Employee Placement 

After the employee is hired and oriented, he/she must be placed in his/her right job. Placement is understood as the allocation of people to the job. It is assignment or re-assignment of an employee to a new or different job. Placement includes initial assignment of new employees and promotion, transfer or demotion of present employees. The placement is arising out of promotion, transfer, demotion. Assignment of new employee to a job apparently seems to be simple task. The employer advertises inviting applications from candidates for a specific post. The advertisement contains job description and job specifications in detail. When a candidate has selected, it is logical that individual is placed in a position that was advertised earlier. But the task of placement is not that simple it appears. Times are changing. Changes in the work ethics reflecting the demand for meaningful work. All these factors are causing organizations and individuals to determine the placement process more closely. We are entering the age when applicants must be considered for several jobs rather than one. From the managerial perspective, the task is to understand and capitalize on each person’s individually. Since, human attributes vary along many relatively independent ability, interest, biographical sketch and the personality dimensions, a person’s individuality is best viewed as his/her unique profile of scores on a variety of individual measures. Once we establish the unique profile for each individual, people and jobs can be matched optimally within the constraints set by available jobs and available people. If the number of individuals is large in relation to the available jobs, only the best qualified persons can be selected and placed. On the other hand, when more jobs are available, optimal placement is possible. Thus the number of people and the number of jobs determine the placement process in any organization.

Placement Problems

The difficulty with placement is that we tend to look at the individual but not at the job. Often, the individual does not work independent of others. Whether the employee works independent of others or is dependent depends on the types of jobs. Jobs in this context can be classified into the three   categories:

Σ Independent (in such activities of one worker have little bearing on the activities of the other workers, here the placement is simple to conduct).

Σ Sequential (activities of the workers are dependent on activities of a fellow worker example assembly line sequential jobs).

Σ Pooled (where the job are high degree of interdependence among activities. The final output of is the result of contribution of all workers. It is team work which matters. Placement for this is quite difficult).

Assessment-Classification Model and Employee Placement

Collect details of the employee

Construct his/her profile

Which sub-group profile to job family profile?

Which job family profile does subgroup profile best fit?

Assign the individual to job family

Assign the individual to specific job after further counseling and assessment

Principles of Placement

A few basic principles should be followed at the time of placement of a workers on the job. This is elaborated below:

1. Man should be placed on the job according to the requirements of the job. The job should not be adjusted according to the qualifications or requirements of the man. Job first, man next, should be the principle of the placement.

2. The job should be offered to the person according to his qualification. This should neither the higher nor the lower than the qualification.

3. The employee should be made conversant with the working conditions prevailing in the organization and all things relating to the job. He should also be made aware of the penalties if he commits the wrong.

4. While introducing the job to the new employees, an effort should be made to develop a sense of loyalty and cooperation in him so that he may realize his responsibility better towards the job and the organization.

5. The placement should be ready before the joining date of the newly selected person.

6. The placement in the initial period may be temporary as changes are likely after the completion of training. The employee may be later transferred to the job where he can do better.

Proper placement helps to improve the employees’ morale. The capacity of the employees can be utilized fully. The right placement also reduces labour turnover, absenteeism and also the accident rate. Than the employee can adjust to the required environment of the organization effectively and the performance of the employee will not be hampered.

Problems of the Placement

The main problem of placement arises when the recruiters look at the individuals but not the job. Often the individual does not work independent of the others. Jobs in this context are classified into the three categories:

1. Independent Jobs: In the independent jobs the non-overlapping territories are allocated to each employee e.g., in the sales. In such situations, the activities of the one employee have little bearing on the activities of the other workers. The independent jobs do not pose great problems in placement. Each employee has to be evaluated between his capabilities and the interests and those required on the job. The objective of the placement will be:

To fill the job with people who have at least the minimum required qualifications. People should be placed on the job that will make the best possible use of their talents, given available job or HR constraints.

2. The dependent jobs may be sequential or pooled. In sequential jobs, the activities of the one employee are dependent on the activities of the fellow employee e.g., assembly lines are the best example of such job.

3. In the pooled jobs, there is a high interdependence among the jobs. The final output is the result of the contribution of all the workers.