HRM website is Power of Civilization - Term Paper Example

ConocoPhillips’s HRM website analysis of Table of Contents Introduction 3 Time off and pay policies 3 Work Schedule and Overtime 4 Service Recognition Policy 5 Financial Assistance 5 Conclusion 6 References 7 Appendices 8 Introduction ConocoPhillips, headquartered in Houston, Texas is primarily engaged in the exploration, development and production of bitumen, crude oil, liquefied natural gas, natural gas and natural gas liquids worldwide (ConocoPhillips, 2013a). The underlying reason behind the company’s existence is to power civilization. The key focus of the company lies in safe operation and production of assets, execution of existing projects and exploration of new sources of energy in prospective areas. ConocoPhillips’s portfolio includes assets in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. This has enabled the company to grow its North American shale and oil sands businesses, number of international development projects and an international exploration program. The company is highly active in a broad range of geographic and geologic settings that includes some of the world’s most challenging regions. From the arid desert to the frozen Arctic, ConocoPhillips has an excellent proven track record of efficiently and responsibly finding and producing natural gas and oil (ConocoPhillips, 2013b). The highly skilled and experienced employee base of ConocoPhillips has been a key determine of the company’s success over the last few years. This is why the company’s has gone a step forward to draft the human resource management policies in such a way that they offer substantial benefits to the employees. By doing so, the company has been largely successful in maintaining a stable employee retention rate over the last few years. This study will involve an in-depth analysis of the human resource management policies followed within the organization. The main policies to be evaluated are time off and pay policies, work schedule and overtime policies, service recognition and financial assistance policies. Time off and pay policies The time off and pay polices state the various leave with pay and leave without pay that can be availed by the employees of ConocoPhillips. The policies have been appropriately highlighted in the HRM website of the company and include sections for U.S holidays, vacations, personal illness/child birth/injury leave, provisions for applying leave in case of family illness/death, community service leave policy, military leave policy, excused leaves with pay related to house transfer, office closure due to natural disasters or cases of damaged personal property due to natural disaster (ConocoPhillips, 2013d). Each and every leave policies and regulations have been duly stated that enables the employees to be informed about the leaves that they are due to receive or the leaves that can be availed in case of any adverse scenarios. The policies have been well structured where each and every factor such as purpose, eligibility, definitions, provisions, benefits and reporting requirements have been explained in details (ConocoPhillips, 2013e). This enables the employees to understand the eligibility requirements of availing such leaves as and when required. As the mission statement of the company’s HRM website reads, “Enabling business success through people” (ConocoPhillips, 2013c), it is clearly evident from the leave policies that the company has been following this statement thoroughly. They have taken into account every possible scenario that might require an employee to request for al leave and as such the policies have been drafted according to the convenience of the employees. This is the sign of a world class organization that is highly concerned about the well being of their employees. The policies are very easy to understand and the overall website is very convenient to navigate. The main strength of this particular section of the HRM website is that users can very easily understand the options that should be selected according to the type of leave that they want to apply. The researcher was able to identify this strength when the websites of The Hartford Insurance was navigated. A lot of options were highlighted in the website; however there were no proper heading which made it quite difficult for the researcher to find out the exact option that was required. On the other hand, one of the major weaknesses of this section of ConocoPhillips’s HRM website is that there was no mention of the date at which the policies were updated. This can confuse the employees regarding the fact whether the policies are incompliance with the current rules and regulations or not. Work Schedule and Overtime The work schedule and overtime policies supports the usage of various work periods that are have been designed in order to meet employee as well as business needs. According to the guideline specified within the policy, regular full time employees are required to work for 40 hours over five days. The guidelines also specify the time allocated for lunch break. Rogations have also been stated for part time employees whose working hours are less than 40 hours a week. ConocoPhillips have outlined distinct guidelines for both regular full time employees as well as temporary employees that enable them to understand the amount of commitment that is expected from them. The guidelines clearly specify the working hours that are to be devoted by the employees on a particular day. By doing so the company wants to ensure that no employees work more that what is expected of them. This suggests that the company is very responsible towards their employees. This is very evident from the fact that the management does not pressurize the employees to work more than what is required and compromise their personal lives. The human resource management policies of ConocoPhillips have been framed in