Placement is a process of assigning suitable jobs to employees. It is a systematic approach to assign the right person for the right job. It is the most important human resource function of all, simply because both allocating a wrong job to the right person or assigning a wrong person to the right job will cause heavy damage to the organization at large.

It is a vital function because it strikes a balance between the vacancies to be filled and assigning right person for the right job. It comprises of both initial assignment to new employees and assigning jobs to existing employees by transfer, promotion, deputation and demotion.

In words of Pigors and Myers, “Placement is the determination of the job to which an accepted candidate is to be assigned and his assignment to that job.

It is a matching of what the supervisor has a reason to think he can do with the job demands. It is a matching of what he offers in the form of payroll, companionship with others, promotional possibilities, etc.”

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Learn about:-

1. Introduction to Placement 2. What is Placement? 3. Definitions 4. Concept and Nature 5. Importance 6. Principles

7. What is Placement Process? 8. Global Placement 9. Benefits 10. Problems 11. How to Make Placement Effective and Satisfactory?

Placement – Definitions, Concept, Importance, Principles, Process, Benefits, Problem and Global Placement

Contents:

  1. Introduction to Placement
  2. What is Placement?
  3. Definitions of Placement
  4. Concept and Nature of Placement
  5. Importance of Placement
  6. Principles of Placement
  7. What is Placement Process?
  8. Global Placement
  9. Benefits of Placement
  10. Problem of Placement
  11. How to Make Placement Effective and Satisfactory?

Placement – Introduction 

Placement is a process of assigning suitable jobs to employees. It is a systematic approach to assign the right person for the right job. It is the most important human resource function of all, simply because both allocating a wrong job to the right person or assigning a wrong person to the right job will cause heavy damage to the organization at large. It is a vital function because it strikes a balance between the vacancies to be filled and assigning right person for the right job. It comprises of both initial assignment to new employees and assigning jobs to existing employees by transfer, promotion, deputation and demotion.

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In order to avoid wrong placement or to ensure right placement of an employee, organizations initially put them through one or two years of probationary period and based on the level of performance, at the end of the probationary period, the employee is confirmed of his placement or moved to the most fitting job. A misplaced employee remains unhappy and frustrated.

If the new employee finds the job comfortable and performs adequately then the management may retain the employee for the same job and if not, the employee will be moved up to another suitable job.

Placement refers to the procedure followed by an organization wherein a new recruit is assigned a specific job. Placement is the process of assigning specific tasks to the selected candidates. This process involves assigning a precise responsibility to an individual. It implies matching the requirements of a job with the qualifications and attributes of the new recruit.

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sales, or other tasks related to public relation

Every individual seeks a job and expects something from that job. The nature of the job satisfies certain intrinsic needs of every employee. The extent of satisfaction varies widely, depending on the nature of the job and the levels of expectations from the job. Occupational value usually guides a person’s choice of career.

On the other hand, an extrovert (who is always expres­sive and successfully draws the attention of others to him/her) will soon be bored, if he/she is posted in research and development or a desk job. An introvert likes to isolate himself/herself from the mass, whereas an extrovert desires to interact with more people.

Thus, placement plays a vital role in determining employee job satisfaction, task accomplishments, absenteeism, turnover, productivity, and so on.

Placement – What is Placement?

Placement and induction is the final phase in the recruitment and selection procedure. Candidates selected have to be placed in a job on a permanent basis. After conducting on-the-job test, a candidate will be placed on a particular job and will be introduced to his fellow-workers and supervisor. He is also assisted in making personal adjustments which are quite essential for his effective performance of the job as a member of the work-team.

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Placement thus involves assigning specific jobs and work places to the selected candidates. Every new employee will be given a job to perform on the basis of his ability, aptitude, skill, etc. Correct placement is as equally important as the planned recruitment. Even a talented employee may not be able to work efficiently if placed on a wrong job or in a wrong work place.

Correct placement is absolutely essential to improve the job satisfaction and productivity of the new employee and reduce labour turnover and absenteeism. However, the judgment of the management may sometimes go wrong and follow-up measures may be required to be taken in the form of transfers, promotions and demotions. Really speaking, recruitment, selection and placement constitute the three consecutive steps in every employment programme and they can be improved by follow-up measures.

