Differentiating Good Jobs from Bad Jobs

What differentiates good from bad jobs? What are the current trends in ‘job quality’? What HRM practices or other factors produce ‘good jobs’?

In the modern day working environment, judging a job to be good or bad has to be on large number of aspects. In the HR perspective there are several ways in which a job can be considered to be good or bad. It is important for an employee to understand the aspects that makes any job to be good or bad. It starts from the very first level i.e. human resource management practices. HRM plays a very decisive role in making a job good or bad (Bartling, Fehr and Schmidt, 2012).

A good job is something that creates a satisfied employee for an organisation. A good job is something that enhances the productivity of the employee as it creates a sense of satisfaction in the minds of the people. It is not easy to find difference in the good job and bad job. There are various components of a job that differentiates good job from bad one. Firsts and the foremost thing is balance between life and work (Warhurst, et. al., 2012). A good job is something that creates balance between life and work. This is due to the reason that if the employee is able to lead a happy life then he might be able to work with more focus. A bad job is something that creates an extra burden on the employees at the workplace as it is reflected in the metal and physical well-being of the employee. It also includes limited working hours. Environment at the workplace makes a job good or bad. If the job is surrounded by an excellent environment then the job is understood to be good. In the making of healthy environment co-workers plays an excellent role (Scutt, 2017). The major reason for job to be bad is the working environment it creates around the employees. This is also attributed with the inventory and the infrastructure that is present at the workplace as both plays a vital role in differentiating a good job from the bad one. Other major component that differentiates good job from the bad one is the leadership approach (Clarke, 2015). This can be understood by the fact that if the employee understands that employer or leader is supporting them then there is a sure chance that a better job could be created (Lim and Ling, 2012). When there is an effective relationship between employee and employer then there is a chance that effective jobs could be created. Apart from this the culture by which a job is surrounded by affects the type of job. In other words if the organisation’s HRM creates a healthy culture at the workplace then there is sure chance that they make any job a good job. A job that has stability, growth and opportunity is always considered to be as the good job. This is due to the reason that any individual wants that there must be a job security in the future. The job which is unstable and does not ensures a healthy employee’s future is always considered to be as the bad job (Bevan, 2012).  Along with this there are several other aspects that differentiate good job from bad job like good salary, paid leaves, healthy working condition and security of the employee as well as the hygiene that is maintained at the work place. Apart from this how much an organisation value its employees also describe whether the job is good or bad (Judge, Hulin and Dalal, 2012). This can be in the terms of rewards that a company gives to their employees when they perform well. A good job is differentiated from bad job by the fact that what control has been given to the employees while sitting at a particular position. In the country like Australia people usually wants to enjoy some kind of freedom in their job. This also accounts to flexibility in their job they are doing. Diversity management is another crucial aspect that differentiates a good job from that of bad one (Woodrow and Guest, 2014).

Current Trends in Job Quality

Approx. 32000 individuals are getting jobs in a month in Australian market and most of them are youth. The full time employment within the nation has risen to 84% in 2017. This increases the need for the management to make job a good one.

Job quality is highly essential term in the modern day business. It is crucial for any organisation or the HRM in it to understand the trend in job quality. There are several HRM practices which affects the trends in job quality (Cushen and Thompson, 2012). It is the activities of the HR that enhances the satisfaction level of any employees. The first and foremost thing that a HR management must do focus upon is the communication. This is due to the reason that communication plays a vital role in enhancing the job satisfaction. It is trend in all around the world to improve the communication that is used within the organisation. Better the communication architecture within the firm, better the chances that quality of jobs can be enhanced. HRM is focusing towards enhancing the job quality with the use of communication trainings.

Another trend in job quality is improving employee participation. This helps in enhancing the motivational level of the employees which is crucial for the achieving higher productivity (Demerouti and Bakker, 2011). This trend in job quality helps employees as they understand themselves to be the part of the organisation.  With the changing employment laws and environment in Australia, Only top level of the management is not responsible for the making of decisions rather the employees at the bottom is also responsible for it (Kambayashi and Kato, 2016). If employee participation in various activities is not promoted then there is a chance that employee may not feel positive about the organisation. Job quality is directly connected with the hoe much an employee feels themselves to be connected with the organisation. If the employee participation in the decision making is on the higher side then it helps in creation of a good job (Osterman and Shulman, 2011).

