Various Issues In Human Resource Management

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Question :


Background Information


XYZ Enterprises provides scientific services to a variety of industries in Alberta. Having been in business for over 40 years, the company is well established but has recently been experiencing a number of challenges that are negatively affecting company revenue.

The CEO is very concerned about the future of the company and has called on her senior management team to identify the current problems that the business is facing and the possible causes for them.


The senior management team consists of :

Vice-President of Operations

Vice-President of HR

Vice-President of Finance


Report of the VP Finance to the CEO


  1. Overall company revenue is down – this is largely due to the economic downturn in Alberta where clients are not buying as many services as they used to. This is forecasted to get better within a few years as the economy begins to recover
  2. Operating costs are over budget, even though there is less work being done and there is no net increase in employees or equipment
  3. Cost of employee payroll has increased, despite the fact that no new positions have been added in the past 2 years


Report of the VP of Operations


  1. The sales team is not performing according to expectations. They are each tasked with brining in a certain amount of new business and are compensated on this by way of compensation bonuses. This year is the second year in a row that the bonuses payable for new business are down significantly. In addition, the sales team is compensated for total amount of business generated in their accounts. This is also down from 2 years ago
  2. There seems to be a lot of conflict between the sales team and the customer service team. Each group is blaming the other for problems with handling customer accounts
  3. There has been a decrease in the number of customers in the last year, as some major accounts have stopped doing business with the company. Poor service is the number one reason cited by customers as the reason they left
  4. The competition has been doing steadily better over the last 2 years. It appears that many of the lost accounts at this company are gained accounts for the competition


Report of the VP of HR


  1. Turnover has increased by 30% - employees are leaving the company within the first year at higher rates than ever before, and there are higher numbers of total employee exits, including some long-term employees
  2.  The VP has been in her job for over 5 years; there has not been any improvement or innovation in the onboarding process
  3. Employees typically fill out paperwork on their first day and are sent directly to their work unit. They receive a safety orientation some days after their start date.
  4. There are no updated job descriptions; the supervisors no longer refer to them because they are so out of date. Training for new employees is usually done by co-workers
  5. In each business unit, particularly those relating to production and customer service, employees are not aware how their work fits into the larger company objectives – there is no feedback loop between or within departments. Senior management does not talk to the employees about the impact of their work on the business
  6. The customer service team does not understand or take ownership for what happening in their department – their manager has been fired but there is no improvement under the new manager.


CEO Response


Your group is the HR department in XYZ Enterprises. The CEO has told the VP of HR to remedy the turnover issues. She has authorized extra budget to implement whatever strategies the HR department sees fit in order to reduce turnover and increase employee morale. The CEO has also recognized that the operations group needs coaching from HR on how to align employees with business objectives. She wants HR to help align the various departments to the company value of customer service. The CEO will communicate to the employees that customer service is the number one priority for the company; this has been and still is their competitive advantage in the scientific services industry.

 

Group Project Requirements

Your group is the HR department for XYZ Enterprises. You have been tasked by the VP of HR to complete all of the above tasks.


Tasks

  1. Build a strategy to reduce employee turnover
  2. Define processes for recruitment and onboarding
  3. Define the process for orientation training
  4. Define performance management strategy
  5. Define new benefits programs
  6. Define discipline policy
  7. Define complaints policy including company obligations and employee rights
  8. Define what method you will use to gauge employee morale


Build a strategy to coach line managers:

  1. Align their people with the company objectives
  2. How to build successful teams
  3. How to build ownership by introducing accountability for employees


You will be asked to present your final project to the class at the end of November. The guidelines for this will follow at a late date.

XYZ ENTERPRISES ORGANIZATION CHART

XYZ ENTERPRISES – ORGANIZATION CHART


 

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Answer :

Introduction

The recognition of the role played by human resource department helps an organisation in integrating organisational activities and utilising resources for meeting objectives. It is essential for human resource to implement suitable strategies that can enhance organisation’s economic performance and adapt changes according to government policies and procedures (Nahar et al. 2017). The present study is based on the case study of XYZ Enterprises where the CEO is concerned about company’s future. Hence, from the prospect of senior management team strategies will be developed to minimise employee turnover and to coach line managers. 