In selection, the task of the management is to match candidates with positions whereas in placement, the task is to match positions with candidates so that each candidate selected is assigned to that position or job where he can make best use of his abilities consistent with the requirements of the job.

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Selection is best done where the number of candidates is far more than the number of jobs to be filled whereas placement is best done where the number of available jobs is relatively more than the number of selected candidates.

Thus, placement is the determination of the job to which an accepted candidate is to be assigned and his assignment to that job. It is a matching of what the supervisor is justified to think he can do with the job requirements; it is a matching of what he experiences stresses and strains and what he offers in the form of pay­roll, companionship with others, promotional possibilities etc.

But is not easy to match all the factors to the newly recruited employee who is still not known to many in the organisation. Therefore, the new employee is placed as a probationer until the training period is over.

Placement problems arise when transfers or promotions are being made on a large scale or when some employees rendered surplus in some departments of the organisation are to be placed in other departments or when executive trainees, on completion of their training, are to be placed in various departments of the organisation such as production, marketing, finance, accounts etc. Under such circumstances, the individual is already employed in the organisation but his placement is to be decided on the basis of his qualifications etc.

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The general principle is that each individual should be placed on that job for which he is best fitted. But in placement, this principle should not be rigidly followed because this may result in filling some posts by unqualified persons as they have to be provided some job or the other.

The aim of placement should be to realise the abilities and talents of the largest number of employees and this may involve some employees being assigned to those jobs for which their talents are secondary but the composite assignments may collectively prove to be optimum.

Placement – Definitions – Given by Pigors and Myers and the American Management Association

After the selection of employees, jobs are to be assigned to them. Right person should match the right job for efficiency to be attained.

In words of Pigors and Myers, “Placement is the determination of the job to which an accepted candidate is to be assigned and his assignment to that job. It is a matching of what the supervisor has a reason to think he can do with the job demands. It is a matching of what he offers in the form of payroll, companionship with others, promotional possibilities, etc.”

According to Cascio, “Placement is the assignments of individuals to Jobs.”

According to K. Aswathappa, “Placement refers to the allocation of people to jobs. It includes initial assignment of new employees and promotion, transfer, or demotion of present employees”.

The American Management Association defines placement as “assignment of responsibility to an employee for those jobs for which he is considered to be fittest on the basis of selection and appointment.” Placement is allocation of people to job. Placement includes initial assignment of job to a newly appointed staff as well as reassignment of duties and responsibilities to employees who has been transferred to a new job or promoted to a new post.

Thus, placement is matching of right person and right job for all the selected employees. Placement involves assigning responsibilities related to a particular job to a person according to his qualification, capacity, knowledge, calibre, etc. If the job will be related to employee’s skills, he will be interested to do the work and enjoy his job, otherwise, he will be frustrated and shirk his responsibility and work will be adversely affected.

If the employee adjusts to the job quickly and works happily with interest, it means he is rightly placed and vice versa. Supervisors should analyse cases and try their best to match the person with right job.

Placement – Concept and Nature

‘Placement’ is posting people to jobs which match their abilities. It may be defined as a process of assigning a specific job to each of the selected candidates. It implies matching job responsibilities of a rank with the qualifications of the selected individual.

Placement is the assignment or reassignment of an employee to a new job. It includes the initial assignment of new entrants and the transfer and promotion of the existing employees.

The term ‘placement’ is nothing but posting of people to jobs matching their abilities. Personnel offices interview and test applicants for the purpose of achieving suitable job placements where there is a good match between management needs and employee qualifications. Placement may be defined as a process of assigning a specific job to each of the selected candidates.

It involves assigning a specific rank and responsibility to an individual. It implies matching the requirements of a job with the qualifications of the candidate. Placement helps the new recruit find a job in sync with what has been promised by the employer at the time of selection.

(a) Placement is an important duty of HR manager they are expected to give job to the employee selected in synchrony with their abili­ties.

(b) They have to find ways to keep the new employees at ease. Place­ment officers must realize that this is for the interest of the com­pany.

(c) Placement needs to be done quickly without displacing the exist­ing flow of work. Putting right employee at the right place is a hard task but there is no alternative to it.

