Business administration guide to budgets, employees and organisation requirements

Budgets based on job position or salary grades are based on average salaries to employees in certain roles along with the number of positions to be filled per department overall. This form of budgeting is simpler in some aspects than budgets based on individual employees. If an employee leaves the organization, the budget does not have to be adjusted as it is assumed that another person will fill the position in the near future.

Position/ salary grade budgeting also protects confidentiality, as there is no name attached to salary amounts. It is less likely that the exact earnings of employees will be discovered by other employees. However, there are disadvantages to this form of budgeting. As salaries are based on averages, costs will not be 100% accurate.

Establish the organization's requirements for a skilled and diverse workforce

A diverse workforce is a workforce made up of people with differences. These differences include people of different races, religions, cultural values and beliefs, language groups, genders, sexual orientations, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, education levels, family responsibilities and levels of physical and mental disabilities. Australia’s population is highly diverse and as a result, so too are Australian workplaces. Workplace diversity is a means of achieving the objectives of an organization’s core business.

Organizations need to ensure that they are meeting legal obligations under the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) legislation. Under this legislation, it is unlawful to discriminate against an employee or job applicant on the basis of a range of characteristics that include gender, sexual preference, gender identity, age, religion, race, colour, physical or mental disability, marital status, family and carer responsibilities, pregnancy, breastfeeding, national origin, social origin, political belief/ activity, personal association, industrial activity or physical features.

EEO is based on the principle of merit applied fairly in the workplace. It involves identifying and eliminating any discriminatory barriers that cause inequality in the employment of any person or group of persons. The objective of EEO is to bring the disadvantaged up to the level of the advantaged. EEO legislation makes it more likely that organizations will have a diverse workforce.

Organizations are operating in an increasingly competitive labor market, as skills shortages are on the rise and there is greater competition for skilled employees. It makes sense for organizations to widen their potential pool of employees by broadening the scope of who is considered to be a suitable employee.

Organizations who have previously considered certain groups to be inappropriate such as young people with little experience, people with a disability, immigrants with little knowledge about Australian industries or mature-age workers, now find it necessary to recruit from their ranks. Having done so, organizations often find that these people are a wise investment, as they are capable, keen and well-suited to the work. They also find that these employees add value to the organization, as people with different backgrounds and experiences have different ways of thinking, different ideas, different ways of doing things and different ways of solving problems.

There are many advantages to having a diverse workforce. Most organizations’ customers and clients come from diverse backgrounds. Organizations that also have a diverse group of employees are able to provide targeted and specialized services to customers. Customers from nonâ€“English speaking backgrounds can be served by employees who speak the customer’s native language and understand the customer’s culture. This is becoming increasingly important as organizations operate in a global marketplace.

Customers and clients of a certain gender can be served by workers of the same gender. This can be particularly important in certain fields, such as medicine. Female patients will often prefer to be treated by a female doctor and male patients often prefer to be treated by male doctors. Organizations rely on their customers to succeed and make profits. Organizations with a diverse workforce have a competitive advantage.