Health Field Human Resource Management

HCA 5306, Health Field Human Resource Management 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

6. Explain the legal implications of employee labor relations in the health care setting. 6.1 Evaluate unions in the health care industry. 6.2 Discuss grievance management in a health care setting.

Required Unit Resources Chapter 11: Labor Relations and Healthcare Organizations Unit Lesson It is helpful to understand the history of labor laws because it reflects the changing nature of work and provides insights into likely future labor relations developments. In the 1930s, legislation focused on improving workplace conditions that were frequently abusive and arbitrary. Employees at that time faced dismal working conditions and unfair and frequently inhumane treatment at the hands of their employers. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1939 (FLSA, 2015) and the Wagner Act, also known as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA, 2015), marked the beginning of a new era of government intervention in the inner workings of organizations by establishing wage and hour requirements as well as labor union standards that are still in force today. By the 1960s, the workplace environment had improved significantly, but the civil rights and labor relations era shed light on another disturbing fact of life—discriminatory practices in hiring and treating employees based on color and/or gender, as well discriminatory issues in union organizing and labor relations. Several seminal pieces of legislation were enacted during the decade including the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (2015) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that would be followed some 27 years later by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (2015). These laws represented the next wave of deep change in the way organizations must design and administer pay programs. Compensation management is a crucial aspect to an organization’s success. When thinking about compensation strategies, one must keep in mind that compensation does not solely mean a paycheck for the employee. Compensation encompasses many aspects, both monetary and non-monetary. It is not only the means of compensating employees for a job they have done, but it includes all aspects that aid in attracting and retaining the top talent. It is also an integral piece of an organization’s strategic advantage in the marketplace. Designing a strategically oriented, comprehensive compensation system is not only important to every employee, it is of critical importance for organizational survival. There is a much greater emphasis on compensation in today’s organizations than there was 20 years ago. To be successful, organizations must have a solid strategy as it relates to the compensation of its employees. Labor costs are typically one of the biggest expenses an organization will have. Therefore, labor costs are going to affect the efficiency and fiscal solvency of organizations. There are many dimensions of the compensation program and not all of them are monetary. A good combination of monetary and non-monetary compensation is usually the most effective. The compensation structure has a direct bearing on attracting and retaining top talent. To attract talent in the labor pool, an organization must have an attractive compensation package, one that is affordable and cost-effective for the particular organization. Compensation must be designed so that the organization’s employees can understand the benefits they are receiving. When an organization develops its compensation strategy, it has many things to consider. The organization needs to look at governmental legislation and regulations; there are certain minimum standards to which a company must adhere and expectations that need to be addressed on a global level. Additionally, the organization needs to closely analyze job specifications and job descriptions in order to be able to tie compensation to specific jobs. Each organization is expected to comply with all governmental regulations and policies as they

UNIT VII STUDY GUIDE Labor Relations in Health Care

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relate to wages and compensating employees. The organization will usually build upon this foundation to create the most effective compensation strategy. The organization must continuously monitor its compensation practices, however, to ensure consistent compliance with all local and federal laws. The three main types of pay are skill-, knowledge-, and competency-based. Different jobs that require different skills may need different pay structures. There may be times when all three pay structures would be effective for the same position. That is when it is up to the human resource department to decide which will most effectively motivate the employees. Most organizational strategies have productivity and quality as the key and most important initiatives. Increasing productivity and quality goes a step further than just paying an employee for a job and expecting to get the most optimal job done. This has led to the strategy of paying for performance. This strategy motivates most employees to excel; however, there are many obstacles to this method in that many activities are neither tangible (easily recognized) and easy to track, nor are they consistent on a daily basis. Before setting the base pay structure for a job, you also need to know what others in the same job in the local market are paying. Most of the time, this is achieved by surveying the local labor market, but the data may not always be accurate because it may represent pay ranges versus actual pay rates, and this needs to be taken into consideration before relying too heavily on the survey data. Once the market rate for a job has been determined, you are ready to decide what your base pay structure should look like. Creating a base pay structure involves many evaluation factors. There needs to be a thorough understanding of what the job is and what it entails. Additionally, there are other influencing factors such as regulations, organizational profitability, unionization issues, and exempt or non-exempt status of the position for overtime requirements. While the factors inside an organization (internal worth) that are specific to the job itself affect the pay structure, there are also outside factors (external worth) that must be taken into consideration. When determining a certain pay scale for a job, there needs to be knowledge of what other organizations in the area pay for the same or comparable job. It is essential that the organization set a wage that is similar to other jobs of the same nature. To not do so can result in trained employees leaving the organization because they are able to find the same job elsewhere for more money. By completing a survey of the local market to determine what other organizations are paying, the organization can make sure its compensation strategy is comparable to others and the risk of losing employees for pay will not be as great. As the U.S. demographics continue to change, organizations should anticipate more legislation designed to remedy perceived injustices in the way employees are compensated for their efforts. When constructing a pay structure, many things must be taken into consideration. Pay for performance and paying equitably across a team must be at the top of the list for many organizations. To ensure success of an organization, pay must be viewed (perceived) by the employees as being equitable (fair) in relationship to performance. It needs to reward the employee for work done and provide an incentive to continue to do an effective job.

References Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. § 206d (2015). Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 (2015). National Labor Relations Act of 1935, 29 U.S.C. §§ 151-169 (2015). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (2015). Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resource, click the link below. Labor relations and compensation practices in a health care environment can be challenging and different than the typical U.S. workplace. Please review the following article to gather a better foundation through competency-based expertise. Sachs, R. H., & Spreier, S. W. (1996). Modest increases, except at the top. Hospitals & Health Networks,

70(17), 30. https://bi-gale-

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com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/global/article/GALE%7CA18686531/f9bbab745c794b653 462fe2c3978ee09?u=oran95108

Learning Activities (Nongraded) Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information. After reading the suggested reading articles, think about the role of the human resources professional in a health care organization. What is different about the health care environment versus other organizational workplace environments in regard to compensation practices? Please discuss in the student break room.