Unit rationale, description and aim
Developing and implementing sustainable staffing, remuneration and benefits strategies is fundamental to organisational competitiveness and a crucial task for human resource practitioners, line managers, supervisors and business owners. The aim of this unit is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to design, implement, and evaluate staffing, remuneration, and benefits practices and systems that not only support organisational performance but also contribute to social justice, human rights, and the common good - core principles of Catholic Social Teaching.
The unit begins by considering the internal and external environments faced by contemporary organisations including domestic and global competitiveness, labour market trends, technological change and industrial transitions. Students will explore the central elements of strategic, evidence-based approaches to recruitment, selection, talent acquisition, onboarding, remuneration and benefits. The unit will equip students with the knowledge and skills for these key HR activities, taking account account of legal requirements and diversity and equity. Unit topics include job analysis and job design, employer branding, leveraging hidden talent pools, traditional and innovative recruitment and selection tools (including e-recruitment and HR analytics), and remuneration and benefits systems as key employee value propositions.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Explain the key concepts, theories and frameworks ...
Learning Outcome 01
Design staffing, remuneration, and benefits strate...
Learning Outcome 02
Examine the impact of staffing, remuneration, and ...
Learning Outcome 03
Critically evaluate contemporary staffing, remuner...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics in this unit build on the introductory coverage in the HRMG200 unit.
Topics will include:
- Introduction to recruitment, selection and talent acquisition
- Job analysis and job design: Traditional and emerging approaches, developing position and role descriptions and selection criteria
- Recruitment techniques and good practices: Legal, ethical, diversity and equity issues, traditional and innovative recruitment methods including e-recruitment and HR analytics, developing recruitment ads, employer branding and employee value propositions
- Employee selection aligned to business strategy
- Employment offers, employment conditions, and onboarding/induction processes
- Introduction to employee remuneration and benefits as attraction and retention strategies
- Theories of remuneration and benefits
- Analysing and designing remuneration and benefits systems for current and future workers
- Contemporary practices and trends in staffing, remuneration and benefits systems
Assessment strategy and rationale
In order to pass this unit, students are required to complete and submit three graded assessment tasks and achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50%. Marking will be in accordance with a rubric specifically developed to measure your level of achievement of the learning outcomes for each item of assessment. You will also be awarded a final grade which signifies your overall achievement in the unit. The assessment strategy for this unit allows students to sequentially build and develop their knowledge and skills of staffing, remuneration and benefits of organisations to the point where students can develop a sustainable recruitment and selection strategy for a case organisation. To develop this level of capability, students will demonstrate their knowledge of sustainable staffing, remuneration and benefits in a recruitment proposal, further develop their understanding by analysing and presenting on a case study on remuneration and then apply their knowledge and understanding by presenting recommendations in the final assessed report.
Overview of assessments
For Multi-mode and Online Delivery
Assessment Task 1: e Recruitment Proposal This a...
Assessment Task 1: e Recruitment Proposal
This assessment task consists of a recruitment and selection 1200-word proposal to a company considering recruiting via electronic methods. Utilising the knowledge gained in the first five weeks of the unit, the proposal solution must include the steps involved in the process of job analysis and job design, attraction and selection and consider possible ethical and diversity and equity issues that can arise in e-recruitment.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Proposal (Recruitment &Selection)
Artefact: Written Proposal
30%
Assessment Task 2: Remuneration Presentation Thi...
Assessment Task 2: Remuneration Presentation
This assessment task consists of a 15-minute presentation on the topic of remuneration. This task requires students as a group collectively to analyse, examine, reflect, and respond to a real-world scenario and apply remuneration knowledge and skills developed in the unit. Students need to deploy critical analysis to evaluate relevant staffing and remuneration theories and their impact on organisations and society in terms of ethics and diversity and equity.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Presentation
Artefact: Oral/Visual Media Presentation
30%
Assessment Task 3: Case Study Report This assess...
Assessment Task 3: Case Study Report
This assessment consists of a comprehensive case study analysis, which will be completed individually. This task requires students to apply and integrate the frameworks, models, and concepts related to recruitment, selection and remuneration through analysis of a case study and provide a 1750-word report.
Students will be asked to reflect on the learnings from this unit and determine the most ethical, practical and evidence-based recruitment and remuneration solution for the most sustainable outcome for the organisation.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Analytical Report
Artefact: Written Report
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Multi-Mode
This unit takes an inquiry-based learning approach to guide students in developing knowledge of recruitment, remuneration, and benefits. Students will explore the theories, concepts, and frameworks underpinning contemporary staffing strategies in a series of on-campus workshops. These workshops are designed to promote active participation through individual and group activities, including discussion, reflection, and shared experiences. Learning is scaffolded across the unit: students begin by examining foundational concepts, progress to evaluating evidence-based strategies, and culminate in designing practical solutions to HR challenges. This progression supports systematic skill development in applying strategic staffing, remuneration, and benefits approaches. Regular and timely feedback supports learning and skill refinement. This approach is suited to students who prefer to learn in a social environment and includes expert support to build HR capabilities.
ACU Online
This unit uses an active learning approach in fully online mode to support exploration of essential disciplinary knowledge. Students engage with key theories, concepts, and frameworks through flexible online materials. Weekly asynchronous discussions and activities enable students to apply their learning in practice-based scenarios. Learning tasks are sequenced to support progressive development of understanding and application. Students receive regular, timely feedback to guide progress and support achievement of learning outcomes.
Representative texts and references
Books
Goldstein, H.W., Pulakos, E.D., Passmore, J. and Semedo, C., 2017. The Psychology of Employee Recruitment, Selection and Retention. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Recruitment, Selection and Employee Retention, John Wiley and Sons Chichester.
Martocchio, J., 2017 Strategic Compensation: A Human Resource Management Approach, 9th Edition Pearson.
Nankervis, A.R., Baird, M., Coffey, J. & Shields, J., 2023, Human resource management: strategy and practice, 11th Asia-Pacific edition, South Melbourne, Vic. Cengage Learning.
Articles
Budhwar, P., Chowdhury, S., Wood, G., Aguinis, H., Bamber, G. J., Beltran, J. R., Boselie, P., Lee Cooke, F., Decker, S., DeNisi, A., Dey, P. K., Guest, D., Knoblich, A. J., Malik, A., Paauwe, J., Papagiannidis, S., Patel, C., Pereira, V., Ren, S., Rogelberg, S., Saunders, M. N. K., Tung, R. L., … Varma, A. (2023). Human resource management in the age of generative artificial intelligence: Perspectives and research directions on ChatGPT. Human Resource Management Journal, 1–XXX. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12524.
Dineen, B. R., Yu, K. Y. T., & Stevenson-Street, J. (2023). Recruitment in personnel psychology and beyond: Where we've been working, and where we might work next. Personnel Psychology, 76, 617–650. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12548.
Hennekam, S., Peterson, J., Tahssain-Gay, L. & Dumazert, J.-P. (2021) Recruitment discrimination: how organizations use social power to circumvent laws and regulations, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32:10, 2213-2241, DOI: 10.1080/09585192.2019.1579251
Wingate, T. G., & Bourdage, J. S. (2024). What are interviews for? A qualitative study of employment interview goals and design. Human Resource Management, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22215