The VET Group - Retaining and Developing New Graduates - Case Study Example

Executive summary After expansive research on literature and discussions about the firm specifically and the industry in general we came up with several findings that we believe could be used to improve the aforementioned topic areas. Development and retention of new graduates can be enhance by providing them with mentorship opportunities and programs in view of the fact that the main reason many fresh graduates leave the industry is lack of support which leaves them feeling vulnerable (Chenoweth and Lo 280). Secondly, the firm should take to account the financial needs of the graduates especially concerning their debt situation and provide them with a means through which they can commerce on the payments and even subsidizing some of them. Finally, the VET group should provide its new employees with intensive and specific job training in technical, managerial problem solving and communication skills in order to boost their confidence and enable the transition. In as a far as motivating the experienced vets to create value for the firms clientele, it emerged that many of them need to be motivated by providing them with opportunities for rewards based on the cost effectiveness of the methods. In addition, the management should dedicate time and effort to the personal and professional development of the staff through training and refreshment course. Finally, it is important that the vets are brought into contact with their clients so they can appreciate their needs and challenges and use this knowledge to design the most effective solutions for them. Introduction The VET group is based in the Western area of Victoria and it is one of the foremost providers of integrated animal health solutions in the country having garnered over 40 years’ experience in the field. By investing in the most up to date scientific techniques from around the world as well as research from progressive universities both local and international, the group strives to achieve its mandate to its clients and society by living up to its core values which are; Collegiality, Knowledge Innovation, Animal Welfare and Excellence (Strategic Plan). The group is committed to improving service delivery for its clients as well as fulfilling it SCR by creating numerous career opportunities of youths more so college graduates just entering the job market. The purpose of this paper is to write a report on the various ways through which retention and developing of new graduates can be enhanced in addition to motivating experienced vets working for the group to be balance between effectiveness and cost efficiency so as to create value for both the firm and its clients. Retaining and Developing New Graduates While most college leavers are qualified in their field of study and have genuinely earned their degree, not all of them leave college ready or even capable of being absorbed and functioning effectively in the job market (Riele 245). For some, the reality of life after school away from the cocoon that shielded them in college is radically different from what the find in the professional world. For others they leave collage with all the theories intact but hardly any practical skills; therefore, transitioning them it the work environment poses a challenge for many organizations. Nevertheless, the challenge does not end there, new graduates are full of idealism and want to explore as much as possible before they settle down in a job. Therefore, employees also have to contend with the challenge of retaining a workforce so they can stay long enough to justify the cost of training them and use their experience to benefit the firm in the long run. In the contemporary employment world, transition from education to work has become a basis for extensive research with numerous theories and statistical methods being applied to the task of conceptualizing the process and underlying challenges (Trudy). Economic literature has in severally postulated that a general rise in unemployment can be blamed for the deterioration of the position of youths in the labor sector. In Australia, demographic trends and a remarkable decrease in the activity rate as well as increase in education attainment level have also offset this. Providing Experienced Vets with a Sense of Meaningfulness One of the reasons a study of staff retention in the veterinary sector is so important is because many professionals who get in after school end up leaving to pursue a different career (Heath 745). This can be attributed to several factor; primarily there is the fact that employers outside the field have tend to appreciate that skills and positive attributes gained while working for this field can be useful to them. In addition, veterinary medicine is not perceived as being particularly glamorous and therefore along the way, those who got into it for without being fully committed are bound to drop out. The corollary is that the vets who remain long enough to retire in their field are often very committed dedicated and intrinsically motivated to work. However even these will often require to be given additional motivation and reminded of the usefulness of their roles for the organization and community in general. One of the challenges facing the organization is that the experienced vets are often torn between providing the best possible services and bringing about the production of the healthiest calves. Since many of them work with multimillion-dollar clients, they have to balance between advising on the best practices without compromising the profitability of the business or the health of the animal. This tends to be a delicate balance since sometimes the recommendations they make for the animal’s health may be too expensive and when asked to come up with cost effective solutions it could risk jeopardizing the health standards for the organization. One of the challenges that face new graduates is the fact that they feel they do not have enough support to make the transition from students to professionals (Parker, Ashley and Desley 301), a survey on nurses in Australia for example found that the new ones express feelings of being overwhelmed and vulnerable (Duchscher 1105). Many professionals actually leave the profession within a year of being employed because of these negative feelings (Andrea and O’Brien 280). To cushion new graduate employees from such negative emotions, the organization needs must put in place effective structures to facilitate mentorship for them. This has been identified and the most effective and economical method of providing support and can effectively assist the transition as well as reduce anxiety. The mentorship program can either be formal where new employees are paired against experiences one of it can be unstructured such that the individuals can identify with each other and pair up depending on the shared chemistry (Andrea and O’Brien 281). The mentorship relationship when well organized and effectively managed can gradually result in the empowerment and creation of an enabling relationship between the graduate employee and their mentor and it bound to gradually develop with time (Ramani, Larry and Elizabeth 406). Hiring and training graduates students often costs and organisations a great deal of money, for this reason most expect the new employees to remain in the firm at least long enough to justify their initial expense. However, one of the challenges that face organisations like VET is that after only a few years in many cases less than 5, many of these graduates are already leaving seeking new jobs within or without the industry. While it is common for employers to require employees to sign contracts promising they will not leave until such as such a time, there is a better and more effective, solution if one considers their motivation for leaving in the first place. Many Australian graduates leave school burdened with heavy educational