Compensation and Benefits Package as Employees Aspect - Essay Example

Running head: analysis of a job 15th March Introduction As the demand for skilled workforce increases within local and foreign companies, human resources managers have come up with strategies that are focused at maintaining their workforce. Some of the major ways that organization are using to maintain productive and motivated work force is clear job descriptions, job analysis and benefits programs among others. Similarly, extensive training is offered in order to enhance the employee’s performance thus improving the productivity of the entire firm. As a way of ensuring that an organization creates strong positive relationship with all the stakeholders including the shareholders, employees, government among others, it is essential to ensure that ethical behaviors are fostered in an effective way. This paper aims at analyzing a job including its description, specifications as well as compensation and benefits package among other employee’s aspects. Job description Job description is important in every organization since the assist the managers in organizing their human resource. Additionally, job description helps the employees to understand their duties while at the same time they provide the workers with opportunities to be evaluated and advance their career. Below is my job description as an accountant in Peyton General Supplies. Description: Senior Accountant Senior Accountant job purpose: Monitoring the financial transaction of the organization, auditing, making monthly financial reports and supervising other staff in the Accounting department. Senior Accountant job duties: Undertaking and achieving the objectives of the accounting department human resources through effective selecting, orienting, training, counseling, delegating, scheduling and ensuring that employees maintains high level of discipline Additional duties includes planning, communicating the expectation of the jobs to other staff, appraising the performance, recommending compensation strategies and adhering to the procedures set by the management Contributing financial data and information for review by the top management team Monitoring cash requirements of the firm as well as bank balances Verifying cash disbursement and counterchecking the payment from debtors against the amount in the invoices as well as authorizing wire transfer Verifying costs and employees benefit invoices Participating in outside training and professional organization in order to develop more skills and be more productive Undertaking all accounting duties as needed by the management Skills: Accounting, benefits administration, audit, accounting computer software, developing budgets, high level of attention to details and general computation skills Job specification Experience Minimum of 3 years experience as an accountant in busy firm Experience in using QuickBooks accounting software Education qualification The candidate must be holding a bachelor degree in Commerce (Accounting option) or higher national diploma in Accounting Candidate must have a certificate in QuickBooks Skills and knowledge required High level of confidence One should have strong communication skills Ability to work with minimum supervision Good sense of judgment Ability to meet the deadline without compromising the quality of work One must be technology savvy One should have good leadership skills Compensation and benefits package According to Association of Graduate Recruiters 2013 survey, the staring salary of newly required accountant is £25,750. In my organization, Senior Accountant starting salary stands at £45,000. A survey conducted by Global Employee Assistance Programmes also indicates that many organizations are expanding the benefit program in order to improve the performance of the employees (Ross et al, 2004). In this regard, Peyton General Supplies offers various benefits as outlined below. Interest free graduate loan of £ 15,000 to buy attire in order for the accountant to be smart and decent Holiday allowances which stands at 30 days per year Personal insurance against accidents Pension scheme where the company contributes half and the employees contributes the other half Life assurance Paternity and maternity annual leave Annual training on the leadership and communication skills in the neighbouring universities Lunch allowances Childcare vouchers Staff discounts that includes automatic gym membership once a new worker is hired As indicated by Weiner (2000), employees are highly motivated when an employer indicates his or her interest on the social life of a worker. This is the major reason as to why Peyton General Supplies provides their Senior Accountant with annual paid holidays as well as maternity and paternity so that the employee can have ample time with his or her family. Traditional career stages The major stages in a career entail the development, exploration, establishment, maintenance stage and disengagement stage. In any of these stages, an individual acquires relevant skills that make him or her to improve his performance. Likewise, an individual masters skills that prepares him or her to go to the next stage. Development stage Development stage covers the time an individual is born up to 14 years. One aspect of this stage is that the child has more time to stay with the family and other children in the schools. Through the desire to affirm themselves, children behaviors are mostly determined by the people close to them. One of the major aspects in the development