Personnel Policies: Objectives, Principles, Sources and Other Information!

According to Dale Yoder ‘a policy is pre-determined selected course— established as a guide towards
accepted goals and objectives’.

A personnel policy should have two types of objectives viz., general objectives and specific objectives.
General objectives express top management’s philosophy of human resources whereas specific
objectives refer to specific activities like staffing, training, wages and, motivation.

Objectives:

1. Optimum Use of Human Resources:

Every organisation tries to make use of the available human resources to the best of their capabilities.
Right men should be selected for the right jobs. With the help of personnel policies, jobs are defined and
responsibilities of the personnel are specified so that there are no square pegs in the round holes.

2. Training Of Everyone:

The other main object of personnel policies is to train and develop everyone so as to make them
competent for doing their job. Only a trained worker can do his job efficiently. The personnel policies must
encourage healthy and constructive competition among the workers and also provide an opportunity for
development and growth of an individual.

3. Sound Industrial Relations:

Personnel policies aim at creating sound industrial relations and tend to establish conditions for mutual
confidence and understanding. Workers are encouraged to put forward constructive suggestions and are
given participation through joint management councils and works committees. All this leads to industrial
peace. Many operational problems are avoided by having well formulated policies.

4. Payment of Fair Wages:

Personnel policies must aim at ensuring the employees that they will be given fair wages for the work
done by them.

5. Security of Employment:

One of the objectives of personnel policies is to provide security of employment to the workers. Such
policies provide an efficient consultative service which aims at creating mutual faith among those who
work in the enterprise. All types of doubts relating to loss of employment are cleared from the minds of
workers. Thus, social as well as economic security is provided to workers.

6. Respecting Human Dignity:

Personnel policies ensure fair treatment to all irrespective of caste, colour and creed and aim at
respecting the human dignity. Workers are offered good and healthy working conditions.

MANPOWER PLANNING
Manpower Planning which is also called as Human Resource Planning consists of putting right number of
people, right kind of people at the right place, right time, doing the right things for which they are suited for
the achievement of goals of the organization. Human Resource Planning has got an important place in
the arena of industrialization. Human Resource Planning has to be a systems approach and is carried out
in a set procedure. The procedure is as follows:

1. Analysing the current manpower inventory

2. Making future manpower forecasts
3. Developing employment programmes
4. Design training programmes

Steps in Manpower Planning

1. Analysing the current manpower inventory- Before a manager makes forecast of future
manpower, the current manpower status has to be analysed. For this the following things have to
be noted-
 Type of organization
 Number of departments
 Number and quantity of such departments
 Employees in these work units

Once these factors are registered by a manager, he goes for the future forecasting.

2. Making future manpower forecasts- Once the factors affecting the future manpower forecasts
are known, planning can be done for the future manpower requirements in several work units.

The Manpower forecasting techniques commonly employed by the organizations are as follows:

i. Expert Forecasts: This includes informal decisions, formal expert surveys and Delphi
technique.
ii. Trend Analysis: Manpower needs can be projected through extrapolation (projecting
past trends), indexation (using base year as basis), and statistical analysis (central
tendency measure).
iii. Work Load Analysis: It is dependent upon the nature of work load in a department, in a
branch or in a division.
iv. Work Force Analysis: Whenever production and time period has to be analysed, due
allowances have to be made for getting net manpower requirements.
v. Other methods: Several Mathematical models, with the aid of computers are used to
forecast manpower needs, like budget and planning analysis, regression, new venture
analysis.
3. Developing employment programmes- Once the current inventory is compared with future
forecasts, the employment programmes can be framed and developed accordingly, which will
include recruitment, selection procedures and placement plans.
4. Design training programmes- These will be based upon extent of diversification, expansion
plans, development programmes,etc. Training programmes depend upon the extent of
improvement in technology and advancement to take place. It is also done to improve upon the
skills, capabilities, knowledge of the workers.
Importance of Manpower Planning