such a way that workers are able to achieve a balance between their work life and personal life. However, it is obvious that there are times when the company might require the employees to do overtime in case if there is huge work load. In such cases the company realizes the fact that the workers needs to be compensated appropriately for the extra work load that is being imposed on them. As such the company has also drafted a proper over time policy that states the all the necessary information regarding the requirements as well as the wages to be paid for doing overtime. There are different work schedules such as 9/80 and 19/30. The rules for each of the work schedules are different in some aspects and the same has been clearly stated within the work schedule and overtime guidelines. For example, employees who fall under the category of the 19/30 work scheduled are allowed to work for more hours on a particular day in exchange for a leave applied in a particular month (ConocoPhillips, 2013f). This option is not available for the employees working under the 9/80 work schedule. This highlights that the company is concerned about the employees and they do understand the fact that employees may require a day off due to any circumstances. Thus, they have been given the option to compensate for the day’s work by working extra hours on another day and the same time avoid losing any money. One of the strengths that has been witnessed in this case is that, at the end of the policy document, the contact details of the HR department has provided in order for the employees to contact the department in case if they have any issues. Service Recognition Policy The underlying purpose of this policy is to recognize and outline the different service dates that will be used to determine the eligibility of an employee the benefits that they can receive. This policy has been effective on and from August 30, 2002 and is applicable for active employees on the direct dollar payroll of a company. The fundamental objective of this policy is to inform the employees regarding the fact that their performance will be evaluated on a consistent basis on certain specific dates. Based on the evaluations of the employees, performance appraisal will be given to them. The performance appraisal can be in the form of hike in salary, performance recognition and promotion. The guidelines specified under this policy states the benefits that employees will receive once they are promoted from a temporary status to permanent status as well the benefits that will be withdrawn if their employability status is converted from being regular to temporary. ConocoPhillips also has criteria called the Vacation Eligibility Date in which the company assesses the credential of employees who worked for a different company prior to joining this company. The data is utilized in order to determine an employee’s recognized services for certain programs and benefits. Under this policy, the human resource manager is required to evaluate the relevance of the employee’s performance to the position and function for which the employee is being recruited in the company. On the basis of relevance of prior experience of the employee, the vacation effective date will be determined (ConocoPhillips, 2013f). Thus, this policy is highly beneficial for those employees who have substantial amount of work experience that is relevant to the company’s requirements. By giving such a flexibility ConocoPhillips is being able to achieve a two way objective; one of which is to achieve a higher employee satisfaction and retention rate. The second objective is that by hiring such a skilled and experienced employee, the company is being able to achieve greater efficiency and henceforth productivity. The company has drafted the service recognition policy in such a way that it makes the employees realize the importance of their contribution towards the company. Thus, it encourages them to show greater level of commitment towards the management of the company. One of the major weaknesses of this policy is that it was last updated on 1st January 2013. Thus it fails to consider any modifications that might have been done in the federal policies regarding service recognition. Financial Assistance The fundamental objective of ConocoPhillips behind providing financial assistance is to support the employees who want to pursue higher education relevant to the career. In addition, the company also provides financial assistance to those who have personal needs related to adoption, dependent education and natural disaster expanses. The company has tuition reimbursement policies which have been designed in order to enable employees to enhance the skills and knowledge which in turn will augment their job effectiveness. The reimbursements are offered to both full time and part time employees. This highlights that the company gives equal opportunities to all its employees irrespective of their employability status. This is the mark of a highly moral and ethical organization. The organizational culture followed within the organization is highly supportive and offers a good working environment for its employees. The company also has dependent scholarship program that offers scholarships to students who are defendants of employees working for them (ConocoPhillips, 2013h). ConocoPhillips also provides financial assistance to employees who plan to adopt a child. They also provide finance in order to help employees bear expenditures in case of natural devastates. The guidelines regarding the eligibility criteria for employees to avail such benefits have been clearly stated in website. This enables the employees to apply if they deem themselves to be appropriate. This suggests that the management follows a team or sound style of leadership where they show equal concern for both the wellbeing of their employees as well as the productivity of the company (Zeidan, 