Cross Country Comparison Ireland vs US

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Cross Country ComparisonIreland vs US

• Team 4X
• Jayashree Sukumaran
• Vasanti Bhadkamkar
• Donna Delcasale
• Razan Jazeh

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A1-Maps of the U.S. and Ireland
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A 1- Comparison of Basic Statistics and
Demographics between USA and Ireland
IRELAND Size 70,280 sq km Population
3,883,159 (July 2002 est.) Age structure
0-14 years 21.3 (male 425,366 female 403,268)
15-64 years 67.3 (male 1,307,469 female
1,305,038) 65 years and over 11.4 (male
191,927 female 250,091) Sex ratio at
birth 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years 1.05
male(s)/female 15-64 years 1 male(s)/female 65
years and over 0.77 male(s)/female total
population 0.98 male(s)/female

• U.S.
• Size
• 9,629,091 sq km
• Population
• 280,562,489 (July 2002 est.)
• Age structure
• 0-14 years 21 (male 30,116,782 female
  28,765,183) 15-64 years 66.4 (male 92,391,120
  female 93,986,468) 65 years and over 12.6
  (male 14,748,522 female 20,554,414)
• Sex ratio
• at birth 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years
  1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years 0.98
  male(s)/female 65 years and over 0.72
  male(s)/female total population 0.96
  male(s)/female

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A 2- List of Industries Available in both the
U.S. and Ireland
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A 3- Comparison of Labor Market for the U.S. and
Ireland
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Education system

• Irish system
• National, centralized system controlled by the
  Department of Education
• Age 6 to 15 mandatory education
• The Irish education system has been acknowledged
  as one of the key factors for successful economy

• US system
• Decentralized system controlled by the state govt
  and local school boards.
• Age 6 to 18 mandatory education.
• Recent reports document that the education system
  in US fails to serve the needs of employing
  organizations

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Staffing Practices

• US
• Decreasing number of part-time jobs while
  fulltime jobs grow rapidly
• Substantial flexibilities in hiring and promotion
  policies
• Internal promotions are seniority based due to
  collective bargaining
• Overtime is billed at time and one half (1.5) the
  regular bill rate and applied to any time worked
  over eight (8) hours in a work day or over forty
  (40) hours worked in a workweek.
• No notice required to be given for
  termination/layoffs
• No mandatory retirement .Pensionable age is 67
  years for both men and women

• Ireland
• Broad usage of flexible work practices.
  Increasing number of part-time jobs as compared
  to full-time.
• Promotion policies based on the length of
  employment
• Seniority affects ranking and promotions
• Overtime is a regular feature and must not
  exceeed 2 hrs/day or 12 hrs/wk or 240 hrs/yr
• Advanced notice to be given for layoffs
• Mandatory retirement and pensionable age is 65
  for both men and women.

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Labor Costs

• The US has a substantial competitive advantage
  over at least half the member states of the EU,
  at 17.50.
• Ireland is extremely competitive at 16.20.
• Comparative Labour Costs of average hourly cost
  to employers

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Rewards Performance appraisal

• IRELAND
• Union Negotiated Pay agreement based on PPF
• Recent shift to financial incentives as cure for
  low productivity. More common in the private
  sector.Different in MNCs from local firms.
• More Non unionized firms have merit pay.59
  organizations use merit pay
• Interest in ESOP is relatively low

• U.S.
• Absence of centralized wage negotiation.
• Pay more clearly Related to
• Performance than in Ireland
• 96organizations use Merit Pay
• Employee Stock Options a valued
• form of Compensation significantly for
• Executive compensation

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Rewards Performance appraisal

• Ireland
• Profit Sharing is less common than other
  incentives. Piece work is more common at manual
  level.
• It was estimated that 11 of Irish workplaces had
  approved profit-sharing schemes, while 11 had
  employee share-ownership
• Fringe benefits are paid more by government than
  the employer
• Pension pay after 65
• Newer forms of flex-benefits gaining popularity
• Performance appraisals for all grades but lesser
  importance for manual level and less in unionized
  firms. Only 29.7 organizations individual prp
• Training needs analyzed 71

• US
• Profit sharing used more widely than
• gain sharing but gain sharing
• increasing in importance. Piece work not
• common anymore.Skill based pay
• becoming morecommon
• Fringe benefits is 40 of base pay
• and paid by employer.
• Pension pay after 67
• Flexi benefits becoming common.
• Defined Contribution and Defined
• Benefit Plans
• Performance Appraisals increasingly
• becoming the mode of determining pay
• 73.4 organizations purpose is individual
• prp (performance related pay)
• Training needs analyzed to a greater

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Organizational-level Training

• US
• Not much focus on organizational level training
• Lower training budgets allocated
• Highly specialized jobs require less training
• High school education along with a little
  on-the-job training sufficient
• Lower employment securities cause employers to
  invest less in training
• Major training facilities provided despite the
  lower budgets. Examples are tuition
  reimbursement, negotiations with unions, etc.

