Article 1:
The article on “IRS Demands Businesses Show “Bonafide Reasons” for Layoffs” is a relevant article to HR management. The author in this article makes a review on the ObamaCare rules and regulations that govern employer – employee relations at work. As illustrated by Human Resource Planning Society (2008), employee satisfaction and security at work makes them work better and constructively towards achieving the employer’s objectives. The IRS regulations were effected to make employers accountable of the plight of their employees (Mass, 2014). This is presented in the article as a move to ensure that employers do not lay off employees without tangible reasons as the heading of the article states “Bonafide Reasons.” These regulations also demand that employers put their employees under the medical cover offered through the Obama medical care. The regulation is clear that all employees should have medical insurance but warns against laying off to avoid financing their medical covers. The article analyses in depth the health care rules and their economic and social impacts.
This article complies with the human resource management policies which aim at protecting and ensuring the rights of employees are not violated, Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2000). The author of this article covers the Obama health care regulations which aim at ensuring employees are covered in terms of health by their employees. To avoid the impacts of laying off employees due to the regulations, they also restrict laying off employees only when there are ‘Bonafide reasons’ (Mass, 2014). It addresses the plight of employees against layoffs and access to health services through the Obama care financed by their employees. Therefore, the article presents a battle where President Obama is aiming at promoting human resource management and improvement for the benefit of both employees and their employers. The article is all about human resource management which is a crucial tool for organizations (Bratton & Gold, 2000).
Article 2:
The article “The Simple Solution to Obamacare's Employer Mandate Problems” analyses the Affordable Care Act introduced by president Obama in 2010 and their impacts on businesses and jobs. The ACA requires that all employers pay health coverage for all employees working more than 30 hours per week. However, in this article the author is presenting the challenges that employers are presenting to the ACA regulations. This is because the ACA is posing a burden on the employers and not affecting the employees in any way. Employers who evade paying the insurance for their employees are given the option of paying some percentage of their payroll as task to cover health care. This option is of advantage to employers as they are seeking to employ low, and middle income earners such that the percentage pay on their payroll becomes affordable and cheap compared to paying the medical covers. As an alternative, employers are reducing working hours for their employees so that they do not qualify for the health coverage which recognizes employees with more than 30 hours per week (Kirsch, 2014).
This is posing a challenge to part-time jobs and to human resource management as a whole. This is because the employers are working out methodologies to help them out of financing the health coverage. Opting not to pay for the ACA and reducing working hours such that they end up not paying goes against the human resources policies and regulations (Chopra, 2010). As much as the ACA is aiming at improving the human resource, it is on the other end biting hard on them as businesses are opting to employ low and middle income earners as well as killing part-time jobs. In this view, the ACA regulations are self-inflicting and if not properly addressed could have adverse effects on employment (Kirsch, 2014).
Article 3:
In the article “Should franchise employees be restricted from using social media?” addresses a human resources aspect about the franchise employees and their use of the social media. In this article, the author reviews on the time spent by the franchise employees calling for the restriction to use of social media. The article points out that like any other employee, franchise employees could be distracted by social media making customer service poor which is a negative impact on human resource management (Kramar & Syed, 2012). Since franchises are built on the foundation of strong brand images, which are built on a great marketing, and consistent customer experiences could be damaged by allowing employees access social media that could distract them. It is due to this reasons that these franchise employers restrict their employees from accessing social media at work places. This is made possible through use of franchise devices installed with systems that cannot do anything else besides the franchise business, through these employees focus on their work as they cannot access social media (Lees, 2014).
This move to restrict employees from accessing social media can be viewed as an infringement of their rights since they are controlled from socializing while at the work place. However, this move is to the advantage of employees and employers as they are able to work effectively without distractions. The employer maximizes the human resource under them, and the employees provide maximum human resource as required. This is advantageous to both employers and employees hence it is a good move towards optimum human resource management (Lees, 2014). If allowed the social medias give the employees platforms where they misuse the employer’s time which is detrimental for a franchise business. Therefore, it is evident that restricting use of social media at work places is to the advantage of maximizing human resource.
Article 4:
The article “Best Buy mum on job cuts” analyses another human resources aspect about cost cutting efforts in businesses. This article presents the headaches companies have while trying to cut costs and maximize profits. The author has presented various companies and their efforts towards cost cutting that are; layoffs, salary cuts, from returns replacements and damages, logistics and supply chain, and procurement. However, the t presents companies with different approaches towards cost cutting, the most and the rampant method used is laying off employees and reducing employee’s salaries. This leads to massive loss of jobs and poor living standards because of reduced incomes. For instance, the Best Buy and future shops were planning to lay off 950 full time employees and 400 jobs in Richfield headquarters (Vomhof, 2014).
Salary cuts and employee layoffs are a major threat to human resource management (Bratton & Gold, 2000) since it threatens human resource, then the move by the Best Buy Shops goes against human resource management policies. The article review of odd means of reducing their costs of operation should shine some light on proper means of human resource management. This would affect human resource and the performance of the company. The employees left would suffer from job insecurity hence reducing performance to poor levels. Discontented human resource cannot meet the objectives of the company effectively. According to Bratton & Gold (2000), a contented human resource yield highly unlike where there is discontent.
References:
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2000). Human resource management: Theory and practice. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Chopra, J. K. (2010). Human resource management: A contemporary approach. New Delhi, India: DPS Pub. House.
Human Resource Planning Society. (2008). Human resource planning: HR. Tempe, Ariz: Human Resource Planning Society.
Kirsch, R. (2014, March 3). The Simple Solution to Obamacare's Employer Mandate Problems. The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 5, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-kirsch/a-simple-solution-to-empl_b_4891229.html
Kramar, R., & Syed, J. (2012). Human resource management in a global context: A critical approach. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lees, D. (2014). Should franchise employees be restricted from using social media?. memeburn RSS. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://memeburn.com/2014/02/should-franchise-employees-be-restricted-from-using-social-media/
Mass, W. (2014). IRS Demands Businesses Show "Bonafide Reasons" for Layoffs: The New American. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/item/17608-irs-demands-businesses-show-bonafide-reasons-for-layoffs
Vomhof, J. (2014). Best Buy mum on job cuts. Widgets RSS. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2014/02/27/best-buy-mum-on-job-cuts.html?page=all
