HRMG Case

Being the first HR professional that Plastec ever had, Paul's job is to "use HR to keep the company staffed up so they can grow" and "keep them out of court". Recently, the company has been experiencing a high turnover rate. It is recognized that a certain amount of turnover is to be expected due to seeking more challenging work or friendlier working environment, relocating to a new city or family commitments. However, in the case of Plastec, this turnover rate is due to competitive compensation and benefits offered by other companies, failure to promote from within, occurrences of harassment and discrimination.

When a business loses employees, it loses skills, experience and "corporate memory", which will inevitably affect productivity, profitability, and product and service quality. Such high turnover can negatively affect employment relationships, morale and workplace safety. Furthermore, the cost of replacing skilled or semi-skilled workers can be high, and the skills and knowledge acquired by workers who walk away can take years to replace.

In order to keep the company out of court, Paul need to be aware of the legal issues of the existing "Employment Policies and Practices". With the increasing cultural and demograhics diversity in workforce, it makes the nondiscriminatory treatment of employees important. If the individual feels that company policies are discriminatory and unreasonably restrictive, they are more likely to look for jobs elsewhere. Some of the policies and practices that Paul needs to be at the top of are:

1. The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Title VII (Equal Employment Opportunities). This act prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. In addition, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (International Employment Discrimination), which amend and strengthen the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requires employers to show that an employment practice is job related for the position and is consistent with business necessity.

2. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws and regulations, which include the rights of protected-class status, disparate treatment, disparate impact and affirmative actions.

3. EEO guidelines on sexual harassment and glass ceiling.

In order to keep the company staffed up so they can grow, the actions need to be undertaken by Paul are:

1. HR needs to recruit additional workers and managers. During the recruitment process, Paul, Roy and John need to understand the job specifications for each position to effectively hire new employees. The job specifications cover the knowledge, skills and abilities an individual needs to perform the job satisfactorily. Employee retention is enhanced by ensuring a good "organization-fit" between the company's workplace culture - it's way of doing business and the values - and the interest, character and motivations of the individuals that exist within it, as well as a good "job-fit" between the job description and the skill-sets and qualification that the individuals possess. However, prior to doing this, job description and qualification of the jobs need to be updated. The lack of job descriptions in the company maybe the root cause of the high turnover rate. This created challenges in the processes of recruiting, training and performance evaluation. If Paul does not clearly communicate each job description and what is expected from each employee, production will continue to decrease. Employees need to know exactly what their job duties are in order to effectively get them accomplished. When employees clearly understand what is expected from them, they are more than likely to perform at higher rates.

2. A review of the Rewards, Compensation and Benefits packages is needed in order to stay competitive. It is a fundamental starting point in most strategies to attract and retain employees. However, there is a general agreement that compensation levels do not single-handedly guarantee employee retention. Common best practices of this strategy include the use of industry surveys to benchmark and position wage and salary structures to be fair and competitive. In addition, an adequate and flexible benefit package can demonstrate to employees that the company is supportive and fair. Flexibility in benefits packages can enhance retention, as it creates responsiveness to the specific needs and circumstances of individual employees.

3. A variety of training need to be conducted especially diversity and harassment training. Paul should also invest in management diversity and harassment programs to effectively teach managers how to manage a team of diverse individuals and what is harassment, management to employee. In addition, Plastec should implement an employee trainee program to offer their employees more opportunities