The Hiring Process and Managing a Diverse Workforce - Coursework Example

The Hiring Process and Managing a Diverse Workforce Introduction The discussion is based on illustrating the hiring process of sales executives for a technology product manufacturing and marketing organization. The study will evaluate the recruitment methods, application procedure, applicant’s record maintenance, background check and employment tests for the recruitment process of sales executive. The discussion will also detail the processes to avoid discriminatory practices while hiring candidates for the job position. The further discussion will detail the policies for recruitment and promotional decisions as well as the challenges of the recruitment procedure. Finally, the study will offer recommendations to mitigate the adverse impact of the recruitment process. It will also offer different recommendations for reasonable accommodation of disabled employees as well as properly handle work-life conflicts of the workforce. Recruitment methods to avoid discriminatory practices The human resources department needs to consider different internal and external recruitment methods for proper search of talents as well as eliminating discrimination. The suitable recruitment methods include external sourcing through job portal and news paper advertisement, third-party sourcing and internal advertisement (Breaugh, 2014). The external sourcing process will include advertising the news and details of vacancy through different job portals, newspapers and trade publications. The design and content of job advertisement through different external sources need to target a wide range of applicants who are eligible and qualified for the position of sales executive within the organization. The advertisement should not specify any particular ethnicity, race or gender of the candidate. The advertisement of job vacancy through external sourcing should also not possess any discriminating content that discourages person with disability to apply for the position. The content should be neutral in terms of the physical condition of the employees (Breaugh, 2014). Third-party sourcing is another important recruitment method for sales executive in the organization. This process involves the utilization of different headhunters or placement agencies to find out qualified candidates for the job vacancy. The third-party sourcing organization will allow the management to select wide range of employees from different age, race, ethnicity and cultural backgrounds. The recruitment techniques of third party sourcing companies strictly follow the listed occupational requirement by the recruiting organization. Hence, it will not focus on any discriminating activities regarding race, disability, gender and culture. Most of the third-party recruitment agencies properly follow the employment laws. Therefore, it assists the organizations to structure their recruitment process within the boundaries of employment law (Price, 2011). Internal advertisement method of recruitment allows organization to select skilled employees from the existing workforce of the organization. This process will assist management to invite interested candidates within the organization by advertising through intranet, newsletter and application forms to apply for the sales executive position. This process follows a standard format of job application. Hence, it provides equal opportunities to all the employees to apply for the position. This recruitment process utilizes similar interview and aptitude procedure for all the applicants. The recruitment panel will evaluate the performance and score of the employees to analyze their suitability for the post. Therefore, it will not entertain any favoritism or discriminating behavior in recruitment process (Price, 2011). Application process The application procedure will include a number of steps that will enable the organization to properly accept all the application as well as adequately validate the suitability of the candidates as per the job requirement. The first step of application procedure is to determine the appropriate recruiting target. The organization need to assess the required educational background and work experience criteria for the suitable candidate for the position. The next step is to understand the decision criteria of the target. This step includes assessment of the key factors that will influence the candidates to apply for the job. After the assessment of job requirement and decision criteria of applicants, the management needs to analyze proper communicational channels for the targeted candidates. This process will be followed by job advertisement and employment branding. The advertisement of the application need to utilize all the feasible communicational channels such as newspaper, job portals, trade publications, intranet career forum, career forum of third-party consultant etc. The recruitment team also needs to identify the non-active prospects that are suitable for this job. Most of the cases, these are the skilled and qualified employees of competitor organizations. Therefore, the recruiters need to take initiatives to contact them, build relationship and convince them to apply through their direct sourcing. The next step involves the application process through the targeted candidates. The application mediums need to be simple, clear and crisp to avoid confusion and complexity faced by applicants. The organization will accept the application through soft copies via their own job career site, other job application portal and career forum of third-party consultants (Münstermann, et al. 2010). After the collection of application from desired candidates, the organization will indulge in validating the applications as per suitability of candidates according to the requirements. The resume of the candidates need to be primarily screened by the third-party organization. The consultants of third-party recruitment firm will strictly monitor the resumes as per the detailed criteria of the organization. The selected resumes will be sent to the human resources department of the organization where the second round of screening position will be conducted along with the resumes of the internal applicants and direct applicants. The next step will involve telephonic screening process which will assist the organization to determine which candidates are suitable for an interview. The next stage will include face-to-face