Page 22 - DMGT106_MANAGING_HUMAN_ELEMENTS_AT_WORK

Managing Human Element at Work

Notes For example, job analysts, occasionally called position classifiers, collect and examine detailed
information about job duties in order to prepare job descriptions. These descriptions explain
the duties, training, and skills that each job requires. Whenever a large organization introduces
a new job or reviews existing jobs, it calls upon the expert knowledge of job analysts.
Occupational analysts research occupational classification systems and study the effects of
industry and occupational trends on worker relationships. They may serve as technical
liaisons between companies or departments, government, and labour unions.
Establishing and maintaining a firm’s pay structure is the principal job of compensation
managers, assisted by compensation analysts or specialists, compensation managers devise
ways to ensure fair and equitable pay rates. They may participate in or purchase salary
surveys to see how their firm’s pay compares with others, and they ensure that the firm’s
pay scale complies with changing laws and regulations. In addition, compensation managers
often oversee the compensation side of their company’s performance management system.
They may design reward systems such as pay-for-performance plans, which might include
setting merit pay guidelines and bonus or incentive pay criteria. Compensation managers
also might administer executive compensation programs or determine commission rates and
other incentives for corporate sales staffs.
Employee benefits managers and specialists administer a company’s employee benefits program,
notably its health insurance and retirement plans. Expertise in designing, negotiating, and
administering benefits programs continues to take on importance as employer-provided
benefits account for a growing proportion of overall compensation costs, and as benefit plans
increase in number and complexity. For example, retirement benefits might include defined
benefit pension plans, defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) or thrift savings plans and
profit-sharing or stock ownership plans. Health benefits might include medical, dental, and
vision insurance and protection against catastrophic illness. Familiarity with health benefits
is a top priority for employee benefits managers and specialists, because of the rising cost
of providing healthcare benefits to employees and retirees. In addition to health insurance
and retirement coverage, many firms offer employees life and accidental death and
dismemberment insurance, disability insurance, and benefits designed to meet the needs of
a changing workforce, such as parental leave, long-term nursing or home care insurance,
wellness programs, and flexible benefits plans. Benefits managers must keep abreast of
changing Federal and State regulations and legislation that may affect employee benefits.
Working with employee assistance plan managers or work-life coordinators, many benefits
managers work to integrate the growing number of programs that deal with mental and
physical health, such as employee assistance, obesity, and smoking cessation, into their
health benefits programs.
Employee assistance plan managers, also called employee welfare managers or work-life managers, are
responsible for a wide array of programs to enhance employee safety and wellness and
improve work-life balance. These may include occupational safety and health standards and
practices, health promotion and physical fitness, medical examinations and minor health
treatment, such as first aid, flexible work schedules, food service and recreation activities,
carpooling and transportation programs such as transit subsidies, employee suggestion
systems, child care and elder care, and counselling services. Child care and elder care are
increasingly significant because of growth in the number of dual-income households and the
older population. Counselling may help employees deal with emotional disorders, alcoholism,
or marital, family, consumer, legal, and financial problems. Some employers offer career
counselling and outplacement services. In some companies, certain programs, such as those
dealing with physical security or information technology, may be coordinated in separate
departments by other managers.
Training and development managers and specialists create, procure, and conduct training and
development programs for employees. Managers typically supervise specialists and make
budget-impacting decisions in exchange for a reduced training portfolio. Increasingly,

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