Hr 594 - Effects of Utilizing Realistic Job Reviews on Employeeselection, Performance, and Retention

Effects of Utilizing Realistic Job Reviews on EmployeeSelection, Performance, and Retention

HR594: Strategic Staffing

INTRODUCTION

The need to keep track of employees has become more of a demand in today's job society than before, but is job reviews necessary? Samuel Culbert, a UCLA professor believes, "performance reviews don't work because they set employers and employees at cross-purposes (Culbert, 2010)." Research shows that employees value what their performance reviews shows, this is something that they have control over. The use of appraisals' can determine many things such as promotions, pay raises, retention, and self assessment. Mr. Culbert says that reviews are baloney and managers feel they cause conflict, but they are necessary to protect companies from wrongful termination charges or even charges of discrimination. The question then becomes does the reviews really tell who you are? Are they a valuable part of a company's values and mission? Also, do these reviews affect one's attitude? Costco Wholesale a company I work for and am familiar with uses their reviews as an assessment to how well an employee has performed over the last 12 months. Its use comes with mix reviews. In this particular case the reviews are used to determine promotions, but are not used to determine raises, so managers feel that no matter how good or bad a person performs they are still rewarded extrinsically. There are no consequences for bad behavior in a performance review at Costco other than the possibility of not being able to transfer to another location, but there are ways around that. Employees do not take the time to think about the questions in the review or even in many mangers opinion, care what the review reflects. Performance reviews are an essential part to a company and as long as a company strives for success, the need to have good people on your team is a valuable asset.

PROBLEM

A company's top priority should be treating employees as highly valuable, irreplaceable assets that will provide the development, innovation, and skills necessary to make a company a success. Companies that have frozen outside hiring are looking closely at whether the people on their staff are in the right jobs (McGregor, 2009). Most companies' top management is well aware that quality people, especially quality leaders, are the primary key to corporate success. It has become clear that it is crucial for organizations to hire and retain the right people and provide them with training if they expect to produce a competitive advantage. However, hiring the right people tends not to be the easiest assignment in today's marketplace. John Robak states, "Even well-known organizations with the best reputations are finding that they have to do much more to stand out as a preferred place to work in the new employee-centric environment. Becoming an employer of choice can be both an effective human resources strategy and a competitive business advantage for winning the battle to attract and retain loyal, high-performance talent (Robak 2007, ¶2)."

Literature Review

On December 1, 2008 the National Bureau of Economic Research declared the United States was in a recession. A recession is where there is a decline, cutback and a loss of prosperity, and economical activity. It affects many things like jobs, the job market, houses, the housing market, banks, the stock market, and many other areas. The hardest thing to accept during a recession is the decline in the job market. The unemployment rate in December was 9.4 percent. The lack of jobs is due to many reasons such as downsizing, outsourcing, or shutting down. People are now faced with larger work workloads, demotions in positions and unemployment. The lack of jobs and the amount of people in need of a job has caused a lot of depression. Although there is lots of depression, stress is on the raise within the workplace.

Stress is tension from extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities. Life is surrounded by many stressors, negative and positive. A stressor is a stimulus that causes stress. Some negative stressors are family arguments, disappointment over not getting a promotion or raise, or concern about family finances. Some positive stressors are weddings, child birth, visiting with distant family and friends, or just the anticipation of a special event. Work is stress and with that stress come a lot of sacrifices, physically and mentally. On the job stress is being overworked: working late, taking work home or not taking vacation. Impending layoffs, being in the wrong career and conflict with a boss or co-worker can also cause stress. As people graduate from higher learning many of them are forced to seek employment in areas not related to their degree and that has caused work performance in companies to suffer. Those already in the working world are facing many uncertainties and the need to perform the "correct" way on a job is in demand now more than ever.

Companies are relying on their management staff to meet their budget demands as well as hold their staff accountable for their actions. One of the ways to keep track of employees work habits is through their evaluations. This is where stress begins; the evaluation now becomes the stressor.

After reading many articles I have found that HR should be focusing on getting more employee input, this will help shape ones opinion of a person and allow for evaluations to go more smoothly. Evaluations help tell a story, a story about who you are and what your work ethics are. The problem then becomes whose opinions are you really getting and is it trust worthy. When reading an evaluation an employee is not going to talk about any of their doubts, they're going to talk about all their successes (Culbert, 2010). Talking about your success is not enough anymore, being honest about how you really feel helps companies grow.

As HR employees and even mangers of companies, actively seeking employee input allows employees to influence their work environment as well as helps them feel that their work is meaningful and that they really make a difference. If we are to successfully compete for this restless workforce, we must rethink strategies. Simply put, attracting, motivating and retaining skilled, committed employees is as much marketing as it is management