interview to judge the proficiency and capability of the candidate to properly handle the job role of sales executive. The final step will involve the thorough verification of educational background, certification and job experiences to assess the appropriateness of the provided information (Münstermann, et al. 2010). Procedure to Maintain All Applicant Records This procedure of maintaining applicant records can be conducted through five steps, such as: The organizational rules and regulations need to be produced in written format and it needs to be accepted and signed by the employees or prospect candidates before they attend the selection process. All the communication with the prospect candidates needs to be documented and kept in separate files. Each file need to be maintained as a soft as well as hard copies named by the candidate. These files will contain all the copies of documents accrued from the applicants. All the files will contain the details about the recruiters who have conducted the resume screening process as well as the telephonic and face-to-face interview process. The interview process needs to be properly recorded and stored along with the respective file for future recommendation. This process will certainly require the written approval of the candidate. All the background check and employment test process need to be done through a written format which will be duly accepted and signed by the candidates (Carlson, et al., 2002). Background Check Process and Justification Background checking defines the procedure of authenticating the information gathered from the applicant through their resume and interview process (Brody, 2010). The verification of academic credentials is very important for the post of sales executive in the organization. The job role requires good knowledge about the technology products and their functioning. Hence, the candidate needs to possess bachelor degree in different streams of technology. The proper understanding of the product and their functioning is essential for efficient performance in the job role. Therefore, the organization needs to verify the educational background to ensure suitability with the job profile (Brody, 2010). Employment verification is also very essential to analyze the prior experience of the candidate. This verification process will provide authenticate details about the prior work experience of the candidate. It will also evaluate the performance, work commitment and expertise of the candidate. Therefore, it will assist the management to evaluate the appropriateness of the work experience of the candidate as per the job demand of the organization (Brody, 2010). Verification of the character certificate of the candidate as well as the criminal record will enable the recruiters to assess any past wrong deeds of the candidate. The employees in the sales executive job role are expected to communicate and build relationship with the clients and customers of the organization. The analysis of the criminal record and authentication of the character certificate will enable the management to reduce the chances of customer and organizational reputational loss (Brody, 2010). Employment Tests and Justification The employment tests comprises of a number of oral, written or other tests that enable the recruiters to assess the suitability of the candidate as per organizational standard and job role. The essential employment tests for the sales executive post of the organization includes, drug/alcohol test, cognitive test and physical fitness test (Newell, 2005). The drug and alcohol test is essential for any employment procedure of the organization. This testing will analyze the intensity of habituation of the candidate towards the consumption of drug or alcoholic products. This analysis will enable the recruiters to reduce the chances of workplace drug utilization. It also assists management to minimize the chances of workplace hazards as well as improper behavior with clients and customers (Newell, 2005). Cognitive test allows organization to examine the situational judgment, intelligence, memory and self-assessment capabilities of the candidates. The sales executives of the organization need to possess these skills and capabilities to properly handle the job responsibilities such as communicating with customers, following up the important clients, maintaining interpersonal relationship etc (Newell, 2005). Policy for Hiring and Promotional Decision Equal Opportunity The organization will provide equal opportunities to all the employees. None of the candidate will be denied for the employment due to their gender, race, color, ethnicity, age, disability and cultural background. The hiring process will be solely dependent on the academic eligibility as well as prior work experience of the candidates. Application Process Applications and resumes for the opening will be accepted through e-mail. The applications need to be collected as soft copy for the proper maintenance purposes. All the application submitted within the specified time frame will properly be entertained. The applications of interviewed employees will be retained for one year while other applications will be held for only 3 months. Eligibility The immediate members of the families of current employees will not be eligible for applying for the job vacancies. The family members of trustee boards will also be refrained from the job applications. Interviewing The interview process will be conducted through two stages. The primary screening interview will be done by the third-party consultants. The consultants will be provided with a structured questionnaire to follow. The second stage of the interview will be conducted by a panel of HR executives and sales director. The interview process will be totally dependent on the qualification of the candidate and job requirement of the position. The interview panel will also follow a certain questionnaire pattern which is pre-decided and common for each candidate. The form of ‘Recommendation for Hire’ will be sent with the copy of other document such as eligibility proofs, employment test results and resume of the candidate for the approval of the HR director. Background check Before offering the appointment to the selected candidate, a thorough background check needs to be conducted to analyze the employability of the candidate. After accepting the offer for the position, the candidate needs to undergo a drug/alcohol