2.1: Dismissal & Redundancy
Dismissal
A Dismissal is the act of giving an employee their notice to leave the company or organisation. The colloquial term is to "fire" someone from their job.
Reasons for dismissal:
Incompetence - the act or lack thereof doing a job competently or not at all, often employees are let go due to their inability to do tasks or general incompetence
Legal Issues - some employees who have lied or left out important information on their application may be dismissed out of legal necessity
Misconduct - any misconduct ranging from embezzlement and theft to sexual harassment may result in immediate dismissal or a lawsuit
Breaking of internal by-laws - some corporations or legal firms may have internal by-laws that require management and employees to abide by. The breaking of these by-laws can result in dismissal
Redundancies
Redundancy is the term used when employees are let go en-masse due to the lack of funds to pay workers or when the jobs ceases to exist. Usually this is called "lay-offs".
Reasons for Redundancies:
Mergers or Take-overs - when a company or organisation has a merger or take-over, employees can be laid off to minimize overall organisational restructuring or redundancies of jobs.
Voluntary - sometimes the company will request for employees to volunteer to be laid off in deference to an issue such as a financial crisis. These volunteers often leave in exchange for generous severance packages
Compulsory - the company may choose to make employees or their current jobs to be rendered redundant
Redeployment - some companies may temporarily issue employees redundant but then redeploy those employees elsewhere such as in a company subsidiary
Other possible reasons for termination of employment:
Resignation:
People want to move on with their career
People hate the workplace environment
People want to follow their mates or line manager
Retirement:
People reach the age where they no longer want to work
Workers reach the legal minimum age for retirement
Workers reach the maximum legal age to receive benefits and still work
In many countries, people have a "grace period" in retirement wherein they may continue to work and receive government retirement benefits. However, if they reach a certain age, the government will give them two choices:
Retire and receive all benefits
Continue working and give up all benefits
Non-Renewal of fixed term contract:
Companies can choose to not renew contracts
Role of HR:
Employment Termination
Why might employees prefer part-time to full-time employment?
What benefits could a business gain from employing:
More staff on part-time contracts?
More staff on temporary contracts?
What disadvantages might these trends in employment pattern have for:
Workers?
Employers?
How to make people stay:
Increase motivation
Increase pay & benefits
Offer better working conditions