2009). These policies are apt strategies implemented by ConocoPhillips in order to stimulate the commitment level of their employees which in turn will impact the financial performance of the company. By implementing such strategies the company aims to gain significant competitive advantage in terms recruiting and retaining highly skilled and experienced employees in the long run. Conclusion Having done an in-depth analysis of the HRM policies of the ConocoPhillips, it can be said that the company has framed highly effective policies that are highly employee centric. The company has been following these policies over the last decade and this has enabled them to achieve high employee satisfaction and retention rate. This has subsequently transformed into higher productivity of the company which in turn has enhanced their financial performance significantly over the last few years. The HRM policies of the company reflect its global status that it has been maintaining since its establishment and management envisions maintaining the same in the long run. References ConocoPhillips. (2013a). Our company. Retrieved from http://www.conocophillips.com/who-we-are/our-company/Pages/default.aspx ConocoPhillips. (2013b). What we do. Retrieved from http://www.conocophillips.com/what-we-do/Pages/default.aspx ConocoPhillips. (2013c). ConocoPhillips Human Resources. Retrieved from http://hr.conocophillips.com/Pages/default.aspx ConocoPhillips. (2013d). Time off & pay policies. Retrieved from http://hr.conocophillips.com/policies-and-programs/time-off-and-pay-policy/Pages/default.aspx ConocoPhillips. (2013e). ConocoPhillips Excused leave with pay. Retrieved from http://hr.conocophillips.com/Documents/SMID_063_ExcusedLeaveWithPayPolicy.pdf ConocoPhillips. (2013f). ConocoPhillips U. S. Work Schedule Guidelines. Retrieved from http://hr.conocophillips.com/Documents/SMID_147_Work_Sched_Guidelines.pdf ConocoPhillips. (2013g). Financial Assistance. Retrieved from http://hr.conocophillips.com/policies-and-programs/financial-assistance/Pages/default.aspx ConocoPhillips. (2013g). U.S. Service Recognition. Retrieved from http://hr.conocophillips.com/Documents/SMID_053_Service_Recognition_final.pdf Zeidan, H. (2009). The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid Identifying five different leadership styles. The Certified Accountant, 39, 82-85. Appendices Appendix 1 1) Is the human resources online area convenient& easy to navigate for employees? Yes 2) Is there a published human resources department organization chart? No 3) Does human resources department position have a mission and/or vision statement? Yes 4) Is there an Organization policy regarding personal use of the Organization’s computers? No 5) Are equal employment policies, procedures, and activities regu­larly reviewed to ensure compliance with applicable legislation and regulations? Yes 6) Does the Organization have an equal employment opportunity/ anti-harassment policy? Yes 7) Have all required EEO and sexual harassment posters been prominently displayed for all employees and candidates to see? No 8) Do all of the Organization’s advertisements for employment identify the Organization as an equal opportunity employer? Yes 9) Are all required safety, security, and environmental notices post­ed on appropriate bulletin boards or available on the Organiza­tion’s Web site? Yes 10) Does the Organization have a policy regarding safety and envi­ronmental conditions? Yes 11) Are visitors required to have photo identification? No 12) Is a procedure in place for what to do in the event that a person wants to enter the Organization’s facilities without the required ID? No 13) Does the Organization have an emergency evacuation procedure? Yes 14) Does the Organization have published employee relations poli­cies and procedures? Yes 15) Does an employee handbook or Organization Web site describe for employees the conditions of employment? Yes 16) How often are policies and procedures re­viewed? Last update: 01/01/2014 17) Is there a handbook, manual, or Web site for supervisors and managers on how to administer the Organization’s policies and procedures? No 18) Is an external employee assistance, psychological, or counseling service available for employees? Yes 19) Are employee opinion surveys or other methods used to deter­mine employee climate and morale? No 20) Does the human resources department conduct exit interviews? Yes 21) Does the Organization have rules, guidelines, and regulations regarding employee behavior? Yes 22) Does the Organization have a performance improvement or dis­ciplinary procedure? Yes 23) Must disciplinary measures be initiated within a specified time of the actions requiring the discipline? Yes 24) If you have a disciplinary policy and procedure, has it been dis­tributed and communicated to all employees? Yes 25) Does a handbook, manual, or Web site for supervisors and man­agers explain how to administer the Organization’s disciplinary policy and procedure? Yes 26) Does the Organization’s disciplinary policy and procedure pro­vide a method for an employee to appeal? No 27) Is there an employee grievance procedure or other formal pro­cedure for resolving employees’ complaints? Yes, a grievance procedure 28) Does an employee handbook or Organization Web site location describe the Organization’s grievance procedure for employees? Yes 29) Are equal employment policies, procedures, and activities regu­larly reviewed to ensure compliance with applicable legislation and regulations? No 30) Does the Organization have an equal employment opportunity/ anti-harassment policy? Yes 31) Do all of the Organization’s advertisements for employment identify the Organization as an equal opportunity employer? 32) Does the Organization have a procedure for employees to re­quest an accommodation for their physical requirements? No 33) Are open positions posted on the Organization’s Web site? Yes Read More