1. Key to managerial functions- The four managerial functions, i.e., planning, organizing, directing
and controlling are based upon the manpower. Human resources help in the implementation of all
these managerial activities. Therefore, staffing becomes a key to all managerial functions.
2. Efficient utilization- Efficient management of personnels becomes an important function in the
industrialization world of today. Seting of large scale enterprises require management of large
scale manpower. It can be effectively done through staffing function.
3. Motivation- Staffing function not only includes putting right men on right job, but it also comprises
of motivational programmes, i.e., incentive plans to be framed for further participation and
employment of employees in a concern. Therefore, all types of incentive plans becomes an
integral part of staffing function.
4. Better human relations- A concern can stabilize itself if human relations develop and are strong.
Human relations become strong trough effective control, clear communication, effective
supervision and leadership in a concern. Staffing function also looks after training and
development of the work force which leads to co-operation and better human relations.
5. Higher productivity- Productivity level increases when resources are utilized in best possible
manner. higher productivity is a result of minimum wastage of time, money, efforts and energies.
This is possible through the staffing and it's related activities ( Performance appraisal, training
and development, remuneration)

Need of Manpower Planning

Manpower Planning is a two-phased process because manpower planning not only analyses the current
human resources but also makes manpower forecasts and thereby draw employment programmes.
Manpower Planning is advantageous to firm in following manner:

1. Shortages and surpluses can be identified so that quick action can be taken wherever required.
2. All the recruitment and selection programmes are based on manpower planning.
3. It also helps to reduce the labour cost as excess staff can be identified and thereby overstaffing
can be avoided.
4. It also helps to identify the available talents in a concern and accordingly training programmes
can be chalked out to develop those talents.
5. It helps in growth and diversification of business. Through manpower planning, human resources
can be readily available and they can be utilized in best manner.
6. It helps the organization to realize the importance of manpower management which ultimately
helps in the stability of a concern.

Promotions
According to Pigours and Myers, ‘Promotion is advancement of an employee to a better job – better in
terms of greater responsibility, more prestige or status, greater skill and especially increased rate of
pay or salary”.
 Arun Monappa and Mirza S Saiyadain defined promotion as “the upward reassignment of an individual
in an organization’s hierarchy, accompanied by increased responsibilities, enhanced status and usually
with increased income though not always so”.

Conditions of promotions are:

 Reassignment of higher level job to an employee than what he is presently performing

 The employee will naturally be delegated with greater responsibility and authority than what he has
had earlier. Promotion normally accompanied higher pay. It means in some cases, the employee
perform higher level job and receive the salary related to the lower level job.
 Promotion may be temporary or permanent depending upon the organizational needs and employee
performance.
Types of Promotion:

1. Vertical Promotion
2. Up gradation
3. Dry Promotion
Purposes of Promotion:
 To utilize the employee’s skill knowledge at the appropriate level in the organizational hierarchy
 To develop competitive spirit and inculcate the zeal in the employees to acquire the skill, knowledge
etc. required by higher level jobs.
 To develop competent internal source of employees ready to take up jobs at higher levels in the
changing environment.
 To promote employees’ self development and make them await their turn of promotions. It reduces
labour turnover.
 To promote a feeling of contentment with the existing conditions of the company and a sense of
belongingness.
 To promote interest in training, development programmes and in team development areas.
 To build loyalty and to boost morale.
 To reward committed and loyal employees
 To get rid of the problems created by the leaders of workers’ unions by promoting them to the officers’
levels where they are less effective in creating problems.
 Promotion places the employees in a position where an employee’s skills and knowledge can be better
utilized.
 It creates and increases the interest of other employees in the company as they believe that they will
also get their turn.
 It creates among employees a feeling of content with the existing conditions of work and employment.
 It increases interest in acquiring h9gher qualifications, in training and in self development with a view
to meet the requirements of promotion.
 It improves morale and job satisfaction
 Ultimately it improves organizational health.
Benefits of Promotion
Promotion Principles:
1. it should be consistent in the sense that policy should be applied uniformly to all employees
irrespective of the background of the persons,
2. it should be fair and impartial.
3. systematic line of promotion channel should be incorporated,
4. it should provide equal opportunities for promotion in all categories of jobs, departments and regions
of an organization,
5. it should ensure open policy in the sense that every eligible employee should be considered for
promotion rather than a closed system,
6. it should contain clear cut norms and criteria for judging merit, length of service, potentiality etc.
7. appropriate authority should be entrusted with the task of making a final decision, it should contain
promotional counseling, encouragement, guidance and follow-up regarding promotional opportunities,
job requirements and acquiring the required skills, knowledge etc.

