HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Influence of Training and Compensation of Staffing Activities

Influence of Training and Compensation of Staffing Activities

Influence of Training and Compensation Activities on Staffing Activities

A recent survey by Deloitte (2005) of 1,396 human resource practitioners from over 60 different countries, found that the ability to attract and retain new talent were perceived as being the two most critical people management issues facing their organizations today. A total of 74 percent of respondents reported a moderate or high shortage (or anticipated shortage) in salaried staff and 53 percent reported a moderate or high shortage (or anticipated shortage) in hourly staff. Similarly, a 2004 survey of 539 CEOs by the Conference Board (Rudis, 2004, as cited in Morton, 2005, p. 6) ranked the “availability of talented managers/executives” sixth amongst their top ten challenges “of greatest concern”.

Mirroring these results, a recent article in the Globe & Mail (Immen, 2008), one of Canada's national newspapers, suggested record hiring levels, rising average wages and benefits and improved career opportunities (particularly for employees nearing retirement age) would be amongst the year's employment trends (assuming the economy remains robust); “With the talent shortage ever looming, more employers are paying more heed to the needs of stressed-out and aging workers” (p. C1).

Given demographic trends, these results should not be surprising. Citing the UN's Population Division data, the Deloitte (2005) report states that “the number of 15-29 year olds entering the job market is steadily contracting, while the population in both developed and developing countries is ageing” (p. 2). This they suggest will create a “chronic labour shortage across all geographic and vertical markets” (p. 2). Within the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has similarly forecast that “by 2008 there will be 6 million more jobs than people to fill them, and the gap will grow to peak levels between 2015 and 2025” (Dell and Hickey, 2002, p. 7). Further, even those employees who are available may not have the requisite skills. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed in the Deloitte study identified the inadequate skills of incoming workers as one of their most pressing issues. And, in almost half of the participating organizations (46 percent), recruitment and retention challenges were considered sufficiently important to have been discussed at the level of the Board of Directors.

Recruitment and retention have long been identified as one of the hospitality and tourism industry's biggest challenges (Powell and Wood, 1999). This is due in part to the highly labour intensive nature of the industry, especially in contexts where customer service expectations are high. Exacerbating the situation is the industry's turnover culture, in which high turnover rates are often accepted as “just the way things are”. In addition, the ease by which customer service skills can be transferred to other industries means that highly valued hospitality employees can easily seek jobs elsewhere (Guerrier, 1999).

Situation factors for claiming disparate impact

Disparate impact may result when objective standards are used to make employment decisions such as using test scores, height/weight/strength ...