Meaning, Definition, Principles and Process of Placement
Table of Contents:
Meaning of Placement
Once the employee is hired, he should be assigned to the right job. Placement is the term used to describe the assignment of people to jobs. It is the process of assigning or re-assigning employees to a new or different job, depending on the situation. Thus, placement is the process of placing the right person on the right job and the placement aims to place the hired candidates in the jobs for which they have the needed skills.
Definition of Placement
According to Dale Yoder, “The assignment of a particular job to a newly appointed employee is the placement”.
According to Pigors and Myers, “Placement is the determination of the job to which an accepted candidate is to be assigned, and his assignment to that job. It is a matching of what the supervisor has reason to think he can do with the job demands. It is matching of what he imposes in strain, working conditions, and what he offers in the form of payroll, companionship which others, promotional possibilities, etc.”
Principles of Placement
The following principles are followed when placing employees:
1) Principle of Job First, Man Next
The principle of “Job First, Man Next” means an individual should be placed by job requirements instead of adjusting the job according to the need and credentials of the person.
2) Principle of Qualifications
Employees should be offered and placed in such a job for which they are qualified. They should not be placed in a very high or very low job position.
3) Principle of Timely Preparation
All the arrangements which are required for placement should be done before the joining date of the newly hired employees.
4) Principle of Working Conditions
The employees should be made aware of all the relevant information regarding the current working conditions of the company. The employees should be made aware of all the information regarding working conditions existing in the company. He should also be provided information about punishments if he makes any mistakes.
5) Principle of Loyalty and Cooperation
Employees should be made to feel a sense of commitment and cooperation in their new job so that they can understand their tasks and responsibilities nicely towards the job and the organization.
6) Principle of Transfer
Initially, placement can be temporary as changes may occur once the training is completed. Transfer of the employee to another job may occur where he can perform as expected.
Process of Placement
There are four steps in the procedure of employee placement which are as follows:
Step 1: Data Collection: In the employee placement procedure, the first step is to collect data about the employee to identify the qualifications, skills and abilities of present employees.
Step 2: Evaluation: After completing the first step of collecting employee data, the next step is to evaluate the capability of an employee to analyse the type of job that best suits the employee.
Step 3: Allocation/Placing: In this step, the company places the employee on the job which is best suitable for him.
Step 4: Control: The final step is the procedure of control. The step involves measuring and observing the employee’s performance in that particular job.
Benefits of Placement
The benefits of proper placement are as follows
1) Raises Employee Morale: Proper placement makes it easier for the employee to adjust himself to the work and helps him to give a standard performance. This helps to raise the morale of the employee.
2) Keeps Employees Motivated: Employees are motivated if they are properly placed by matching their skills and job requirements. If they are motivated they produce better output.
3) Reduces Labour Turnover and Absenteeism: If employees are properly placed in their jobs then absenteeism and employee turnover have reduced. This results in the effective utilisation of machines, equipment and materials.
4) Increases Employee Efficiency: Proper placement helps to improve an employee’s efficiency as he can produce better results, communicate with people effortlessly, feels motivated, becomes punctual, and avoids committing errors.
5) Keeps Employees Satisfied: Placement helps to keep employees satisfied. If an employee is appropriately placed in his job he works with zeal and his work performance is high.
Problems Associated with Placement
Placement is not an easy task. It needs to match employee skills with job requirements. Though the HR manager tries to make it justifiable and effective, a few problems arise.
Some of the problems are as follows:
1) Employee Expectations: The main problem of placement is employee expectations. Employees generally expect high salaries, difficult tasks, and autonomy and if their job does not fulfil their expectations, they feel that they are in a job that is not appropriate for them.
2) Manager’s Expectations: The HR manager sometimes expects more than the employee’s capabilities or skills. He finds that there is a mismatch between the employee and his work.
3) Change in Technology: Technology changes job descriptions and specifications. Due to these changes, the discrepancies result in a mismatch between the job and the employee occurs.
4) Changes in Organisational Structure: Organisational structure and jobs are influenced by business grand strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, de-layering, etc These changes result in a mismatch between the employee and his job.
5) Social and Psychological Factors: Mismatch is sometimes also due to social and psychological factors involved in teamwork or group formation.
6) Nature of Job: Another problem with placement is that the focus is on the individual rather than the job. More often, the individual does not work without the influence of others. The kind of job will determine whether the employee works with autonomy or is dependent on others.
Three types of jobs in this context are as follows:
i) Independent: In some cases, jobs are independent, for example, postal service or field sales. In such conditions, the activities of one employee do not depend upon the activities of other employees. This problem of placement is simple as solutions for it have been developed.
ii) Sequential: In this category, a worker depends on the other worker to do his job Assembly lines are the best example of sequential jobs.
iii) Pooled: High interdependence is present among the activities when the jobs are pooled. The result is the joint effort of all the workers.
Teamwork matters a lot in such jobs. Examples of pooled jobs are project teams, temporary task forces and assembly teams, etc.
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