TASK 1: Strategy to reduce employee turnover

Process for recruitment and on boarding:

The process of recruitment is undertaken by human resource department to attract talented candidates for an organisation. Besides, the process of recruitment is concerned with reaching the candidates and ensures supply of qualified personnel. Bai et al. (2017) added that a high quality hiring enhances employer brand and thereby attracts candidates by placing them under correct department. On other hand, the process of on boarding conveys organisational values and brand to the candidates. Here, organisational culture, institutional expectations and performance are stated to the candidates. 


Moreover, carrying out on boarding process gives opportunity to the organisation in understanding their candidates. Therefore, by carrying out recruitment and on boarding process XYZ Enterprise can reduce turnover rate to 10%. Moreover, while recruiting staffs the organisation can give updated job description so that candidates can understand the requirement of the organisation. Setting this objective can help in selecting candidates as per the satisfaction due to which the candidates will get satisfactory job and will enjoy in carrying out their responsibilities. Similarly, in on boarding process makes sure in employee longevity and loyalty due to which employee’s performance is measured by carrying out constant flow of communication (Padachi et al. 2016)


Feedbacks are also taken in this process to listen to the employees and take their work related opinion. The case study shows that the VP of HR is been in the job for over 5 years yet there is no improvement in the on boarding process. However, if on boarding process is used strategically then opportunities can be gained by the organisation and give productive employees that is important for employee retention, employer brand and employee engagement (Umar et al. 2016)


Process for orientation training

After the recruitment process the skilled employees are selected where they are prepared to carry out their respective roles and responsibilities. Here, comes the orientation and training where employees are prepared to work for a firm. Orientation is a process where new employees are provided with basic information about the work place and work role. Esteban-Lloret et al. (2016) added that the process of training is used by an enterprise in order to make sure that new candidates are updated with basic knowledge which is required for performing their work role. The case of XYZ Enterprise reports that new candidates are trained by co worker which is loophole for the enterprise as they get incomplete information about the firm. This is the main cause for lowering employee turnover rate as the employees lack confidence in performing their work role. Besides, they are also unable to handle challenging situation as they are dependent on their co-worker. 


On other hand, orientation training not only improves employee’s performance but also creates satisfaction on their performance due to which they feel they are a part of the organisation. It helps the leading company for their future improvement for long term employee retention. When XYZ Enterprise implements this training in their program the employees can build their skills leading to professional and personal growth. This can give high production and organisation can be benefited for achieving long term goals. In XYZ Enterprise the supervisor should take initiative to complete the process of orientation by introducing new employees to their co-workers and other associate staffs. Therefore, the process increases interest among the new candidates and the training gives them confidence and satisfaction that can reduce employee turnover in XYZ Enterprise. 


Performance management strategy

Properly managing organisation performance can be a well executed plan that can help an organisation in achieving long term goals and can gain long term employee retention. The operation system in XYZ Enterprise shows that sales team is not performing well and is down from 2 years. Performance can be managed with proper planning and coordination. The operating costs of the firm are over budget instead of minimum work. Therefore strategies should be made regarding proper utilisation of resources and human labour. This can lower down cost of production and wastage of raw materials by giving maximum production. In performance management steps should be taken accurately defining individual goals by aligning with organisation strategy (Carnahan et al. 2017). This is a collaborative process done between the employees and manager. Therefore, steps should be taken from the beginning that is updating job description where it will explain company’s expectation for the job. 


Training and development programme need to be focused to engage employees with their work role and keep them align with organisation goal. Carrying out two ways communication between employer and employees is effective in taking and giving feedback. Employee motivation is important to manage employee performance and it builds up interest regarding their work role (Coşar et al. 2016). Therefore, performance appraisal, reward program is important to encourage the employees into their work and help the company in achieving goal. In addition, performance management program has significant important on the organisation as it gives potential increase in revenue, improve productivity, increase employee retention and satisfaction. 