test within 3 days. Offer Within one week of the joining, the candidate will be provided properly structured appointment letter. After which the employee will be entitled for 15 days of training procedure. Promotion The selected employee will be eligible for any promotion after completing one year in the specified position. The promotional process will be conducted as per their work performance and managerial feedback. All the employees with desired performance record and good employment background will be entertained for the promotional process. Challenges and Adverse Impact of Using Subjective Criteria for Assessing Soft Skills Soft skills of employees depict their interaction procedure with other coworker and their relationship building capability. It also demonstrates their workplace professionalism as well as ability to solve problems. These skills include interpersonal communication, people management capacity and leadership capability (Joseph, et al. 2010). The subjective criteria of selection procedure provide very less opportunity to assess the personality of candidates which will be beneficial for companies to handle threats and generate innovative ideas. Asking different behavioral testing questions may help the interviewer to paint a holistic picture of candidate’s personality and soft skills. As there is no easily distinguishable right or wrong answer, a poor interviewer and interview process can disqualify a suitable candidate (Joseph, et al. 2010). Managerial biasness towards employees can also impose challenges to utilize subjective criteria in the assessment of right soft skills of candidate. According to the utilization process of subjective criteria, the recognition of soft skills is totally dependent on the judgment of the interviewing management. The major challenge with this process is that the subjective evaluation process may lead to discrimination. Therefore, this situation causes loss of skilled employees and diminishes the reputation of the organization (Joseph, et al. 2010). Plan to Mitigate the Adverse Impact The management needs to involve the third-party recruitment consultant in the assessment process of soft skill of the candidates which are essential for the job role. This process will enable the organization to reduce the impact of managerial biasness towards the assessment of employee soft skills. Most of these consultants are professionals in terms of assessing the skills, capabilities and personalities of candidates. Hence, the evaluation reports of these consultants will provide quite a clear view about the traits of the candidate. The interviewers need to conduct multiple levels of candidate conversation which must include soft skill tests as per practical situations. This process will provide better understanding of the personality traits of the candidate in comparison to one time question answer procedure (Joseph, et al. 2010). Recommendation for Reasonable Accommodation Reasonable accommodation defines that employers should provide proper accommodation to the qualified applicants with disabilities or with different religious believes and practices which will assist the candidates to secure equal opportunities in the workplace (Crampton, et al. 2003). The disabled applicant certainly requires different reasonable accommodations to ensure proper delivery of their performances as per the company norms. The organization needs to provide sufficient accommodation to the visually impaired applicants. The management should provide audio supports in terms of assessment tests and training materials to the visually challenged but qualified candidates. The hiring and promotional policies of the organization needs to include audio supports or qualified readers to properly deliver information to the visually challenged candidates (Crampton, et al. 2003). The special religious considerations also require reasonable accommodations. The leave requirement of employees from different religious background is different due to their religious practices. The practices of reasonable accommodation allow the management to restructure their leave policies as per the religious requirements of the employees. The management needs to properly assess the significant religious needs. Hence, they need to modify their work schedules and structure according to that assessment (League, 2012). Legal Barriers to Provide Reasonable Accommodation The federal law of reasonable accommodation process is only applicable for the organizations with more than 15 employees. Therefore, this legal framework provides no assistance to the smaller organizations for their reasonable accommodation process. The reasonable accommodation process for visually challenged employees requires excess expenses as well as governmental assistance. The legal barrier to provide reasonable accommodation assistance to small organization hampers the management to provide adequate facilities to the disabled but qualified employees (Crampton, et al. 2003). Legal restrictions have addressed the religious questions or queries regarding religious holidays as a discriminatory practice by the management and recruiters. These restrictions hinder the recruiters to gather proper knowledge about the religious practices of the candidates. Therefore, it disables the management to impose reasonable accommodation practices in the employment policies of the organization (League, 2012). Case of Affirmative Action Violation and Improper Management of Harassment Issues Affirmative action assists organization to reform policies in favor of disadvantageous groups that faces frequent discrimination. The affirmative action also promotes Equal Employment Opportunity policies within workplaces. The violation of affirmative action cause improper utilization of power and position within organization. It also eliminates equal opportunity rights of the employees. During November 2012, Caldwell Freight Lines has been charged by the court regarding alleged refusal in terms of hiring black applicants in their loading docks. According to this racial discrimination charge, near about 15 African American applicants has been denied employment opportunities despite of their significant experiences. The terms of consent decree has charged the organization to pay $120,000 to settle the case for violation of affirmative action (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2015). During October 2012, the federal district court of Texas had