Management of Health Care Organizations: Week 3

Chapter 8: Organizing Human Resources

Objectives

• Understand the recruitment process.

• Know key issues of compensation and benefits.

• Be better able to retain valued employees.

• Understand the importance of training and developing employees.

• Have knowledge about identifying problem employees.

Outline

• Ongoing Responsibilities of Human Resources

• Legal Considerations and Responsibilities

• Recruitment

• Compensation and Benefits

• Retaining Valued Employees

• Training and Developing Employees

• Problem Employees

Ongoing Responsibilities of Human Resources

• Creating and maintaining position descriptions

• Recruiting

• Union activities

• Employee training

• Employee problems

• Documentation

Important Federal Statutes

• Social Security Act (1935)

• Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)

• Equal Pay Act (1963)

• Civil Rights Act (1964)

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967)

Important Federal Statutes (continued)

• Employee Retirement Income Security Act (1974)

• Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (1986)

• Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

• Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (1996)

Recruitment Within an Organization

• Word of mouth is generally quite informal and unscientific, but may be efficient for small organizations.

• Many employers advertise positions through job postings.

• Employers generally post positions internally for 5 to 7 working days before initiating external recruitment.

• Current employees may be a good source of referrals for new workers.

• Some employers offer bonuses for successful employee referrals.

Recruitment Outside an Organization

• Two types of employment agencies:

– State employment agencies and union referral halls (free)

– Private employment agencies (agency fee)

• Private employment agencies will screen and interview candidates prior to referring them to an organization.

• Employment agency’s fee is generally paid by the new employer.

Ways to Recruitment On Your Own

• Organizations such as professional societies or special interest groups provide referrals.

• Use the internet.

– Open to a wide range of applicants

– Continuously available

– Less expensive

• Contact local colleges and universities for internship programs

Screening Candidates

• Determine the key qualifications for the position.

• Keep detailed records about the process, make notes about people who are retained in the pool as well as those who are rejected during the initial screening.

• Reasons for inclusion or exclusion from an initial pool should be noted.

Preparing for the Interview

• The purpose of an interview is to determine the suitability and fit of an applicant for the open position.

• Review the current position description.

• Prepare a list of basic questions to ask all applicants.

• Read each applicant’s resume.

Interviewing a Candidate

• Ways to conduct an interview: – Unstructured – Semi-structured – Group interviews

• Set the interviewee at ease. • Ask innocent but open-ended questions to

encourage interviewees to talk. • Honestly describe the position and the organization. • Ask if the interviewee has any questions about the

potential job or organization.

Selecting Candidates

• Once a candidate has been selected, agree on pay, complete paperwork, and set a start date.

• Employment is usually contingent upon several points: – Legal age to work? – Does the person have permission to work in the

United States? – Can the applicant pass minimum physical

requirements for the job? – Is the candidate able to pass a medical examination

including drug and alcohol screening tests if these are used?

What Are Compensation and Benefits?

• While money provides considerable motivation, other factors provide more motivation.

• Direct compensation refers to salaries, bonuses, and other forms of incentive pay.

• Indirect compensation refers to employee benefits and perquisites, items that employees typically receive in forms other than cash payments.

• Health workers typically are motivated to serve the public as well.

Direct Compensation • Develop a base-salary compensation program.

• General increases reflect satisfactory completion of work responsibilities.

• Incentive plans are intended to reward outstanding performance.

• External equity means that rates of pay in an organization are reasonable compared with other similar positions in a given area for people performing the same or similar job duties.

• Internal equity means that all employees think that their pay is fair when compared to others with the same job title in the same organization.

Benefits

• Benefits fall into two categories:

– Benefits required by statutes.

– Benefits to attract and retain the best employees.

• Two approaches to benefits:

– Defined benefit plans provide the same package of benefits to all employees.

– Defined contribution plans allocate a fixed amount of money for benefits and provide a list of benefit options.

Required Benefits

• Social Security has expanded from a form of basic pension coverage for about 50 percent of the workforce to a full-scale social insurance program available to more than 90 percent of the population.

• Unemployment compensation insurance is administered by individual states.

• Workers’ compensation insurance is intended to provide health care, income maintenance, and survivor protection for employees who become disabled or killed due to an occupational injury or illness.

Optional Benefits

• Health insurance plans provide various forms of health coverage.

• Paid Time Off (PTO) plans where employees accumulate an allotted number of days and then use them in a more discretionary manner.

• Long-term disability insurance is a benefit designed to protect employees from the devastation of serious illness or accident.

• Life insurance provides employees with a level of coverage equal to some multiple of their annual compensation.

• Employee retirement plans include benefit and contribution plans.

Retaining Valued Employees • Valued employees can be given special assignments

that provide variety as well as allowing them to demonstrate their readiness for promotion.

• Valued employees can serve as mentors, allowing them to learn or practice supervisory skills.

• Organizations that ignore their valued employees run a risk of losing them due to boredom, stagnation, or loss of morale.

• All managers have a responsibility to identify and develop new managers, which helps retain valuable employees by giving them opportunities to grow as leaders.

Training and Developing Employees

• Managers eliminate training and development when budgets become tight.

• Have a new employee orientation plan.

• When performance does not meet expectations, supervisors may consider additional training.

• Cross training is defined as learning how to do one or more jobs normally performed by other persons.

• On-the-job training is occasionally appropriate.

• Inappropriate training is to give employees files or folders to review, or to direct them to a website.

Problem Employees

• Mental problems can interfere with work and job duties.

• Three relatively common mental health problems include chemical dependency, depression, and abuse.

• Physical and sexual abuse are common in the United States.

• Managers are reminded not to attempt providing therapy.

Identifying Personality Disorders

• Four common personality disorders:

– Narcissistic

– Borderline

– Histrionic

– Paranoid

Identifying Personality Disorders

• Common characteristics to all four include:

– Difficulties with relationships and lack empathy

– Very rigid and cannot easily accept ideas of others

– Boundary problems cause them to disregard procedures, protocols, and organizational chains of command

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

• Tend to think very highly of themselves, often exaggerating their achievements and talents beyond their actual real abilities.

• They love to be in the limelight and may steal ideas and take credit for the accomplishments of others.

• They often demonstrate excessive self-promotion and attention-seeking behavior.

• Difficulty accepting other points of view. • Feel little loyalty to either supervisors or employers. • Strategies include giving employees credit for their

accomplishments, avoiding challenges, and not taking their criticism personally.

Borderline Personality Disorder • Most common personality problem in the workplace.

• Very intense and tend to have frequent outbursts of temper.

• They can become physically abusive.

• Their relationships tend to be dramatic and turbulent.

• These employees are prone to extreme mood swings ranging from cheerful and cooperative to angry and abusive.

• Difficulty distinguishing between personal and professional relationships.

• Useful strategies include not getting caught up in their personal problems and minimizing interactions.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

• Appear to be in a constant state of crisis. • Their personal lives often overflow into the workplace. • Tend to be overly dramatic and pull anyone willing to listen

or be used by them into their world. • They are usually very engaging and seductive. • Upon first meeting them, most people like them. • Take days off on a whim. • See themselves as victims. • Expect special treatment for missing work. • Useful strategies include staying calm and not giving in to

their demands.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

• They are suspicious of others.

• Combative in their interactions with others, rigid, and critical of coworkers but unable to accept criticism.

• Harmless remarks can cause them to threaten legal action.

• Useful strategies include not giving constructive feedback since it will be perceived as criticism, not teasing them, and not assigning them to positions or projects that require collaborative work relationships. Instead, they should be placed in positions where they can work independently.

Progressive Discipline Model