(d) Wrongly placing people will not make it costly for the organiza­tion to keep them for long. Misplaced people often have no inter­est in the job assigned and this may spell disaster for the organi­zation sooner or later.

Placement involves deciding, which jobs people are to be assigned after they have been hired. It must also be decided which job best matches the person’s talents and abilities. It also involves assigning a specific rank and responsibility to an individual.

Placement – Importance of Placement: Important Duty of all HR Managers

Correct placement of employees in an organisation is as important as the selection of suitable employee. The efficiency of the employee will depend on the job he has been assigned, so managers must ensure effective placement.

Importance of placement can be understood from following points:

1. Important Duty of all HR Managers:

It is the duty of HR department to put new hires on jobs that match with their respective knowledge, skills and abilities. If the new recruit is given a job that is in sync with his profile and expectations and in line with what has been promised at the time of selection, he will take up the job enthusiastically.

If he is given a job that he does not like, that is not what has been promised, or put on a job which demands a different set of skills, he will not remain committed to the job nor the organisation. It is therefore, important to put people on jobs that they like and on jobs that have the potential to extract the best out of people.

2. Deliver What You Promise and Promise What You Deliver:

The rule in this regard is very clear. Deliver what you promise and promise what you can deliver. There is no use promising one thing to new hires and assigning some other work that is distasteful and that does not match with the competencies that they possess. If a fresh recruit from IIT is being put on a cashier’s job — like it used to happen in the case of most public sector banks in early 70s and 80s — there is very little chance of that employee remaining loyal to the job for long.

3. Person-Job Misfit would Prove to be Costly:

Any mismatch — the issue is not about whether a candidate is under-qualified or overqualified — would spell disaster both for the candidate and the recruiting organisation. He will try to look for greener pastures outside immediately after joining the company. Lack of interest would spoil the show.

His morale would be very poor and this will significantly impact the team spirit and teamwork as well. He will find ways and means to abstain from work. Unable to concentrate on a boring job, the new recruit may commit mistakes, which at times, might result in serious accidents.

4. Find Ways and Means to Put New Recruits at Ease:

Placement, therefore, is an important activity and the organisation should do everything possible to put new recruits at ease. This can happen only when they seriously begin to look at profiles of candidates and put them on suitable jobs. Finding the right job for a new recruit is not something that happens by chance.

It can happen only when HR managers put their heart and soul into the effort. They must, in the end, realise that they are doing this in the best interests of both the organisation and the new hires.

5. Do it Quietly Please:

While connecting people to the jobs in an organisation, they must do it in a quiet manner without upsetting the flow of work. The new recruits must be given what is popularly known as induction or orientation training for a week or a fortnight, or even a month (most MNC banks run the orientation programme for about a month, followed by on-the-job training for about 3/6 months) depending on the requirement.

5. Somehow Try to Find Your Way:

Talented and dedicated employees are a valuable asset for every company. There is no use wasting their talents on jobs that do not match their profiles or jobs that do not excite them. To arrest the flight of talent in a hurry, companies must — somehow — find ways and means to put employees on suitable jobs. At the end of the day, putting the right employee on a right job is not an easy thing, but not an impossible one either.

Placement – 6 Essential Principles

The essential principles to be followed at the time of placement of new comers on their job are enumerated as follows:

1. Job First Man Next – Employee should be placed on the job according to the requirements of the job. It means that the job should not be adjusted according to the qualifications and the requirements of the employee. Job first man next should be the important principle of placement.

2. Placement According to Qualification – Employee should be offered with the job according to his qualifications. The placement of the employee should neither be higher nor lower than the qualifications.

3. Familiarization – The employee should be made familiar with the working conditions prevailing in the organisation and all the things relating to the job. He should also be made aware of the rules and regulations for performing the job.

4. Developing Sense of Loyalty – The efforts should be made to develop a sense of loyalty and cooperation among the new employees, when they are introduced to the job. This will help the employees to realize their responsibilities towards the job and the organisation.

5. Ready Placement – The employee as soon as joins the organisation should be placed at once. It means that the placement should be ready before the joining date of the selected person.

6. Temporary Placement – In the initial stages the placement may be temporary as changes are required after the completion of the training. The employee can then be transferred to the job where he can do better justice.

Placement – What is Placement Process?

