Human resources and labor relations
The human resources domain links people management to labour law. Questions ask you to choose a recruitment or motivation approach, interpret a payroll or contract situation, and explain collective representation. Spanish and Catalan labour law specifics appear regularly, so exact figures and institutions matter.
Managing people
- HR cycle: workforce planning, recruitment (internal or external), selection, training, performance appraisal, compensation, separation.
- Motivation: Maslow (needs hierarchy), Herzberg (hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction; motivators such as achievement, recognition and responsibility create satisfaction), McGregor (Theory X versus Theory Y), Vroom (expectancy: effort leads to performance, performance to reward, reward to value).
- Leadership styles: autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, situational. Communication flows downward, upward and horizontally.
Labour relations and payroll
- The collective agreement (conveni col·lectiu) sets sector wages and working conditions; the works council (comitè d'empresa) represents employees in firms with 50 or more workers; unions may call a strike, which is a constitutional right exercised within legal limits.
- Gross to net: subtract employee Social Security contributions and IRPF withholding. Employer contributions are an additional cost on top of gross pay.
- Contracts: indefinite, temporary (fixed-term or eventual), part-time, training. Dismissal may be objective (economic, technical, organisational or production causes) or disciplinary (serious breach), with different compensation entitlements.
Worked example
Gross monthly salary €2,000; employee contributions about 6.5%; IRPF withholding 12%. Employee Social Security = €130, IRPF = €240, so net pay = 2,000 − 130 − 240 = €1,630. The employer also pays roughly 30% in employer contributions (about €600), so the total cost to the company is around €2,600 - not €2,000 and not €1,630. Writing gross salary as the company's labour cost loses the applied mark.
Traps
- Mixing Maslow's lower-order needs with Herzberg's motivators.
- Confusing employee contributions with employer contributions.
- Treating net pay as the firm's labour cost.
- Assuming a works council exists in every company regardless of headcount.
- Describing a strike as a mere breach of contract rather than a right with legal limits.