• Ireland
• Increased provision of TD since recent years
• Serious efforts by the govt to improve TD
• TSS introduced in 1990 to encourage and promote
  training in small/ medium org.
• Avg. training coverage of 4500 employees/year
• Training provisions acknowledged to be poor
  despite the govt efforts
• More training for unemployed rather than for the
  employed in the form of vocational training and
  other such provisions.

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FUNCTIONAL FLEXIBILITYability of organization to
deploy workforce among tasks
IRELAND Training was job specific but slowly
changing Strong governmental support resulting
in Ireland being 5 above EU average Reward
systems dont encourage movement 6 Out of every
10 companies practice Functional
Flexibility OUTOME LOW FUNCTIONAL
FLEXIBILITY BUT
INCREASING

• U.S.
• Most training is job-specific
• OTJ Training
• Workers perform job hired for
• Low eagerness to assist others when needed
• Reward Systems dont encourage
• movement
• OUTOME LOW FUNCTIONAL FLEXIBILITY

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Competence of Workforceability of workforce to
meet organizational staffing needs
IRELAND Work Systems Design
Vertical/horizontal specialized jobs Reward
Systems Pay based on the work that is
done Education High Quality Average yrs
formal schooling 14.9 Collaboration
universities/industries Training 70 of
companies provide More spent on
mgmt/professionals Higher emphasis on
training than in U.S. Staffing
Systems Limit ability to allocate wkrs
throughout the firm OUTOME
MODERATELY COMPETENT

• U.S.
• Work Systems Design
• Vertical/horizontal specialized jobs
• Reward Systems
• Pay based on the work that is done
• Education
• Average yrs formal schooling 15.2
• Low workforce skills obtained
• Training
• On The Job
• More spent on mgmt/professionals
• Staffing Systems
• Limit ability to allocate wkrs throughout the
  firm
• OUTOME LOW COMPETENCY

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Vacation Paid Time Off

• Ireland
• Legally mandated paid leave
• 4 weeks paid time off
• Few organizations explicitly offer paternity
  leave of about a week

• US
• No legally mandated paid leave
• In law, workers in the United States are not
  guaranteed any paid holidays or vacation days.
  the average number of paid days off far lower in
  the United States than in the rest of the
  industrial world.

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Internal Numerical Flexibilityability to adjust
working hours
IRELAND Few restrictions on work hours in
Ireland makes it attractive for MNCs Can adjust
to meet increases/decreases in demand Flexible
work schedules developed for family friendly
working arrangements as of women entering
workforce increased OUTCOME HIGH INF

• U.S.
• Easily adjusted to meet increases in
• demand
• Not as easily adjusted to meet
• decreases due to seniority
• Flexible work schedules common in U.S.
• OUTOME HIGH INF

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External Numerical Flexibilityability of
organization to adjust size of workforce
IRELAND Not as flexible hiring/term polices
(must give required notice per Employee Contracts
Law) Temp/Part-time workers used for seasonal
employment and to cover leave periods of
Temp/Part-time workers increasing (10 growth
rate) OUTCOME HIGH ENF

• U.S.
• Flexible hiring/term policies
• Temp/Part-time workers incorporated
• into staffing strategies to reduce need
• for layoffs
• Used as way to meet demand
• changes
• of Temp/PT employees decreasing
• (more FT employees being hired)
• OUTOME HIGH ENF

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A 4- Comparison of the Hofstede Model for the
U.S. and Ireland
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Industrial Relations

• US
• Low union membership low coverage characterized
  by single corporation based bargaining
• Union avoidance is common
• Low union density
• Differentiation between Labor Employment Law

• Ireland
• High union membership, high coverage rate and
  fairly centralized bargaining in Ireland.
• High union density
• Social pacts for collective bargaining
• Labor courts industrial Tribunals, Labor
  relations commissions.
• Works councils not common unlike the rest of
  Europe.

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Union Density and National Culture
Culture as a Guide to Manage the
Labor-RelationsFunction in a Global
Economy,Gangaram SinghPublication No. 109Fall
2001 CIBER WORKING PAPER SERIES
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Social Pacts

• PNR, National Recovery 1987-91
• PESP, Economic and Social Progress 1991-94
• PCW, Competitiveness and Work 1994-97
• Partnership 2000(1997-2000)
• Program for Prosperity and Fairness( PPF)
  2000-2002
• All these agreements are tripartite between
  unions, employers and government.
• Formalized a centralized pay agreement covering
  both public and private sectors.
• In Ireland the parties signing a collective
  agreement may apply to the Labor court to have
  the agreement registered
• It becomes legally binding on the parties and on
  other employers and employees of the same class.

