Chapter 4

front Back
Buddy approach an informal approach to assisting a new employee to
learn about the organization and how things work
around or within the organization
Employee burnout this is the opposite to engagement, where the employee
disengages and withdraws from work due to emotional
and/or physical exhaustion
Employee engagement is a broader concept than work engagement insofar as it
includes not just the relationship of the employee to
their work but also their relationship with the
organization itself
Employee engagement research carried out to assess the feelings of a target
surveys group of employees towards various aspects of their
work, their team and their organization
Employee turnover the number of people who leave an organization and
need to be replaced in order to maintain production or
service
Flexible benefits from a defined set of available benefits, employees
select the benefits that best meet their needs
Human capital pool the collection of employee skill that exists within a firm
at any given time
Induction the whole process whereby new employees in an
organization adjust to their new roles and
responsibilities within a new working environment
Informational approach this approach to induction focuses on supplying new
starters with basic information regarding the working of
procedures within the organization
Longitudinal study is a research study that involves repeated observations
of the same variables (e.g. people) over long periods of
time
Mentee the employee who is mentored by a more senior
employee within the organization
Mentor a more senior or experienced employee who acts as a
role model for the employee, supporting their personal
 and professional development
Mentoring process a developmental process focused on the personal and
professional development of the mentee
Onboarding the mechanism through which new employees acquire
the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours to
become effective organizational members and insiders
Organizational the behaviour of individual employees that is not
citizenship behaviours directly or explicitly required by an organization as part
of the role but which promotes the effective functioning
of the organization
Organizational fit the ‘fit’ or alignment of the personal values and work
ethic of the employee with those of the organization’s
culture and values
Pull factors those factors beyond the control of the organization that
may cause an employee to leave – such as moving to a
new location/country, the arrival of children, retirement
and so on
Push factors those factors that negatively impact on an employee and
may be the trigger to start them thinking about leaving
an organization, such as dissatisfaction with their work,
their boss or their promotional opportunities, a lack of
developmental opportunities and so on
Relational approach this approach to induction focuses on helping new
starters rapidly establish a broad network of
relationships with co-workers from whom they can
access the information they need to be productive
members of the team
Retention a strategic approach adopted by organizations to keep
productive employees from seeking alternative
employment
Survival curve a model stating that new starters in an organization are
more at risk of leaving in the first six weeks of
commencing a new job. The likelihood of leaving
decreases as the length of employment increases
Tangible benefits benefits for the business that can be measured and
 reported on; HR must understand the business and be
able to demonstrate how its work contributes to the
organization’s competitiveness and ultimate success
Work engagement describes the level an individual is prepared to invest of
themselves in their work and/or task at hand
Chapter 5

Comparator a person or group that someone making a claim of

discrimination will compare themselves to, with the
purpose of demonstrating that they have been treated
differently/unfairly using that comparator as a standard
Direct discrimination discrimination that is obviously contrary to the terms of
equality legislation, such as explicitly excluding people
over 50 from applying for a job
Discrimination treating a person or group differently and unfairly on the
basis of certain traits or characteristics, such as
sexuality, gender, race, religion or disability
Diversity management the diversity management perspective holds that
perspective organizations should recognize difference as a positive
organizational factor and should foster, value and utilize
this difference for the benefit of the organization
Equality the state of being equal, especially in status, rights or
opportunities
Indirect discrimination this occurs when a seemingly neutral provision attached
to a job acts to exclude a person or group protected
under equality legislation; for example, a requirement
for people to be over 2m tall for a job in a shop would
effectively exclude more women than men
Institutional barriers those barriers to employment or progression within
employment posed by existing structures, systems and
rules, which act to exclude certain groups of people, for
example a lack of childcare facilities
Positive action measures undertaken with the aim of achieving full and
effective equality for members of groups that are
socially or economically disadvantaged
Positive discrimination preferential discriminatory treatment of a minority
group over a majority group to try and counter
disadvantage in the labour market
Protected grounds those identified by national institutions as relating to
areas where discrimination has or is likely to occur,
such as race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age and
disability, and which are subsequently covered by
equality legislation
Social inclusion a measure of the extent to which a person or groups can
participate in aspects of society to the same level as (or
relative to) the average population. Key measures of
social inclusion are access to work, adequate housing,
education levels and access to education, healthcare and
so on
Social justice approach the social justice case for equality holds that
organizations have a moral and legal obligation,
regardless of profit, to recognize diversity and to
develop policies and procedures to ensure that people
are treated in a fair and equitable manner in all facets of
the business
Victimizing an act that treats someone unfairly