Recruitment, employment contracts, training and reducing the workforce

Learning objectives

Follow a vacancy from start to finish: the job description, the person specification and the advertisement (which may go through an employment agency or online), then selection using CVs or application forms, references, tests or an assessment centre, and interviews

Weigh filling a post from inside the business against bringing someone in from outside, and decide which candidate a business should appoint in a given case, with reasons

Know what an employment contract sets out (working hours, holiday entitlement, sick pay, and the duties and responsibilities of the job) and how having one protects the employee and the employer alike

Explain what the law requires on four employment matters — the legal minimum wage, health and safety, discrimination and unfair dismissal — and what that means for employers and for their employees

Tell the three types of training apart (induction, on-the-job and off-the-job), say why training matters, and weigh each type from the point of view of the business and of the employee

Weigh part-time against full-time staff, describe flexible working (home working, flexible hours), and explain downsizing and redundancy: why a workforce may have to shrink — automation, falling demand, the need to cut costs — and how to decide fairly who goes