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Human Resource: Employee Handbook Policies
Chaydan Lauber
Liberty University
Busi 642
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Abstract
In this research paper there are four distinct sections of a human resource employee
handbook that will be discussed: Compensation, Training, Discrimination, and Social Media.
Compensation us becoming a major competitive advantage for companies and current trends in
the industry will be researched and discussed. Training is also one way a company can build a
competitive advantage and increase employee performance along with overall morale of the
organization. Discrimination cases have been on the rise and determining the best way forward
for organizations will be very important for the future outlook of the company. Social media has
become a grey area for HR, as there is an argument that investigating a potential employee’s
private social media is terms for discrimination. The benefits of having a social media policy that
promotes the brand image of the company. Defining a company’s policies and procedures allows
the company to have a solid foundation for their employees to stand on. Along with protecting
the company against any current or future possible problems.
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Human Resource: Employee Handbook Policies
Compensation
Compensation and benefits are among the most significant human resource processes, as
they are vital to the success of any firm as well as any contemporary human resource
organization. Compensation and benefits are concerned with; management of the employee
expenses budget, the establishment of performance requirements, clear compensation polices,
and the introduction of competitive employee benefits. Compensation and benefits are of utmost
importance to most employees as these are often the starting point of conversation for potential
future employees. Employees want to know that they are well taken care of and compensated
fairly for in regard to what they will be expected to perform. Health care benefits are also
becoming a very important recruiting tool for companies; as employees are starting to plan for
the future and knowing they are going to be well protected is very important especially, with the
steadily rising costs of healthcare. Introducing a competitive compensation and benefit program
can help companies increase their employee’s performance and overall morale of the workplace.
Compensation can be broken down into the following categories: base pay, commission,
bonuses, equity, stock options, benefits, and non-monetary compensation. Compensation can
have a large degree of discretion, as companies can decide exactly how they plan on paying their
employees. there are numerous options companies may consider when determining which
compensation structure is right for their organization. (Noe et al., 2020).
Some of the more popular payment structures right now are payment for performance
(PFP) and skill-based pay (SBP). According to recent research, the PFP system has a statistically
significant beneficial impact on employee performance. Over a five-year period, researchers
studied over 10,000 employees and discovered that merit pay programs are closely associated
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with employees' future performance. Skill-Based Pay (SBP) or Pay-For-Knowledge is a pay
system in which employees receive higher income in exchange for official certification of their
mastery of qualifications, experience, and abilities. Expertise in completing tasks is acquired and
shown. Knowledge may be considered as a learned skill that is needed to execute activities,
whereas competencies are more mundane abilities or characteristics that are required to perform
tasks, frequently in many positions or occupations. SBP is a person-based approach since it is
focused on the qualities of the individual rather than the profession. Where employees have the
right even if they are unqualified, the salary is determined by employment in more traditional
pay systems. A SBP compensation package incentivizes employees to learn new information and
abilities by encouraging proactive behaviors that promote the activities associated with creativity,
adaptability, and technical expertise competencies. (Kang, E., & Lee, H., 2021).
Group-based compensation systems, such as profit sharing, can boost productivity by
matching employee and employer incentives, enhancing employee enthusiasm and loyalty,
promoting more collaboration, and increasing corporate citizenship behaviors and other pro-
organizational actions. Profit-sharing arrangements may be particularly advantageous in
situations where it is difficult for a manager to quantify individual effort, but workers can easily
observe their coworkers' performance; in which case, profit sharing may increase cooperation
and peer pressure while lowering monitoring costs. Profit sharing may also be used to retain
talented personnel. Reduced staff turnover enhances the motivation to engage in training, which
boosts human capital and hence productivity. The only downfall of implementing profit-based
sharing may perhaps be that employees might feel like they can coast through their work while
the other employees contribute the majority of the work. (Doucouliagos et al., 2020). To combat
free riders a peer-evaluation document may be implemented in order to keep all employees
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accountable. Companies can pay percentages of the group profit earned based on their average
peer evaluation scores. This can be grounds for discrimination if the coworkers simply do not get
along and management would be served well to implement a management by walking around
technique when profit sharing is implemented.
1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this
craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
(English Standard Version Bible. 2001) Money itself is not bad, but the love of money ends up
ruining so many lives. As Christians about to enter the business world it is so important for us to
not be focused on the amount of money we make. It is a challenge for many to stay rooted in
their faith once they start making enough money to buy whatever pleases them. Money can buy
some pleasure for sure, but you will never fully be happy. Earthly possessions will be left behind
as soon as we die, and we will be judged on what we did during our time on earth. Doing good
work for the kingdom with the funds you have been blessed with will not only make God happy,
but it will also increase your happiness. In terms of HR, we must ensure that we try and guide
our employees in a way that does not just lead them into the question of how much money they
are making, but the difference they are making in the world. It might not be large but trying to
motivate employees in a way that gives back to the community is a great way to increase the
overall morale of the organization along with improved brand image and perception.
