HRM 7000 WEEK 6 – Assignment: Review Organizational Benefits for Various Work Groups
Week 6
Benefit Plans to Meet Specific Needs
In addition to compensation, organizations offer varying benefits as part of their strategy to attract and retain talent. Benefits, which are generally non-monetary compensation, actually extend the monetary pay received by employees and provide additional value to the employee. It also allows organizations to design reward systems that promote health, loyalty, retirement planning, and overall well-being. Benefit programs tend to be costly for most organizations. Even though they may help meet the needs of employees, they must also be cost-effective and legally compliant.
For organizations that operate globally, the designing of a benefits package can be more challenging. Each country may perceive the value of benefits differently, and legal requirements for benefits may vary from country to country. Also, some countries do not require organizations to provide benefits to their employees. Human resource professionals must understand that value, cultural, and legal perceptions and differences exist and they must conduct thorough research of the local laws in the countries where organizations operate. It would also be wise to seek consultation from local experts to help confirm benefits practices that are in alignment with local laws and cultural norms.
For example, everyone deserves to enjoy a vacation or leave from time to time and for various occasions such as a birth or an illness. Therefore, many organizations incorporate various leave plans into their benefits approach to appropriately meeting the needs of their employees. The approach to leave plans, however, can be heavily regulated from country to country. Some countries mandate a specified period to be absent from work before it is considered a leave. Because of this, there are different perceptions and approaches to leave plans as some of these are also embedded in the culture. Therefore, it is important for human resources to understand the expectations of employees, along with government regulations surrounding leave in its multiple forms across various countries. An example is the United States practice of observing leave through the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
FMLA is available to eligible employees based on employees meeting a number of working hours on both a part-time and full-time level. This means employees can take job-protected leave for up to 12 weeks to care for themselves or an immediate family member. The HR practitioner works with an employee to ensure proper forms and physician approval is obtained. The HR practitioner also works alongside an employee’s manager for the duration of the leave to help meet staffing needs. FMLA applies only to those employees who work for a covered American employer with 50 or more employees, have been employed for at least 12 months, and are employed at a worksite within the United States. The hours that an American working overseas accrues does not count towards the FMLA.
Internationally, most countries provide some type of maternal leave. But the amount of leave granted varies from country to country from 2 months to 18 months. Some countries also grant paternal leave so a father can be home with a newborn child. For example, in Canada, basic maternity leave is 15 weeks. Thereafter, either the mother or father can take an additional 35 weeks of paid parental leave at 55% of their wage up to a certain pre-determined limit. In addition, new mothers are provided with job protection for up 63 weeks of unpaid leave (Pantekoek, 2020).
This is just one example; there are many other types of leaves such as vacation or holiday leave, military leave, training leave, and more.
Retirement is another key benefit that organizations can offer. Company-based pension plans are practically non-existent, so organizations develop retirement plans to help employees save for retirement. Retirement plans can be very financially challenging for organizations. The resources needed to fund such plans are dependent upon an organization’s profits. Start-up companies often have to use any profits for company sustainability and growth, with no additional resources to fund retirement plans. In some industries, retirement is guided and/or mandated by local or state laws, but there are several industries that are not held to offering retirement benefits or packages.
The use of retirement as opposed to company pension plans means that the employee must be more responsible for their retirement planning. Human resources provide the employee with information on what the organization offers in terms of retirement plan options. Then, the employee either works with a financial advisor or does their own research on what financial vehicles would be appropriate in building a suitable retirement portfolio.
So, what are examples of retirement options? In public domains such as fire and police departments, retirement is expressed as pension plans. In teaching or nonprofit organizations, 403b matching plans are offered. And in for-profit companies, it is common to find 401k plans. Remember, 403b and 401k are widely known as contributions plans. The matching provided within each plan can vary with each employer.
