HRM Toolkit

Video Transcription

Hi, I'm Jeff. And in this lesson, we'll learn what the HRM toolkit is and how it can be used to retain employees. We'll also discuss how this can be done with reinforcement theory. So let's get started.

First of all, let's discuss the HRM toolkit. HRM stands for Human Resources Management. And the tool kit they use are the variety of methods to improve employee morale, increase worker knowledge, and provide benefits that will retain employees at an organization. Now, each company based on its size and number of employees will employ different HRM toolkits to accomplish this, but we can discuss some of the more common tools that are used in the workplace.

The first is job enrichment, which is increasing employee job satisfaction by providing the opportunity for the employee to have greater oversight or choice over the manner in which they complete the job. For example, companies such as Toyota have allowed their production workers the ability to halt the production line anytime they see an issue that needs result. So quality becomes the responsibility of each and every worker.

Job redesign, companies increase employee job satisfaction by reviewing and possibly changing the job requirements. Some companies such as Google allow employees the ability to modify their own job responsibilities, sometimes even allowing them to take on work that is far outside their normal requirements. Flex time, which is when working hours are chosen by the employee within reason. Companies such as EA Games, a large maker of video games, now allows many employees the ability to work whatever hours they want, as long as they complete their work and put in the standard hours.

Telecommuting, which allows employees to work offsite or from home, major health insurance providers such as Humana and Aetna have begun allowing workers to telecommute to help deal with the significant growth that has occurred in the health industry. And work sharing, which is when an employee shares a job with another person, many software development companies such as Xerox have implemented processes where programmers work on code in pairs, since they find that collaboration helps alleviate stress for the employee and provides better code. Another part of the HRM toolkit is reinforcement theory, which is the use of varying types of rewards and punishments to encourage or discourage certain behaviors. It has been around for quite a long time.

And some of the basics of this theory are positive reinforcement, which is when a behavior is encouraged by giving a reward, either physically or verbally to the person with the behavior. Negative reinforcement, a behavior is encouraged by taking away something bad. Positive punishment, this is discouraging behavior by giving a punishment to the person.

Negative punishment, this is discouraging behavior by taking away something good from the person. And finally extinction, when a behavior is discouraged by ignoring it completely. Of these different types of reinforcements, positive reinforcement is considered the most effective.

So it is the best tool to use in the HRM toolkit. All right, nicely done. In this lesson, we learned what a HRM toolkit is and about some of the available tools. And we discussed the aspects of reinforcement theory. Thanks for your time, and have a great day.