loans (Maringe, Nick and Dave 147); for them paying of these loans is a higher priority than getting a stable job if they cannot comfortably make the payments. As a result, they will constantly be on the lookout for better jobs, to mitigate against this, VET groups can make arrangements with graduate employees through which it helps them pay off their loans to avoid penalties and increase the chances of clearing them as soon as possible. This way they firm will not only give the employees a reason to stay but it makes them feel cared for which ultimately improves their motivation. The contemporary corporate world must be cognizant of the fact that first job hires tend to need a great deal of help in identifying and their strengths and understanding how these can best be utilized in the company. At the end of the day, the new graduates who develop a beneficial relationship and acquire a sense of investment will invariably tend to repay it through long and diligent service even when economic times are harsh. To this end, it is critical that managers at VET group appreciate the value of investing in the talents if the new graduates with both formal and informal training programs. One of the ways this can be achieved is through availing training facilities for the new employees that will not only make them a better worker for VET but also develop their overall; technical, managerial and leadership acumen. New employees can benefit substantially from training in areas such as critical thinking, decision making and interpersonal skill all that improve their competence and make them better problem solvers to the benefit of both them and the firm. Through the creation or facilitating the training programs for new graduates, VET can effectively transit them from the academic to professional mindset and gradually acclimatize them to the firm during a time when they are making long-term career decisions. Training will inevitably make them feel more confident and competent significantly recuing the chances of their shifting careers or jobs and this will boost the firms overall value through savings in recruitment, and retention as the staff turnover is bound to decrease (Lockwood 3). They should also be allowed to take an active part in the running of the firm in their different capacities albeit under mentors and the supervision of senior managers (Wilson et al 45). To ensure that the vets are motivated enough to take this part of their work to heart and be as buzzed by seeing healthy animals as by effecting cost effective measures VET managers needs must be willing to make a few changes in their management strategies including using fiscal rewards to encourage customer value creation. However, it is worth noting that although money works as a motivator, it is not always the most effective (Aamir 221), in fact studied have shown that money only works when employees are required to carry out continuous and repetitive tasks. When it comes to being creative and taking initiative especially for intrinsically motivated people other factors must be considered. In VET, there is a large staff of experienced veterinarians who operate in a generally self-directed mode, which is important for fulfilling their desire for autonomy. However to keep them on course and motivated, so they can improve their mastery, individual development plans need to be developed for each of them. This requires the firm to come up with regular training sessions for it members, allow and facilitate attendance of conferences and discover their unique passions and interest in the field which can be fostered and developed for the good of both the firm and individuals. When the staff perceives a level of care and concern from the organization, they will likely reciprocate by showing a higher level of commitment to the objectives of the firm. Another way the management of VET group can motivate their senior vets to be more productive while at the same time supporting cost effectiveness is by tapping into “the greater purpose”. Everybody likes to feel they are a part of something big and important and given that they have been around for so long, they could easily have fallen out of touch with the original ideals. The staff should be involved in the mission and vision planning and their input should be considered when important decisions are being made, this way the feel they are appreciated and their role is meaningful and beneficial for the larger organization and society in general. Whenever possible, the experienced vets should be involved with the clients their needs and their general problems. For example, when a vet is assigned to consult on a specific client on his cows dieting needs, he should be familiarized with the nature of business the client is in, the challenges and setbacks as well as the overall role they play in the economy. Recommendations and Conclusions Taking to account that some of the fundamental issues in the VET group’s strategic plan include better regulation effective workforce and economic sustainability, several recommendation can be made in light of the above discussion (Strategic Plan). The group should institute a structural policy through which the induction of graduate employees can be effected, this policy should facilitate for mentorship of the new entrants by experienced vets who can both advice and support them in the transition (Ozgen and Robert 175). The firm should also develop a mechanism through which the college loans for the new entrants can be subsided by setting aside a HR fund to cater for a certain fraction of each employee’s loans. This investment should not be seen as a frivolous expense but rather a safeguard to prevent new employees from leaving in pursuit of a better job that can allow them to be free of the debt faster. In addition, it promotes perception of the firm as a caring one to the employees who will be moved to reciprocate with dedication. Finally the firm should initiate an intensive training program, in which the entrants are exposed to numerous skills that will facilitate a smooth a transition from the world of academia to the corporate and professional one (Boulet et al 471). By providing them with training on entry VET group will be grooming a staff of skilled staff whom if it effectively retain can take the organization to the next level by using their fresh from college skills as well combined with the creativity of youth and professionalism resulting from the training. VET group also needs to recognize the role and importance of the experience vets, which can be achieved through various strategies. One practical avenue through which this could be pursued is setting up a bonus program where the firm reward superior performance from employees based on their positive influence on profitability (Tilley and Francis 321). This can be done through incentive plans that reward individual achievement different production goals and vets who generally balance between quality service and cost effectiveness. For this to be successful there must be a structured way through which the bonus formula is understood by various team members to encourage and foster competition without compromising the quality of services provided. The management should therefore make efforts to remind them through information campaign and refreshment seminars that there are in the job for something bigger than making money or holding down some form of permanent employment. Finally, they should be brought into contact with the clients and their various needs and operating circumstances. By understating and being involved with clients, the vets will find it easier to create value for them by advising them in the best way possible to balance on quality services while taking cognizance that both the firm and client need to make some profit at the end of the day. Works Cited “Strategic Plan” Australian Veterinary Association. N.d. 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