Employee Training
Training has become one the most important functions of HR in terms of building a
competitive advantage over the competition. Proper training will increase employee’s knowledge
and basic skills that are required to be successful at both their current position and possible future
promotions. Training can also be used to build a culture that employees have been introduced to
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before they even begin work at their new job. Current employees can also benefit greatly from
training on new technology. There are multiple different training methods and approaches based
on what employers are aiming to accomplish with the current training sessions. Training is
becoming a very prominent part of the business world as the average amount organizations spent
on workplace training per employee in 2020 was $1,111, and the organizational training market
is predicted to grow by $52.7 billion during 2020–2024 (Uslu., 2021).
The result that there are no significant differences between single- and multiple-method training
programs is significant from a practical standpoint. These findings imply that staff training
programs do not have to be too complicated. Rather than that, the current findings imply that
firms will possibly benefit from adapting their training methods to the specific employee
outcomes they intend to promote. To illustrate, lecture and discussion may be a good approach
for increasing employee motivation; however, self-administered, and experiential methods that
allow for more accessibility and repetition may be the ideal method for boosting employee
attitudes. Additionally, the conclusion that programs with a shorter length and span are more
successful in enhancing attitude and motivational outcomes is noteworthy. The findings imply
that in order to be the most successful at altering attitudes, employee training programs should
take no more than ten hours and no more than a month. While lengthier training programs lasting
up to three months may be best for enhancing employee motivation. In general, these findings on
time indicate that it is best for firms to create relatively short and compact training programs that
promote focused rather than distributed learning. (Uslu., 2021).
Historically, it was assumed that training personnel were driven by the desire to
achieve the greatest economic results. However, other scholars argue that there may be additional
motivations beyond efficiency, most notably an equally significant need for legitimacy. Adoption
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of human resource practices, such as training, can be a reaction to institutional regulatory,
normative, and cognitive constraints. Institutional influences might have an effect on a business's
decision to train staff. Institutional forces, on the other hand, do not negate the effect of
competitive pressures obtained from an economic-rational perspective; rather, they might
complement one another. According to Suchman's definition of legitimacy, there are three
distinct sources of legitimacy resulting from three distinct dynamics in the social acceptance
process. Pragmatic legitimacy is concerned with the organization's instrumental usefulness to
stakeholders primarily as it supports their self-interest. Moral legitimacy implies that an
organization adheres to a set of acceptable and desirable standards and principles. Finally,
businesses get cognitive legitimacy when their goals and actions align with society ideals (Nuria
et al., 2018). According to this article some employers may just be training their employees for
legitimacy. Building up their brand image through training their employees so the shareholders
and investors remain happy with their investment. This creates a grey area in terms of training, as
the goal of the company may not be focused on improving the overall morale and performance of
the employee, but rather trying to make management look good. Government rules or policies
can also have an effect on training, as it may be law that organizations train their employees in
order to adhere to government policy.
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not
depart from it.” (English Standard Version Bible. 2001) Training has been around since God
created the earth and we are meant to learn throughout our entire lives. The younger we are able
to instill the word of God into humans the earlier they will be able to discover the path God has
made for them. This also pertains to training in this business world, as the younger we begin
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training employees the sooner they will become world changers, for their knowledge will
continue to grow and their production will increase tenfold.
Discrimination
Disparate treatment is defined by (Noe et all, 2020, p. 124) as “theory of discrimination
based on different treatment given to individuals because of their race, color, religion, sex,
national origin, age, or disability status.” Disparate impact is defined by (Noe et all, 2020, p.
128) as “A theory of discrimination based on facially neutral employment practices that
disproportionately exclude a protected group from employment opportunities.” Disparate
treatment cases have been on the rise recently contributing to a higher need of awareness for HR
to ensure their policies eliminate all discrimination within the workplace. Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act was created to make in unlawful to discriminate against someone based on race,
color, nationality, sex, or religion. The Equal Pay Act, Civil Rights Act of 1991, Age
Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Pregnancy
Discrimination Act also pertain to discrimination and are enforced by the EEOC according to the
Federal Trade Commission. Pay discrimination has recently become a focal area for renewed
feminist lobbying and activity, reinvigorating public awareness about the gender wage gap and
questioning conventional beliefs about its prevalence. Simultaneously, a disparate impact-like
criteria for employer explanations of pay discrepancies is gaining steam. As a result of this trend,
several lower courts have begun to reinforce the Equal Pay Act. Given that the Article discusses
how the newly revived PDA claim blurs the line between disparate treatment and impact claims
and advocates for a parallel development in equal pay claims, it may seem strange to conclude
with an argument about the relative superiority of disparate treatment over disparate impact as
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the preferred doctrine for housing these claims. However, despite the fact that Young teaches that
the treatment and impact categories are more ambiguous than the Court's case law indicates,
these categories continue to shape courts' approaches to discrimination claims. Additionally, they
influence the politics of anti-discrimination legislation, and the social justice claims that
accompany it. Young's fundamental lesson is that components of the impact claim can be an
effective instrument for establishing discrimination within a framework of differential treatment,
not that the categories have collapsed. By allowing evidence of unjustified impact to support an
inference of discrimination, the Young decision expanded the disparate treatment claim, making
it more suited to addressing the unconscious stereotyping and implicit bias that underpin
employer policies that treat pregnant women less favorably than other workers. A similar system
appears to be promising for resolving equal pay claims. While incorporating effect aspects in this
way broadens the usual approach for establishing disparate treatment, conceiving these claims as
disparate treatment retains merit. For both the pregnancy and wage claims, the crux of the matter
is the plaintiff-unreasonable class's differential treatment. As a claim for social justice, this
strikes a different chord than challenges to neutral activities that have unequal impacts. (Brake,
D. L. 2017) Galatians 3:28 says “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,
there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (English Standard Version Bible.