Some companies are at times limited in offering retirement options, so individual employees may look outside of their employer to supplement their individual retirement plans. Examples include personal investing and employee-sponsored retirement accounts that employees contribute to. While this increases responsibilities for employees, there are additional options available to them outside of employer offerings.
This week, you will review various benefits programs and how they are related to overall employee well-being. You will also view other types of benefits programs such as health and wellness, disability, unemployment, insurance, retirement, and more. You will also learn how different generations of workers and workgroups value some benefits more than others.
Your assignment this week is to create a brochure. Word offers many templates to choose from. Be sure to identify your targeted audience for your brochure content. Then, develop your content (e.g., if you are focusing on a process, then detail the steps of the process; if you are focusing on a plan or program, then offer details about the important aspects of the plan or program). When appropriate, include appropriate graphics to complement your content. Your goal is to produce a creative brochure that your targeted audience will read, share, and find useful.
References
Pantekoek, K. (2020). Paid parental leave in the U.S. vs. other developed countries. FindLaw.
Weekly Resources and Assignments
Review the resources from the Course Resources link, located in the top navigation bar, to prepare for this week’s assignments. The resources may include textbook reading assignments, journal articles, websites, links to tools or software, videos, handouts, rubrics, etc.
Week 6 Resources
• Employee Benefits Design and Compensation (Collection)
Biswas, B. D. (2014). Employee benefits design and compensation (collection). FT Press. eISBN: 978-0133764710
Read Chapter 1: Introduction: Setting the Stage.
• The WorldatWork Handbook of Compensation, Benefits & Total Rewards: A Comprehensive Guide for HR Professionals
WorldatWork. (2007). The WorldatWork handbook of compensation, benefits & total rewards: A comprehensive guide for HR professionals. Wiley. ISBN: 978-0470085806
Read Chapter 20: Planning Benefits Strategically, and Chapter 21: Implementing Flexible Benefits.
• Shifting Patterns: With 10,000 Baby Boomers Leaving the Workforce Every Day, Business Leaders Can No Longer Afford to Ignore the “R” Word
Agovino, T. (2018). Shifting Patterns: With 10,000 Baby Boomers leaving the workforce every day, business leaders can no longer afford to ignore the “r” word. HR Magazine, 63(5), 54–60.
• A Total Rewards Framework for the Attraction of Generation Y Employees Born 1981–2000 in South Africa
Bussin, M. H. R., Mohamed-Padayachee, K., & Serumaga-Zake, P. (2019). A total rewards framework for the attraction of Generation Y employees born 1981–2000 in South Africa. South African Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(1), 1–14.
• Exploration of the Reward Preferences of Generational Groups in a Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Organisation
Fobian, D., & Maloa, F. (2020). Exploration of the reward preferences of generational groups in a fast-moving consumer goods organisation. South African Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(1), 1–11.
• A Person-Organization Fit Model of Generation Z: Preliminary Studies
Graczyk-Kucharska, M., & Erickson, G. S. (2020). A person-organization fit model of Generation Z: Preliminary studies. Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, 16(4), 149-166.
Week 6 – Assignment: Review Organizational Benefits for Various Work Groups
Instructions
Benefits and compensation are often one of an organization’s highest operating costs, but also critical to their ability to attract and retain key talent.
You work in Human Resources within a manufacturing company, and your Director has asked you to develop a brochure that depicts the various benefits offered by the organization. This brochure will be provided to newly hired employees as part of their onboarding process. The brochure should address the following:
• Explain the benefits that are required by law in a U.S.-based company.
• Indicate available benefit choices for three distinct workgroups within the company. Consider that one of the groups may be unionized or work at the plant’s European facility.
• Explain how the organization uses those benefits to help support employees’ hiring and retention and why certain benefits have been chosen.
Your brochure can be in any format you like, using programs such as Word or Adobe.
You are encouraged to include graphics, charts, and any other supportive visual aids.
Length: 2-3 pages, not including title and reference pages
References: Include a minimum of 3 scholarly references.
Your brochure should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards where appropriate
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