stage is the games that contribute to the creativity of a child (Tom, 2010). At the end, children have developed skills and abilities that make them to have ideas on their future career. Exploration stage Exploration stage starts from 15 to 24 years. During this period, individuals choose different careers depending with their interest and the training that they have undergone. One of the notable aspects of this stage is that individuals develop their job skills and knowledge that greatly assist them in undertaking their tasks. Establishment stage This stage starts from the age of 25 years to 44 years. Being the main career stage, establishment stage allows individuals to pursue their career depending on the choice they made in the exploration stage. However, some individuals believe that establishment stage gives them an opportunity to advance or change their career choices. Contrary to the other prior stages, establishment stage is made up of three periods that includes trail period, stable period and career crisis periods. Maintenance stage Ageing stage is the period between 45 years to 60 years. During this period, two aspects that include holding on and keeping up are notable. Additionally, individuals in this stage tend to experience stress while stability and safety are of standard level. While women at this stage see new chances of pursuing new career, accomplishment of career and health tend to be common in men. Disengagement stage Being the last period, disengagement stage the main characteristics includes deteriorated health, old age and reduction in sense of responsibility among others. Individuals in this stage have the opportunity of assisting the young individuals who are focused at developing their career. In my position as the Senior Accountant at Peyton General Supplies, I was in the exploration stage. Based on my interest in accounting and human resources development, I had an opportunity to develop my skills at that position an aspect that greatly made me to be successful in my duties. Plan to avoid declining employee performance During maintenance and disengagement stages, employee performance may decline. This may be indicated by employee’s stagnation or disengagement from their work. One of the reasons that may cause the stagnation and reduced performance is stress. Based on their old age, individuals within the two stages have a lot of responsibilities for example family matters and education of their children among others. As a result, the employees may undergo stress that may deteriorate leading to depression (Schultz and Schultz, 2010). Secondly, employees may disengage from their work due to poor health. It is worth to note that workers at these stages are not very strong as compared to individuals in the exploration stage and establishment stage. This implies that extreme weather conditions such as cold may affect the old workers due to low body resistance. Thirdly, employees may disengage from their duties due to renewed outside interest. This implies that workers may feel that other jobs outside their career are more profitable and better thus making them to leave their current positions. To avoid such stagnation, employees should seek for more counseling to avoid stress. Even though all the employees in various stages must be guided and counseled, employees in maintenance and disengagement stages must be given extra training for example by the use of professional external counselors. The problem of stagnation can also be addressed by going for medical check up. This will ensure that illnesses that might affect the old workers are treated at early stages. Workers can also negotiate with the employer in order to work on a part time basis (Alexander et al, 2000). In this way, they would have time to work for the current employer and still pursue their external interest without compromising their performance in the current position. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that employee’s performance largely depends on how well the employer provides the job description. On their part, potential employees must ensure that before they apply for positions in an organization, they have the required skills as indicated in the job specifications. Apart from the basic salaries that employees are given, employers who aim at improving the productivity of their human resource must ensure they adopt an effective benefits package including holidays, insurance, childcare vouchers and loans among others. As indicated in the paper, a career cycle is made up of five key stages that include development stage, Exploration stage, establishment stage, maintenance stage and disengagement stages. Being associated with disengagement, maintenance and disengagement stages may affect the productivity of a company if the employee and the employer do not address the issue such as stress, poor health and renewed internal interest experienced in the two stages. References Alexander, P., Ryan, R and Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 1. Ross, P., Ellipse, W and Freeman, E. (2004). Evaluation: A systematic approach. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Schultz, F and Schultz, D. (2010). Psychology and work today. New York: Prentice Hall. Tom, D.(2010). The 5 Career Stages. Available from http://blog.timesunion.com/careers/the-5-career-stages/385/. Retrieved on March 15, 2014. Weiner, B. (2000). Interpersonal and intrapersonal theories of motivation from an attributional perspective". Educational Psychology Review 12 (1): 1–14. Read More