New benefits programs

New benefits program can be a type of pension plan that employees and employers receive after retirement. The benefit is given based on the tenure and service of the staffs. Reward system on the performance is the way of creating motivation. Encouraging the staffs to take part in decision making is also effective in make them feel that they are a part of the organisation. Thereby, it gradually increases employee retention and reduces turnover rate. Benefits programme can be given to customer service team as XYZ Enterprise’s is poor in it. Giving effective services to the customers enable in achieving long term goal and organisation gains competitive advantage (Porter et al. 2016).


Defining discipline policy

The discipline policies intensive to Human resources are typically devised to endow the respective subordinates of a respective unit with an opportunity that might assist them to mend or recover their certain traits that are objectionable in terms of organizational decorum. In this regard, lauded Human Resource policies usually follow a globally approved format, which is known as progressive discipline that chiefly focus on several integral aspects of improving job experience. Furthermore, these policies are supposed to evolve out of sincere training and counselling subjected to the employees that might facilitate the draining of objectionable aspects from their professional identity (DeSchriver et al. 2016). The respective framework encourages occasions to issue a document to the participant employees (that also include opportunities for the employees to reflect pleas) through;


Counseling and Verbal Warning:  This is considered as the first step of the disciplinary framework under which the Human Resources exponent is expected to listen to the plea of the respective employee and encourage his/her involvement in certain plans that might initiate improvement. The HR exponent is further instructed to submit a return report consisting of the governing outcomes of the respective encounter.


  Written Warning:  If the first phase is still incompetent to introduce satisfactory behavior within the trait of the respective employee, the HR exponent is instructed to issue a written document, which considerably differs from the verbal warning report.  Being not informal as the verbal warning report, this written documents intends to chronicle the account of the employee input coupled with certification documenting that maintains an approach which enable the documents to be served against any event of employment lawsuit.

Suspension and Ultimate Written Warning:  After the aforementioned phases if the employee is still unable to retrieve the requisite characteristics, a temporary non-paid suspension letter needs to be issued to the respective employee keeping the exempts and non-exempts in mind. 

Final Termination:  After the exhaustion of aforementioned avenues, the errant subordinate has been issued an ultimate termination letter. This is typically done with the presence of a reliable witness. 

Plea Process:  After the completion of the disciplinary process, the subordinate is still allowed to object framed upon a pertinent information typically accumulated from the co-workers of the management.

  

Defining complaints policy

These policies are typically devised to consolidate the synergy prevalent between the employer and employee in terms of organizational human resources liability. Thisusually comprises of several phases including receiving the information  regarding employee harassment and subsequently evaluating and resolving it regarding sweatshop and several issues regarding miserable job conditions. 

Major reasons: These policies enable the employees with the awareness that on which grounds they are accepted to raise such issues since the management is conditioned to provide that in the handbook during the new-hire orientation program.

Company obligation

The underlying obligations of the respective management can be reflected under the statement, which reflects management’s desire to run on the principles of employee satisfaction. In this regard, after identifying the origin of dissatisfaction from the employee side, the management is prone top draft a litigation suite and simultaneously incorporates respective suggestions of a reliable attorney. Despite of the expected set behavior that the Employee Relation exponent is supposed to conform to, from a moral perspective and similar obligatory notion, the exponent is expected to deal with the issues regarding some gross discriminatory action imposed by the authority.Moreover,  apart from the issues related to the physique and psyche of the employees, the employee-relation exponent is also instructed to advocate the union oriented activities of the  employees.

Employee rights 

In terms of the employee rights which has been issued to the employees in advance in a form of employee handbook during the new hire-orientation program, the employees are allowed to object and appeal regarding any act of harassments, abuse and discrimination. In this regard, they are typically instructed to consult to the supervisor regarding the floor the employee belong to in order to address the discrepancy of declared demeanour. Moreover, they are allowed to fetch their respective complaints to the Office of Affirmative action or the Staff Association Council (SAC).