While taking placement decisions the effectiveness of the same should be taken into consideration in terms of achieving employee’s personal goals and organizational goals. The second important factor to be considered is the employee’s job satisfaction. A discontented and dissatisfied employee will be always in look out for better opening elsewhere. The legal compliance of placement of employees such as safety, health, welfare and other provisions should be fully followed to avoid unwanted interferences of the Government.

Placement mainly involves matching the requirements of job with the skills and expertise of new employees. The organizations usually use the assessment-classification model to match the selected candidates with the jobs.

The assessment-classification model requires collection of details about the selected candidates, such as skills, interests, past performance, expertise, and biographical details. The subgroups are formed and the candidates are placed into these subgroups as per their characteristics. While the candidates are grouped into subgroups, the jobs are also classified and placed into subgroups correspondingly. Each subgroup having a particular job family is distinguished by the identical characteristics. The subgroup profiles are matched with the job-family profiles and the candidates are placed in the particular jobs within the corresponding job- family.

The detailed procedure of the model can be explained with the help of Figure-17:

Figure-17 illustrates the detailed procedure of the assessment-classification model. In this model, the individual jobs (J1, J2, J3, J4, and JN) are grouped into the job families (F1, F2, and FM) based on their similarity of skills requirements, nature of work, work conditions, and expertise required. Figure-17 also represents that new individuals (as shown by I1, I2, I3, I4, and Ik) are classified into life history sub groups.

This categorization is based on the skills, knowledge, and other personality attributes of the individuals. Now, the life history subgroups are compared with the job families and the most appropriate match is recommended. This comparison results into the assignment of most suitable job to the individuals as per their skills, interest, and expertise. This maximizes the probability of job success and the employee satisfaction.

Placement – Global Placement

Recruitment for international placement, involving transfer from one country to the other, is a common organizational phenomenon for multinational companies. When a company operating in one country needs manpower, it floats job specifications through the company’s website. It receives resumes from its overseas branches. Companies such as IBM, McDonald, and Coca Cola receive close to 50% of resumes from their overseas operations.

While performing their regular assignments, managers exhibit some distinguishable skills and innovative leadership styles that produce excellent outcomes. The top management of multinational companies takes note of these aspects and decides to transfer selected managers to other countries where their abilities can be applied fruitfully if managers with the requisite abilities are not readily available in that country; or even if available, they are not identifiable.

In a multinational company or the IT industry, project managers play a crucial role and are sent to attend projects developed in other countries as well. Off-shore placement is another kind of movement of employees that comes under the purview of global placement; sometimes, the employer sends the employees to handle or lead a project away from the home country or send them for overseas work.

Very often, these kinds of transfers or offshore postings take place from a country in the East to a country in the West. Cultures of these two hemispheres differ significantly. Before transfer, they need to be introduced to cross-cultural issues and cultural diversity, to make their contributions fruitful and effective.

Placement – Benefits of Placement: To New Hires and Recruiting Organisation

If the organisation is able to match the abilities, skills and personality traits of new hires with the requirements of a job in a systematic way, several benefits could accrue to both the employer and the employee. It helps the employer utilise the potential of new hires fully, improve productivity and enhance retention. New hires will stay on the new jobs, take up training opportunities willingly, slip into leadership roles quite easily at a later stage.

A. Benefits to New Hires:

i. Suitable

ii. Satisfied

iii. Productive

iv. Learn and grow

B. Benefits to the Recruiting Organisation:

i. reduced cost and time of hire

ii. improved quality of new hire

iii. enhanced retention

iv. improved efficiency

v. improved productivity

Placement – Problem of Placement

After the induction programme is over, the new employees are placed at the jobs which fit with them. Thus, placement is essentially a process of matching jobs and individuals and placement occurs when a job is assigned to an individual. Placement of an individual employee may be at two stages- initial placement after the selection and orientation or in the form of internal mobility – promotion, demotion, and transfer.

The problem of placement differs in three situations of placement:

1. When an individual has been selected for a particular position, say production manager for a particular plant, he is placed to that position.

2. When an individual has been selected for a specific position but the place of position or department has not been specified, e.g., stenographer, sales representative, etc.

3. When an individual has been selected without specific reference to the position, e.g., management/executive trainee, consultant, etc.

