I worked for the Home Builders Association prior to my graduation from school, for about five years. I loved every minute of it. The Home Builders Association was a huge network of Builders, Subcontractors, Bankers, Title Companies, and Insurance Companies. I met a lot of people and learned how important networking is. I also helped the company develop a Software Program that was Beta tested by us and then sold Nationally to nearly all the HBA's in the country. I was proud to be a part of many decisions they made when developing the software. I love Business and I love technology. My Associates degree was in Business Communication and Office Technology. I think that is the perfect foundation for what I am continuing to learn in my degree and also for the various career paths I could take with it.
I come from a very large family and I also have my own little family. My parents had 7 children of their own and soon after, my parents adopted my 7 cousins, whose mother had passed away. And so, we were a family of 16, which has now, through marriages and grandchildren turned into a family of over 50! It was a fun experience growing up with so many siblings. I enjoyed going to High School with several of my siblings and also graduating with my brother.
Another thing my husband and I have done is to have family and students come to stay with us. We are currently housing some students from Brazil. Two 15 year old girls, who are learning about our culture, and I am learning a lot about theirs. I now realize that when they are staying with us I can cook a lot of American staples, but also that they like a lot of meats and starches, and not many fruits and vegetables. They don't like spicy food, but they absolutely love fast food and any novelty like candy or ice cream.
I have also lived in a couple of different places outside of Utah. My husband manages a Branch for a Pest-Control office each summer. We lived in Florida for a summer and then in Texas for the next, and will be returning there this summer. I enjoyed getting to know all of the various ethnic groups in these areas. I make friends easily, especially with women. I would say I have made a whole lot of friends in my lifetime, but I usually choose to stay exceptionally close with only a few of them. I wish I could stay close with everyone, but life is busy and keeps on moving. Luckily I have Facebook to check in with everyone occasionally.
Good luck to all of you this Semester; I'm looking forward to this class.