2001). Discrimination is something that we as Christians are called to condemn, as God created
all of us in his image and we are all equally important in Gods eyes. Jesus did not come to die on
the cross for the sins of one race or one gender He came to save all of us. Love is so important in
the Christian worldview as we are told that the greatest thing in the world is love. I believe that
as Christians entering the workplace, we must ensure that we help everyone and speak out
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against any discrimination we see and ensure that we love on not only the ones who are
discriminated against, but those who do the discriminating.
Social Media
The importance and relevance of social media and its benefits have greatly increased over
the previous years. The benefits of social media allow companies to receive feedback from
customers as well as encourage loyalty and maximize revenue. Thus, employees must be
encouraged to use their personal social networking channel to accomplish these goals. Setting a
company guideline for social media use is very important for organizations. Individuals often
utilize social media platforms for professional growth, business branding, and information
transfer, as well as for personal communication with friends and family. Thus, personal, and
professional audiences, as well as a variety of publics, are becoming more aware of individual
and organizational actions, information, ideas, and dialogues. The reputational, legal, social, and
economic ramifications of such border permeability have increased awareness among businesses
and people of both the hazards and possibilities inherent in the new media environment.
Employees are creating intentional personal techniques to deal with the pressures of continual
connectivity. (Banghart, et al. 2018) Employees must always conduct themselves in a
professional manner and must respect the views and opinions of others. Behavior and content
that may be deemed disrespectful, dishonest, offensive, harassing, or damaging to the Company's
interests or reputation must not be tolerated. Employers, on the other hand, are adopting rules
and procedures to govern employee communication in a variety of circumstances. According to a
recent industry poll, approximately 71% of today's firms have disciplined an employee for
improper use of social media in the workplace, and 67% have taken actions to safeguard their
businesses from inappropriate social media usage by employees outside of the office.
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(Banghart, et al. 2018) Employers must also be careful when determining the amount of privacy
employees are given in terms of social media (SM). Legal issues about the use of social media in
recruiting procedures often center on the possibility of discrimination against protected groups as
defined in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Selection criteria that are used in an unfair or
uneven manner and the candidate’s privacy are significant concerns, since SM may reveal
information that is not easily available via standard early-screening approaches. Although there
is no federal law regulating employers' use of social media information, 26 states have
implemented legislation regulating how companies may use social media. A rather disturbing
thought given 57% of HR professionals admit to having eliminated a candidate from
consideration based on SM information (Albert, et al. 2018) Romans 2:1 says “You, therefore,
have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge
another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”
(English Standard Version Bible. 2001) I believe that this verse speaks into the issue of judging
people based on their social media accounts. As Christians we are called to love one another and
be a light in a dark world. Exemplifying judgment on potential employees before the hiring
process and interviews is wrong from my point of view.
Conclusion
In conclusion there are many different polices HR is tasked with implementing in order to
run a successful organization. HR is one of the most important factions of an organization, as a
great deal of employment relies on their polices and hiring procedures. Compensation is one of
the most important recruitment tools today and ensuring that the HR team introduces the proper
payment system for the organization not only effects employee income, but it can also affect the
income of the entire business. There are many different compensation structures that employers
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can implement based on the organizational structure and design. Training is something that many
employers take advantage of and have current policies that actually contribute to them only
getting a portion of employees potential. Training is becoming such an important tool in terms of
building a competitive advantage over the competition. HR has the ability to develop training
systems that can be focused on multiple different outcomes; Whether, that be increasing the
morale of the employees or contributing to increased knowledge and performance of employees.
HR policies on discrimination must be very straightforward and defined, as there are multiple
laws pertaining to injustices and discrimination in the workplace. Social media can be used by
organizations to increase profits, recruit employees, increase consumer interaction and many
more things, but ensuring that the HR guidelines promote positive social media interaction when
representing the company is vital. People are going to have their own opinions and that is their
right but ensuring that the handbook covers the use of company social media accounts has strict
guidelines is so important.
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