charged AA Foundries Inc. due to their improper management of racial harassment within workplace. The jury verdict has charged $200,000 to the organization for inefficient handling of the racial treatments and harassments of African American workers within their San Antonio plant. According to the charges, a number of African American employees have faced rigorous harassment and humiliation practices by their fellow co-workers. In reply to the employees, the supervisor had mentioned that it’s not a big deal in any workplace. Therefore, the organization denied in taking effective steps to stop those harassments. Apart from the fine, the court had directed the management to implement specific measures to restrict those practices. The court had also ordered the organization to conduct an hour long of equal employment opportunity training within every 60 days (Antoine, et al. 2011). Action Plan Recommendation and Justification The organization needs to reform their hiring policies to eliminate any violation of affirmative actions. The hiring policies will strictly follow the required education qualification, relevant work experience and performance record in the selection and interview process for choosing the suitable employee for the organization. The recruitment board will strictly monitor the proper abidance of the management and other staff of recruitment process towards the guidelines of equal employment opportunities. The employee promotion procedure also needs to follow a strict guideline which influences the management to consider the employment relationship, job duration and performance of employees to entitle them for promotions. This action plan is essential to eliminate the violation of affirmative action within organization. This process will enable the management to properly appreciate the skills and competence of the employees. The employees of the organisation need to be provided with proper training regarding the behavioral practices towards different gender, race or ethnic employees of the organization. The cultural discussion and communication programs need to be organized to increase the awareness of the employees. This process will eliminate the threats of harassments. It will also enhance the collaboration in the team efforts. Therefore, it will enable organization to increase its profitability. Work-Life Conflicts Policy to solve it with justification One of the major work-life conflicts is the health and safety issues of employees in the workplaces. The excessive work pressure, rigorous competition and unhealthy work location can cause health related issues for the workforce of the organization. The improper handling of safety measurement in workplace and outdoor assignments can also affect the personal life of the employees (Albertsen, et al. 2014). Extended working hours and time demanded by both family and job location can also create work-life conflict for the sales executive of the organization. Inflexibility of work schedule and long working hours can hamper the balance of personal and professional life of the employees. Therefore, it can cause stress and demoralization of the workforce (Albertsen, et al. 2014). Improper wage structure can also cause work-life conflict for the sales executives of the organization. The inadequate wage structure can cause dissatisfaction within the employees. It can also impose difficulties to the employees to properly lead their personal life with the poorly managed wage structure (Albertsen, et al. 2014). Policies to Resolve This Conflicts with Justification The employers need to consider the health and safety law of employment to provide healthy and safe work location to the employees. The organization must conduct health checkups for the employees after every three months to ensure the well being of the workforce. The management also needs to conduct awareness campaigns to enlighten the employees regarding different healthy lifestyle for the betterment of their families. The management should review their workplace and field work safety measurement frequently. The employees need to be provided compensation regarding any safety issues. This process will enable the management to maintain the proper health and well being of the organization. Therefore, it will reduce the employee turnover rate (Jones, et al. 2013). The maximum hours of work per day and weeks need to be determined as per the employment law of working hours. The policy will be set in such a way that it does not allow employees to work more than 8 hours a day. Therefore, it will enable the employees to take proper rest. It will also assist them to balance their personal and professional life (Jones, et al. 2013). The wages of the employees need to be determined as per minimum wage structure of employment law. The employer must follow the minimum wage structure per hours when offering the job post to the employees. Additional benefits and perks also need to be decided and delivered to ensure work motivation of the employee. This process will allow the employee to lead a good life. Hence, it will enhance the performance of the employees (Jones, et al. 2013). Conclusion The overall discussion of this study has evaluated different recruitment methods for the sales executive position within a technology manufacturing and marketing organization. The discussion has evaluated different process of eliminating discrimination from the workforce and recruitment process. The discussion has detailed the proper procedure of application collection and maintenance as well as background check and employment test of the candidates. Therefore, it has demonstrated the policy for employee hiring and promotion within the organization. The study has also thoroughly discussed the challenges of the recruitment process. It has emphasized on the reasonable accommodation process for the disabled as well as other ethnic employees. It has illustrated different cases of affirmative action violation and employee harassment by organizations. Therefore, it has suggested action plans to eliminate these practices from the organization. Finally, the discussion has detailed different work-life conflicts and their solutions as per employment law. References Albertsen, K., Garde, A. H., Nabe-Nielsen, K., Hansen, Å. M., Lund, H., & Hvid, H. (2014). Work-life balance among shift workers: results from an intervention study about self-rostering. 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