The problem of placement emerges in the latter two situations. In today’s business context, the third type of situation is becoming more common. Individuals are selected not for a specific job but for several related jobs. Therefore, their placement to a specific job at a particular point of time requires several considerations.

In order to decide about placement of employees in these situations, the organization has to go through assessment-classification model for employee placement.

Let us discuss the major elements of this model to match the job and individual at a given point of time. This matching is relevant only for a given point of time as there is likelihood of mismatch with the passage of time and a rematch exercise is taken in the form of internal mobility of personnel. The first element in the model is, individual and the second element is job.

1. Individual:

When an individual is selected not for a specific job, his suitability for a job is decided on the basis of the matching of his profile as well as group profile.

i. Individual Profile:

Profile is the portrait or an outline of the object for which the profile is prepared. Every individual has a profile consisting of his biographical features, personality, ability, interest, attitudes and values, and motivation. An individual’s profile may be prepared by collecting information about these aspects.

ii. Group Profile:

An individual does not work alone but he works in the group consisting of so many individuals. The target individual will work better with other individuals whose profiles match with his own because of commonalty of different individuals. Though each individual differs from others and, therefore, the profiles of two individuals cannot match perfectly, still some factors may be common among these two individuals. These common factors are the basis on which an individual can be placed in a group.

2. Job:

A job is the combination of various interrelated tasks. Job performance depends on the job contents, the context in which the job is performed, and the individual’s profile who is performing the job. Preparation of job profile helps in matching the job and individual.

i. Job Profile:

Like an individual’s profile, job profile can be prepared taking into account job contents, job context, and the relationship of the job with other jobs in the organization. While job contents and job context may be derived from job analysis, job relationship may be derived from the type of technology used in performing the job (technology in terms of job performance process and not restricted to man-machine relationship only).

From this point of view, jobs may be classified into three categories- independent, sequential, and pooled. In each category of jobs, the placement problems differ. An independent job is one where the job performer does not depend on his co-workers in performing the job, e.g., job of a postman or sales representative assigned to a particular clearly-demarcated territory.

In independent jobs, the placement of an individual does not pose much of a problem, for individual needs only to be evaluated in terms of his abilities and interests and job requirements. In sequential jobs, activities of one individual depend on the activities of other individuals, e.g., assembly-line jobs.

In pooled jobs, there is high interdependence of individuals performing a job and the final outcomes of the job depend on the cooperative contributions of all individuals, e.g., project teams, temporary task forces, etc. In sequential and pooled jobs, matching of job and individual is not enough simply in the context of job contents and individual profile, but extends to the matching of individual profile, group profile, and job contents.

ii. Job Family:

Job family represents the classification of different jobs on the basis of their nature and pooling of different jobs of the same nature together. Thus, various jobs in a family, though not identical, have some common features just like group profile in the case of individuals. For example, jobs of stenographers at various hierarchical levels of an organization belong to the same job family though these may be performed at different levels.

iii. Matching Group Profile and Job Family:

After preparing group profile and job family, an individual is placed in a job family depending on match between group profile and job family. Once an individual is placed in a job family, he can be placed to the specific job after further counselling and assessment so that the individual’s profile matches with the group profile and job profile. The kind of match that is achieved in these three profiles, determines the degree of job performance.

Placement – How to Make Placement Effective and Satisfactory?

The following steps should be taken to make placement effective and satisfactory:

1. Job Rotation:

Job rotation means transferring the employee from one job to another. This technique of rotating the employee among different jobs in the department or organization enables the employee to satisfy his aptitude for challenging work so as to enable the employee to match with his new job-assignment.

2. Team Work:

Team-spirit is necessary among the employees. The team spirit comes from team work which allows employees to use their skill, knowledge, experience, abilities etc. and minimizes the problems in placement.

3. Training and Development:

Continuous training and management of employees help each employee to acquire new skills and knowledge, based on the re-designed jobs. This will also help in solving placement problems.

4. Job Enrichment:

Job enrichment provides the challenging work and decision-making authority to the employees. It gives an opportunity to the employees to utilize their varied skills and help in solving placement problems.

5. Empowerment:

Employee empowerment relating to the job he does helps him to exploit his potentialities which he can use efficiently. This will also solve the problem in placement.