Bases of Promotion:
1. Merit as a basis of Promotion: skill, knowledge, ability, efficiency as aptitude as measured from
educational, training and past employment record.
Advantages:
i. The resourced of higher order of an employee can be better utilized at higher level It results in
maximum utilization of human resources in an organization.

ii. Competent employees are motivated to exert all their resources and contribute them to the
organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

iii. It works as golden hand-cuffs regarding employee turnover.

iv. It continuously encourages the employees to acquire

Demerits:
1. Measurement or judging of merit is highly difficult.
2. Many people, particularly trade union leaders, distrust the management’s integrity in judging merit.
3. The techniques of merit measurement are subjective.
4. Merit denotes mostly the past achievements, efficiency but not the future success. Hence, the purpose
of promotion may not be served if merit is taken as the sole criteria for promotion.
1. Seniority as a Basis of Promotion: refers to relative length of service in the same job and in the
same organization. The logic behind this as a basis of promotion is that there is a positive correlation
between the length of service in the same job and the amount of knowledge and the level of skill
acquired by an employee is an organization.
1. It is relatively easy to measure the length of service and judge the seniority.
2. There would be full support of the trade unions to this system.
3. Every party trusts the management’s action as there is no scope for favouritism and discrimination
and judgement.
4. It gives a sense of certainty of getting promotion to every employee and of their turn of promotion.
5. Senior employees will have a sense of satisfaction to this system as the older employees are respected
and their inefficiency cannot be pointed out.
6. It minimizes the scope for grievances and conflicts regarding promotion
Advantages:
Demerits:
1. The assumption that the employees learn more relatively with length of service is not valid.
2. It demotivates the young and more competent employees and results in employee turnover
particularly among the dynamic force.
3. It kills the zeal and interest to develop as everybody will be promoted with or without improvement.
4. Organizational effectiveness may be diminished through the declaration of the human resources
effectiveness as the human resources consists of mostly undynamic and old blood.
5. Judging seniority though it seems to be easy in the theoretical sense, it is highly difficult in practice.
 Seniority-cum-Merit Promotion:

Ways in striking balance between seniority and merit

1. Minimum length of service and merit

2. Measurement of seniority and merit through a common factor
3. Minimum merit and seniority

Problems with promotion:

Glass Ceiling- Glass ceiling is an invisible barrier to promotion based in race, community, tribe,
nationality, gender etc.

Promotion disappoints come employees

Some employees refuse promotion

TRANSFER

Transfer refers to the shifting of employees form one job to another within the same organization where

salary, responsibilities and category of the new job and the previous job are almost same. Transfer of an employee

can be done in other department of the same plant or office or to the same department of plant or office located in

other region/city.

Reason / Objectives for Transfer:

 Transfer can be done on the request of employee due to personal reason like family problem or health

problem.

 Due to HR policy which states that one employee can work in department or place for specific time period

 Transfers are common in the organizations where the work load varies timely.

 If an employee is not able to do the work or job assigned effectively he can be transferred to the other job

where he can use his skills properly according to his interest and abilities

 Departmental vacancies can be filled with transfer of employees from overstaffed department.

 Employees can be transferred to the position or department with the higher priority workload.

Need:
The need for making transfer is left for various reasons as listed below:
1. To Meet Organisational Needs:
Changes in technology, volume of production, production schedule, product line, quality

of products, organisational structure, etc. necessitate an organisation to reassign jobs

among employees so that right employee is placed on the right job.

2. To Satisfy Employee Needs:

Employees may request for transfer in order to satisfy their desire to work in a particular

department, place and under some superior. Personal problems of employee like

health, family circumstances, and interpersonal conflicts may also necessitate transfer.

3. To Better Utilize Employee:

When an employee is not performing satisfactorily on one job and management thinks

that his/her capabilities would be utilized better elsewhere, he/she may be transferred to

other job.

