Question

CASE STUDY 1 Why Is Everyone So Stressed? Lisa Harcourt sat at her desk and could not believe the feedback received from the recent . employee survey. As HR director for Top Notch Storage, she has always thought that the company had highly engaged and happy workers. However, the data were presenting a very different picture. Top Notch Storage had been in business for 10 years and had been rapidly growing. The company employed over 2000 people, ranging from office workers who did bookings, to people who were in charge of placing and retrieving items from storage, to a group of 30 managers who supervised the various employees. Lisa noted that only 400 people (or about 20%) of the workforce responded to the employee survey, but she couldn't understand why this was the case. The low response rate also caused her to wonder if the information presented was accurate and a true indication of problems at Top Notch Storage. From the responses received, employees indicated that they received constant calls from the office (even on weekends) indicating that clients needed access to their storage units; therefore, someone had to go to the office and provide this service. Employees also indicated that they felt unsafe going to the units at the back of the facility to meet a client alone on a weekend. Also, feedback indicated that the work environment contained many safety haz- ards, such as improper equipment (forklifts and poor lighting), and that the software used for booking and tracking storage units was outdated and very difficult to operate. Furthermore, some employees indicated that they hadn't had a vacation in a long time and that their boss encouraged them not to take time away from work. Lisa was concerned and wondered what the next steps should be. The response rate was so low that she wondered if any action was required. Questions: 1. What should Lisa do next? How would you prioritize the issues that need to be addressed? 2. What are the possible consequences if Lisa chooses to ignore the results from the employee survey given the low response rate? 3. Why was the response rate so low, and how could this be improved for future surveys? 4. How would you describe the culture at Top Notch Storage? What key actions are required in order to change the culture, particularly regarding health and safety?

Answer 1

1) Hearing of the low response of employees, Lisa should try to reduce the employee’s complaints so that their response towards various surveys should be good. The various prioritize steps are:

a) employees should not receive calls from the office on weekends.

b) they should not be asked to go to clients on weekend, which is not considered safe.

c) the working condition should be improved.

d) the managers should be a little bit lenient in allotting vacation leaves to employees.

e) the employees should not be treated like machine and they should get some enjoyment time, off the working hours.

2) The possible consequences if Lisa ignores the results from employee survey is that the employees response to the other surveys would going to be more and more bad. The bad working conditions could prove to be very dangerous to the company.

3) The response rate of the employee survey was so low because the employees are unhappy with the treatment by and working conditions in the company. Following steps should be immediately taken to improve their response for the future surveys:

a) employees should not receive calls from the office on weekends.

b) they should not be asked to go to clients on weekend, which is not considered safe.

c) the working condition should be improved.

d) the managers should be a little bit lenient in allotting vacation leaves to employees.

e) the employees should not be treated like machine and they should get some enjoyment time, off the working hours.

4) The culture at Top Notch Storage is not very good because the employees of the company are unhappy from the treatment they are getting and the working conditions at the work place. The key actions which are required to improve the culture towards the health and safety are: i) not to ask employees to go to client on weekends, ii) improve safety hazards like improving equipments and upgraded software, iii) managers should be lenient towards the allotment of vacation leaves.

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