Question

Paul, the HR Director at Bumpbie, had previously worked as Director of HR for Kelecton, a small company with 240 employees that makes software for utility companies.  The majority of employees were programmers and engineers who designed and installed proprietary software for regulating and tracking electricity and gas.  Since the company had been experiencing a 15-20% rate of growth, recruiting experienced employees was a continuing challenge due to the specialized skill sets required.  Paul left the company when he found out from a friend about the opportunity at Bumpbie.  Just before he left, he conducted an employee survey which revealed the following:

• 78% of the employees were satisfied with their working conditions and they enjoyed freedom and flexibility to perform their jobs without strict supervision
• 70% felt their workloads were adequate – not too heavy, not too light
• 55% felt safe, with little danger of occupational hazards associated with their physical environment.  There were comments, presumably from the 45% who did not feel safe, that some of the utility plants where they worked on installations were not as safe as they should be
• 89% felt there were few if any opportunities to improve their skills
• 87% responded there were no promotion opportunities
• 74% felt there was little relationship between their performance and their pay.  There were numerous comments that performance reviews hadn’tbeen done on time or hadn’t been done at all.  Other comments indicated arbitrary treatment and favoritism of some employees.
• 56% felt their benefits were below average or poor.  Note: since many employees had previously worked for large utilities, Kelecton’s benefits probably did not compare favorably with those offered by the larger organizations.    

Paul informally shared the survey results with the CEO, CFO, and VP of Operations.  They indicated concern for many items, but also pointed out that finances were stretched to the limit in order to fund their continuing growth.  They asked Paul to draw up a conceptual plan that would address the majority of the employees’ concerns “without breaking the bank.”   The next step was to meet and discuss the conceptual plan and give Paul direction as to next steps and priorities.    

The plan is a means to identify, on a general level, the options for management to consider and for Paul to pursue further.  Assume there is not sufficient time to assemble specific costs for the various options, but take into consideration what you have learned from the text about general costs and savings.  The plan should include:

            - Changes to be made to current systems, processes, policies, and activities based on survey results, with your rationale for these changes

- Prioritize the changes in order of least to most expensive

- It is acceptable to make assumptions and/or add details that have not been provided   

Answer 1

The most suitable and feasible changes that can be made to the facilities.

(a) Linking performance with the pay. It will improve the productivity of employees, make them more accountable and responsible and also improve the profitability of the company.

(b) Give more autonomy to the employees. Avoid over management of employees and give them reasonable degree of freedom to take decisions.

(c) Make the work environment more safe. Improve safety procedures.

(d) Increase the workload slightly to improve productivity.

(e) Invest in employee training and development.

(f) Improve the pay packages of the employees to bring it to the fair market level.

2. Prioritising changes from least to most expensive

(a) Giving employees autonomy. It will hardly involve any expenses.

(b) Increase workload. However, it should come with increase in the pay, otherwise it will lead to more dissent.

(c) Linking performance with pay. The extra expenses will be offset by the monetary gains achieved from higher productivity.

(c) Invest in employee safety. It will incur expenses but it will be worth the money spent in improving employee satisfaction and avoiding the risk of penalties and lawsuits.

(d) Invest in employees' training and development. It will incur expenses but will also lead to better performances. thus saving money for company.

(e) Increasing employee pay and benefits. It will also improve the employee motivation and satisfaction.