Human resources and labor relations
Evaluated by points, the maintenance technician position is worth more than the product engineer position, but it pays less: it sits 17 index points below the salary line. Job evaluation brings such internal inequities to light.
01The human resources functions
People are the resource that decides how all the others are used. The human resources area takes care of their complete cycle in the company:
| Function | What it does |
|---|---|
| Planning | Estimates how many people and with what profiles are needed, based on the production plans |
| Recruitment and selection | Attracts candidates and chooses, through interviews, technical tests and references, the one who best fits the position |
| Onboarding and training | Integrates newcomers and develops everyone’s competencies, including safety training |
| Performance appraisal | Compares what was achieved with what was expected and guides training and career |
| Compensation | Sets salaries that are equitable between positions and competitive against the market |
| Health, safety and well-being | Safe working conditions, as covered in occupational risk management |
02Motivation
The Hawthorne studies showed that performance does not depend on pay alone. Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs —physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization— in which the higher ones motivate when the lower ones are met. Herzberg distinguished hygiene factors —salary, conditions, supervision—, whose absence produces dissatisfaction but whose presence does not motivate, from motivators —achievement, recognition, responsibility, the work itself—. McGregor contrasted two management assumptions: Theory X, which sees the worker as someone who avoids effort and has to be controlled, and Theory Y, which sees the worker as capable of self-direction if the work has meaning.
03Point-factor job evaluation
For salaries to be equitable, different positions have to be compared with the same yardstick. In the point-factor method, factors are chosen —education, experience, responsibility, effort, working conditions—, a weight is assigned to them, each degree of each factor is described and the position is rated, not the person who holds it:
Five factors with weights education 25, experience 20, responsibility 25, effort 15 and conditions 15, in degrees from 1 to 5. The blue dots are five benchmark positions with their salary index (operator 100); the line is the fit. The yellow dot is the position being evaluated with the chosen degrees.
04Labor relations
Labor relations link the company, the workers and their unions, and the State. The working conditions of each industry are set in collective agreements, negotiated between employers’ chambers and unions, which establish job categories, minimum wages, working hours and leave above the legal minimums. In Argentina, the general framework is the Employment Contract Law (Ley de Contrato de Trabajo), No. 20,744, which was covered in labor law; like any rule, its current text should be consulted on InfoLEG (the national legislative information service). Conflicts are channeled through negotiation, conciliation and, where applicable, direct action; a good work climate prevents them.
05In the laboratory
Write the description and profile of the test technician position at an electronics company: tasks, responsibilities, requirements.
In groups, evaluate three positions of the university laboratory with the point-factor method and compare the results between groups.
Read the job categories of the collective agreement for the electronics or metalworking industry and place the evaluated positions within them.
06Common mistakes
- Evaluating the person instead of the position. Job evaluation rates what the position demands, not how its holder performs it.
- Believing that salary motivates everything. Its absence demotivates, but its presence is not enough.
- Selecting only for technical knowledge. Teamwork and communication weigh as much as technical skill.
- Quoting a law from memory. Rules change; the current text has to be consulted.
07Self-assessment
How many points does a position with degrees 3, 2, 3, 2 and 2 have?
\( 25 \cdot 3 + 20 \cdot 2 + 25 \cdot 3 + 15 \cdot 2 + 15 \cdot 2 = 250 \).
What salary index does the lab’s pay line give it?
About 118.
What are Herzberg’s hygiene factors?
Those that, if absent, produce dissatisfaction, but whose presence does not motivate: salary, conditions, supervision.
What does a collective agreement establish?
The categories, minimum wages, working hours and other working conditions of an industry, above the legal minimums.
08Further reading
- Idalberto Chiavenato. Gestión del talento humano. McGraw-Hill. (In Spanish.) The human resources functions, from selection to compensation.
- Gary Dessler. Human Resource Management. Pearson. (Spanish edition: “Administración de recursos humanos”.) Job evaluation and compensation systems, with cases.
- Frederick Herzberg. One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? Harvard Business Review, 1968. The classic article on hygiene factors and motivators.