Another popular current trend in the job quality is higher pay scale. This is due to the reason that most of the employees in the organisation believe in having higher earning. Higher paid staff is more likely to get satisfied by the job (Thompson, 2011). This helps in enhancing the job quality as it diverts other aspects of job. In the Australian market where the inflation is increasing at much faster rate, a higher paid staffs is more likely to get attached with the company. Job quality is directly or indirectly connected with the fact that whether employee’s psychological and social needs get fulfilled by any job or not. Job security is another crucial aspect in the enhancement of job quality. Major aspect of the job quality starts from the job design. It is the role of the HRM to ensure that they have designed work in such a manner that it is able to satisfy the interests of the employee as it is crucial for the raising their satisfaction level (Sissons and Green, 2017). In order to increase the job quality organisations are bringing flexibility to the work process. Increase in the responsibility and accountability in the work profile has enhanced the job quality. The physical environment present around the firm enhances the quality of the job. This can be understood by the fact safety and health of the employee must be the first priority. In Australia there are many regulations made by the organisations so as to safety their employees inside the workplace (Australian Government, 2018). Sustainability in job is defined with the environmental security that is provided to any job place. Apart from this it is the role of the HRM to construct the job in such a manner that employee must not be over-burdened. The amount of efforts that an employee puts during the working hours also determines the work quality. It can be argued by the fact that at the places where physical efforts are more, there is a larger chance that job quality will be poor. But it has another view attached with it like increasing efforts at the time of work will make them dull and will fail to meet the requirements of the job (Berg and Vikström, 2014). At the lower levels of work intensity there is an empirical and theoretical ambiguity as to the relationship among job quality and work intensity. Highly intensive labour effort is known to be as the major stressor. Job quality is defined by different person in different ways.

The Role of HRM in Creating Good Jobs

In making any job a good one, HRM plays a much greater role. Since HRM department is directly or indirectly linked with the creation of job design as well as availing facilities so that a healthy work environment is created hence there role in job quality becomes more significant. It is also seen that the team building activities within the organisation benefits the organisation as it improves the productivity of the organisation (Martínez?Garcia, Sorribes and Celma, 2017).  In making of the good job, skill developments plays a very vital role. It is due to the reason that a skilled employee always remains satisfied with the work. It is the role of the HRM to ensure that people get appropriate training as per their need. It is also essential for the HR managers to assign the work as per the capabilities and skills they have so that they do not get distressed about the job they need to do.

Along with this it is the role of the management to ensure that there is flexibility inside the organisation but in the limited manner so that overall requirement of the job could be maintained. HR managers must adopt a cultural environment that initiates appropriate communication as well as culture within the workplace (Meagher, Szebehely & Mears, 2016). In this regards another crucial aspect to any good job is the rewards that any employee gets when he or she does the work in a better way. This cannot be possible without the active role of the HR managers where they need to maintain the details of the performance that any employee had. HRM also has the role in the making of the rosters and hence it must be designed in the way employee feels comfortable. For example the workers that are working in the night shift must be provided with the incentives.

In the base of all, creation of good job starts at the time of recruitment and selection. This can be attributed by the fact that every individual has a different perspective about the any job and generally have a different demand from any work. It is the role of the HRM manager to find an appropriate person for any job (Kuhn, 2015). This will reduce the probability that an employee gets unsatisfied at the later stage of their employment. Healthy working culture and environment which is an essential component of the good job is managed by the HRM. Simplification of the work process reduces the chances that an employee gets unsatisfied with the working and considers job to be bad. It is also the role of the HRM to make sure that employee does not get bored from their work hence innovative work approach must be cherished in any job. It is the responsibility of the HRM to ensure that they have made guidelines for ensuring safety of the person at any workplace. Another important practice of HRM that helps in building of the good job is policy making. Any job becomes trusted and significant when the policies and rules related to the job has been communicated in a clear manner (Galván, 2012). It is the role of the HRM to have a proper communication framework installed at the workplace so as to remove any kind of confusion regarding the work. It also includes the fact that company’s expectation from the employees must also be communicated to them in a detailed manner. Clear plan and clear actions always improve the work efficiency of the employees as well as helps in improving the credibility of the job which directly or indirectly makes any job good or bad.

On the concluding remark it can be said that there are multiple aspects that are associated with the job and they play a creative role in making job good or bad. In order to improve the quality of the job, policy making and reviewing of the job needs to be done from time to time.

References

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