Human Resource Reflecting Paper - on The Cane Mutiny Article - Essay Example

Frank was worried about the potential demographic situation of Germany which implicated that the average age of German population was on a steady rise, and what effect it would have on the personnel of a midsize pharmaceutical firm like Medignostics. Frank’s other proposal which was to open day care centers for the children of young employees were also met with skepticism from Erwin. Frank wanted to emphasize the need of day care centers to facilitate young parents since the options of changing schools for children would make them join rival firms.

Erwin saw this proposal as increased cost that would be detrimental to the company (Geissler, 2005). I feel that Frank should have consolidated his proposal with sufficient data and facts. In order to convince the executive management about personnel matters it is necessary for HR manager to present his argument in a manner that is comprehensible for the top team. If Frank wanted his HR strategy to be considered, then he should have given a clear picture of the negative consequences if a business enterprise ignores the demographic issue.

He should have clearly stated how the growing average age of population would affect hiring of personnel, their costs, performance and innovation. A problem appeared among the older employees who are near retirement age when Part-Time Statute for the Elderly was implemented which paved the way for easy retirement of older workers so that there would be job vacancy for the younger aspirants. This program was subsequently scrapped since proved to be costly to the company and this directly affected older personnel.

For instance, Matthias Hausmann who was 58 years old had worked for the company for over 20 years. He regularly made himself absent in the office which resulted in his unavailability during decisions to be made or when clients needed him. This was proving to be a loss to the company as clients were moving their business elsewhere thus hurting productivity. Moreover, the salary structure indicated that older employees receive more than the younger group, and this must be restructured to consider the stress-related cardiovascular diseases more common among the middle-aged group.

Another feature that must be considered is the need of continuous appropriate training of older workers so that they remain productive till their retiring age. This will also reduce the difference of technological know-how between the young managers and their older subordinates. I feel that Frank should have stressed on the fact that older employees needed to be utilized efficiently to ensure better products that would capture larger market. Although it is not known about the details of Frank’s strategies, I think it should include an internal program to create awareness among the employees about the demography and its practical impact on the company.

I also support Frank’s theory of starting day care centers within the company as this would benefit the young employees. In this era of severe competition when firms fight to hire and retain qualified professionals, it is prudent for companies to prove themselves as family friendly. Of course, he needs to oversee the costs involved in establishing and staffing a day care center. If the costs seem to be detrimental considering Medignostics is a midsize firm, he can suggest alternative proposals like joining with other firms to establish day care center that would benefit the