4. To Make the Employee More Versatile:

In some organisations like banks, employees after working on a job for a specified

period are transferred to other job with a view to widen their knowledge and skill and

also reduce monotony. This is also called ‘job rotation.

5. To Adjust the Workforce:

Work force can be transferred from the departments / plants where there is less work to

the departments/plants where more work is.

6. To Provide Relief:
Transfers may be made to give relief to the employees who are overburdened or doing

hazardous work for long period.

7. To Punish Employee:
Management may use transfer as an instrument to penalize employees who are

indulged in undesirable activities. As a disciplinary action, employees are transferred to

remote and far-flung areas.

Policy:
Transfer involves costs as well. Therefore, every organisation should have a just and

impartial transfer policy for its employees. Transfers should then be affected according

to such policy only. In fact, a good and fair transfer policy serves as a guide-post to the
manager in affecting transfers as and when required in the overall interest of the

organisation.

A good transfer policy should satisfy the following requirements:

1. Specify the circumstances under which transfers will be made. These should be in
writing and should be communicated to the employees. For example, defence

personnel and government employees are subjected to transfer once in three years.

The employees in these organisations know when they are due for a transfer and are

prepared for it.

2. Specify the basis for transfer i.e., whether transfer will be made on the basis of

seniority or skill and competency or on any other basis.

3. Decide the authority which would handle transfers.

4. Intimate the fact of transfer to the person concerned well in advance.

5. Specify the jobs to which transfers will be made and duties and salary on assumption

of new jobs should also be clarified.

6. Clarify whether transfer is permanent or temporary.

7. Indicate whether transfers can be made within a department or between departments

or between units.

8. Not to be made frequent and not for the sake of transfer only.

However, one should not expect for a uniform transfer policy in all the organisations.

Depending on the type, kind and size of the organisation, transfer policy is subject to

vary from organisation to organisation. In any case, a good transfer policy should be

consistent with the overall objectives of the organisation.

Types of Transfer:

Production Transfer: When the transfers are being made for filling the position in such departments having lack of

staff, from the departments having surplus manpower it is called production transfer. It prevents the layoffs form the

organization. Also it is good to adjust existing staff rather than to hire the new one.

Remedial Transfer: Remedial transfer refers to rectification of wrong selection or placement of employees. If the

employee can adjust himself in the given job he can be transferred to the job where he can use his skills and abilities

accordingly.

Versatility Transfer: Such transfers are done to increase the versatility in the employees so that he can work

different kind of jobs. This is done by transferring employee to different jobs closely related in same department or

process line.. This is used as a training device. It helps employee to develop him and he is equipped for the high

responsibility jobs as he is having knowledge of the whole process.

Shift Transfer: In many multi-shifts jobs such as Call centres employees are transferred from one shift to another

due to their personal reasons like health problem or evening college for higher studies or any family problems.

a lateral shift causing movement of individuals from one position to another usually without involving
any marked change in duties, responsibilities, skills needed or compensation”

Transfer is defined as “… the moving of an employee from one job to another. It may involve a
promotion, demotion or no change in job status other than moving from one job to another”.
 Reasons Types of Transfer

1. To meet the organizational requirements Production Transfer

2 To satisfy employees’ needs Personal Transfer

3 To utilize employee’s skill knowledge etc

4 To improve employee’s background by placing him in different jobs Remedial Transfer

of various departments, units etc.

5 To correct inter-personal conflicts

6 To adjust the workforce of one section/plant in other section/plant

during lay-off, closure or adverse business conditions etc.

7 To give relief to the employees who are overburdened or doing Replacement Transfer
complicated or risky work for a long period

8 To punish the employees who violate the disciplinary rules Penal Transfer

9 To help the employees whose working hours or place of work is Shift Transfer
inconvenient to them

10. To minimize fraud, bribe etc which result due to permanent stay and
conduct of an employee with customers, dealers, suppliers etc.

11 To increase the versatility of employees Versatile Transfer

(Rotation transfer)
1. Employee initiated Transfer (1) Temporary Transfer (2) Permanent Transfer
2. Company initiated Transfer (1) Temporary transfer (2) Permanent Transfer
3. Public Initiated Transfer