In this regard, it also needs to be mentioned that the employees are certainly not allowed to enjoy access to the every section of the hierarchy of the respective, which needs to be addressed from the organizational side during the time of recruitment (Taylor, 2016). However, they are allowed to re-appeal for the detailed and thorough investigation of the proposed matter. They are allowed to seek a detailed report of the investigations in each of the phases of the interview.  In a reflective ton e it might be conveyed that instead of attending the ideal method of open-door policy, the policies that promote constrained yet unimpeded access is more favourable to employees with a certainty of resolving.

Defining exclusive methods to gauge employee morale

In this regard, it can be conveyed what Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) have figured out in one of their survey that, apart from job satisfaction, benefits and compensation the cardinal factors that shape employee morale are opportunities provided by the respective management to exhibit skills and abilities, encounter with the respective supervisor and the nature of work itself. Moreover, the transmitted that apart from the pay matrix and the governing players, what really matters to the employees is a corporate leader of blazing charisma (Berkovi, 2016)

This segment of the underlying study owes a lot to the survey as they have been able to transmit a valuable metric of attributes that might enhance the development of morale on the respective employees. Initially, they have encouraged the organization to shed exclusive attention to the unique abilities of the employees as it consolidates the underlying notions of dedication that the respective employees pertain while endowing the respective organization with innovative aptitude. Moreover, the prevalent organization are expected the performance statistics of each of the employees since recognition is one of the governing keys for every employee to sustain the devotion to the  moot organizational objectives. 

TASK2

BUILDING STRATEGIES TO C OACH LINE MANAGERS

Linking with company objectives

This principle needs to be followed in each segment of the official hierarchy by the respective organization since, apart from assisting the immediate supervisor to evaluate the assigned tasks; it also contributes to the consolidation of loyalty and dedication of the respective employees. In this regard, the immediate supervisor is requested to explain the job roles to their respective employees in order to ensure the seamless progress of the job status (Rao, 2016). Apart from that, the line managers, who have been designated as immediate supervisor extensively in this study suite, should pertain the acumen to judge the compatibility of the employees while allocating a certain task to them. This is imperative since appropriate task allocation and the coaching behind that is one of the prime requisites to ensure the completion of the job with desired nuances while assessing to the fixed set of objectives.  

Building successful teams

It is an exaggeration to mention that, a charismatic leader in every phase of the organization is an essential criterion for any organization to ensure the seamless completion of a certain objective. Moreover, leaders are supposed to be the governing factor that can ensure the establishment of a circumspect team. In this regard, the immediate line managers can be recommended to enhance the leadership skills within them in order to keep their subordinates boosted and inspired to perform miracles within the workplace.  Furthermore, one of the paramount criteria behind constructing a successful team is to develop a spirit of collaborative camaraderie among the subordinates since they need to be empathetic towards each other’s relative flaws and sometimes they need perform the tasks cumulatively (Warrick, 2016).The collective essence of an employed job is something that ensures the seamless progress of the tasks that are integral to the ultimate objective of the respective unit.  

Building ownership by introducing accountability among the employees

Accountability is related to the loyalty of an employee regarding the responses that he/she is vulnerable to exhibit towards his/her allocated task. In this regard, the line managers are destined to play a governing role in order hold the universal command of the entire project. Furthermore, to ensure employability from the organization side is to acknowledge the performance characteristics of an employee, not by generalizing but by individualized accreditation oftheir performances. This is one of the established totems to ensure loyalty and subsequent accountability towards the effort expected from an employee. 

Moreover, from the side of the subordinates, they always expect that the job descriptions regarding their stance need to be updated in a regular basis since most of the time the immediate supervisors or the line managers appear ignorant regarding that. This complacence instils the reciprocal complacence within the employees and simultaneously introduces a gradual decline on their quotient of dedication, loyalty and accountability (Cheng and Lunn, 2016). The aforementioned can be depicted as a gross organizational flaw that the line managers are prone to exhibit. Thus, in this regard, they can be recommended to avail that in order ensure their command  over the entire workplace while ensuring enhanced employee accountability.