Human Resource Management

The compensation practices that are set in place in this era of time far exceed practices of our past. “There have been substantial changes in how society views compensation and work, to include the understanding of what a normal workweek consists of.” For example, “in 1840, a normal workweek was determined to be six 13-hour days. In 1913 Henry Ford introduced the 8-hour day at a $5-a-day minimum wage,” compared to people working for just cents. The legal constraints and social considerations were the initiators of what is known as The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The initiation of this law caused the use of human resources to be utilized more efficiently and effectively. Its enactment not only set the “minimum and maximum wage, child labor standards and overtime pay of provisions for most employees”, but it also included some prohibitions. It protected the rights of minors (ages 14 -16) ensuring that the were working in non-hazardous work environments, and that limiting the number of hours that they could work so that it did conflict interfere with their education. This example sufficiently indicates that organizations were being held accountable and to a standard that mandated their full participation in developing an effective compensation system. The constant implementation and improving of labor laws helped to lead organizations toward more efficient and effective labor practices.

Other laws and standards, for example, The Equal Pay Act, protected the rights of workers by prohibiting them to be discriminated against in terms of their pay based on their gender. This law protects the right of the “employee ensuring equal pay, for work and equal skill, effort and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions.” This practice makes an organization ineffective when men and women are not equally paid for comparable worth. The effective auditing of equity practices uncovers discriminatory pay practices and when detected...