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Legal angle

• US
• Concept of Employment at will
• Title VII of Civil Rights Act
• ADEA, ADA
• EEOC
• National Labor Relations Act (commonly known as
  the Wagner Act).
• Equal Pay Act
• FLSA
• FMLA provides unpaid leave for certain reasons
• Unemployment Insurance

• Ireland
• Unfair Dismissal Act
• Min. notice and terms of employment act
• Terms of employment/information Act
• No laws on age / race/ disabilities
  discrimination
• Industrial Relations Act 1990
• Employment Equality Act
• Organization of Working Time Act
• Maternity protection of employees Act, women are
  entitled to pay at the rate of the statutory
  Maternity Allowance Scheme. This is not paid by
  employers but by the Department of Social Welfare
  
• The Redundancy Payments Acts

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Multiple Stakeholders

• Employees
• Need for increased training to improve skills
• Strong status differentials between mgmt and
  front-line
• Fair treatment/anti-discrimination laws
• Customers
• Focus on cost reduction/high quality
• Need for positive internal climate to increase
  customers satisfaction
• Hiring strategies need to focus on demographical
  similarities of employees/customers
• Need for increased training that enhances skills
  to improve customer satisfaction
• Strategic Partners
• Ireland Moderately collaborative union
  relationships high participation
• U.S. Confrontational union relationships low
  participation

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Multiple Stakeholders

• Stockholders/Investors
• Strong focus on maximizing shareholder value
• Realize importance to organization
• Society
• U.S. government encourages community relations
  Ron Brown Award
• Companies in U.S. and Ireland Environmentally
  Friendly
• 25 of Irish firms have a formal Environmental
  Policy and 50 have a charitable donation policy
• The Organization
• 1/3 of industrial workforce MNCs 50 are U.S.
  MNCs
• Ireland is the European Leader in information
  technology
• Competitive advantages young/educated
  workforce, geographic location, favorable tax
  treatment, governmental support, excellent
  telecommunications/transportation infrastructure

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Comparison of the HRMS

• US
• High and rapidly growing integration of HR and
  business strategy
• HR metrics gaining popularity
• Rapid growth of HR planning in firms
• Role of HR is more strategic in service industry
  than in mfg. firms
• Decentralization of administrative HR functions,
  but centralization of strategic functions
• Increasing trends of outsourcing HR across the
  borders

• Ireland
• Strategic role of HR increasing since 1995, but
  still lower when compared with US
• Newly emerged HRM co-exists with the traditional
  collective bargaining system
• High level of functional presence of HR and it
  continues to expand
• Equal number of males and females employed at all
  professional levels
• Line managers have greater control over people
  management
• HR partnering with line managers
• Presence of HR head on the BOD, avg to low when
  compared with US

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Schuler Begin Model Future trends IRELAND
External Factors-low on individualism High Union
Density High State Involvement Rapid Economic
Development Celtic Tiger Economy Open
society Legal system regulated Laws for
employment contracts Political stability IMD
ranking 10 Skill Levels increasing Emigration
decreasing Immigration increasing Women Youth
in the labor force. Increasing level of
education Developing Infrastructure
Value of Stakeholders Internal Stakeholders
becoming as important as external stake holders
Strategic Linkage to Business gaining
momentum More in MNCs
HR Policies Practices HR Fairly
streamlined Training gaining importance Rewards
becoming linked to performance More Part time
employment increasing flexibility Job Sharing
and increased work hours Becoming more
Americanized
HRM Effects HR to manage differently for
diversity . Partly aging workforce Part time
work becoming common Employee contracts changing

• Impact on Stakeholders
• Customers Satisfaction Supreme
• Employee Work life balance programs
• Government to change
• to deliver services
• Government has established the
• Information Society Commission,
• eEconomy has changed the rules
• about the creation of economic wealth

Internal factors Technology expanding Manufacturin
g Services Great degree of competition more
MNCs Outsourcing Hub Growth stage Professionals
increasing Employment increasing Tripartite
social pacts employees, government
organizations Centralized wage agreements and
working conditions negotiated across industries.
Transfer of HRP P has few barriers from the US.
Americanization Internal practices share common
ground owing to Partnership Agreements
HR Function Increasingly shifting to strategic
focus More administrative HR functions shifting
to line managers. IR will continue to be
important
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Schuler Begin Model Future trends US
External Factors High on individualism Low Union
Density Moderate State Involvement Slowing
Economic Development Open society most
MNCs Legal system regulated Political
stability IMD ranking 1 Skill Levels
increasing Change in net migration is
stable Women Youth in the labor
force. Increasing level of education
Value of Stakeholders Internal Stakeholders more
important than external stake
holders. Balanced Scorecard approach
HR at the table Strategic HR at Corporate level
Decentralized HR at Business Units HR Scorecard
HR Policies Practices HR highly
streamlined Reduced general Training in
organizations More variable pay than base
pay More Part time employment increasing
flexibility Changing Labor Contracts High
Employee involvement accountability Executive
Development Exec Pay
HRM Effects HR to manage differently for
diversity. Ethics an HR function Knowledge
management initiatives by HR. HR Metrics Global
HR

• Impact on Stakeholders
• Employee Customer Profit chain
• Increased coordination
• with suppliers

Internal factors Technology expanding Knowledge
Age Maturity stage Knowledge workers
increasing Employment steady Outsourcing to other
markets Cost cutting as vital Sixth Sigma Quality
Practices Supply Chain Management
HR Function Increasingly shifting to Executive
Leadership focus More administrative HR functions
shifting to line managers. HR focus Doables to
Deliverables
Transfer of HRP P External transfer of
practices very uncommon Internal practices
share common ground best practices
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME