Employee Resourcing within Cheviot Healthcare - Case Study Example

Employee Resourcing Within Cheviot Healthcare Purpose of Report The main purpose of this report is to identify and analyze any problems related with the recruitment process followed by Cheviot Healthcare recruitment agency. For this reason an extensive presentation of the agency’s operational activities has been included in current report in order to achieve an effective and realistic description of agency’s main targets as they have been decided by the agency’s strategic management team. The report also refers to potential problems of healthcare recruitment sector in general trying to identify any possible similarities with the problems appeared in Cheviot Healthcare. This task could then lead to the application of ‘tested’ and successful strategies in Cheviot Healthcare, an initiative that could help the agency to save significant amount of time and costs for the relevant task. At a next level a series of characteristics that refer especially to the healthcare recruitment sector will be also highlighted in order to offer to Cheviot Healthcare the necessary material for a strategic restructuring – where this is considered to be necessary. Executive Summary The provision of recruitment services in the healthcare industry is a really challenging task. Because of the demands and the difficulties involved with the particular industrial sector, the persons that work in the relevant market area need to have a very good knowledge on all issues related with the specific sector as well as the competencies required for candidates in order to enter the healthcare workforce. Current paper will examine the challenges faced by Cheviot Healthcare, a small recruitment agency which tries to survive in the extremely competitive area of healthcare. In this context, all the methods used by the agency for the selection of appropriate candidates are being examined and evaluated trying to identify any potential weakness in the agency’s recruitment process. A series of assumptions and findings of theorists related with the particular industry are also presented to a comparison to the agency’s practice as the latter can be observed through the daily operations of the organization. Introduction In order to evaluate the recruitment process used by Cheviot Healthcare agency, we should primarily present the general characteristics of human resources management the principles of which can be used analogically in the particular occasion. In this context, we could refer to the study of Lajara et al. (2002, 34) who supported ‘human resource management mainly refers to the following ‘performance areas: 1) leadership and employee motivation and 2) HR practices (recruitment and selection, training performance appraisal and compensation management)’. Particularly for the employees in the healthcare industry it has been noticed that ‘innovation behaviour is also desired by nurses and other healthcare workers professional organizations of as it is regarded as a way of improving the working conditions of the healthcare worker’ (Oecon, 2006, 231). The above study however refers to a particular characteristic of healthcare workers, innovation, avoiding refer to other ‘competencies’ of these workers perhaps because of the importance of this ‘characteristic’ for the successful adaptation of this worker in the particular industry. At a next level, Jamrog (2004, 60) stated that ‘HR professionals need competencies that fall within a three-domain framework: 1) knowledge of business (which includes financial, strategic, and technological capability), 2) knowledge of HR practices (which includes staffing, development appraisal, rewards, organizational planning, and communication) and 3) management of change (creating meaning, problem-solving, innovation and transformation, relationship influence, and role influence)’. The above assumptions are in accordance with those of Gelade et al. (2003, 383) who found that ‘few organizations can evaluate their performance accurately by averaging the performance of their employees; in most cases, the performance of an organization is determined by the productivity and efficiency of such higher-level organizational entities as departments, retail outlets, plants, or teams which constitute - in the language of operations research – the so-called "decision-making units" (DMUs)’. In other words, the evaluation of workers’ value as necessary parts of the organizational context, can be completed only if combined with the thorough examination of the industrial sector involved but also the characteristics of the specific firm. General assumptions could not be acceptable unless imposed by the circumstances, i.e. lack of data available for a specific organization or difficulty in completing the examination of a specific firm due to the continuous turbulences of the market and the changes occurred in the firm’s strategic decisions. At the same time, the need for medical staff is extremely high not only in UK but in all countries around the world. In this context it should be noticed that the study of Deeming (2004, 775) showed that ‘in July 2000 Britains New Labour government set a target of 20,000 extra nurses for the NHS by 2004; in February 2002, two years ahead of schedule, the target was achieved; the government is to be congratulated on meeting its target but ethical questions over recruitment practices remain; nurse registrations to the UK from the (then) fifteen EU countries remain flat despite government guidance making this the first priority for international recruitment’. Research Methodology The research used in this paper will be based mainly on financial and other data related with the Cheviot Healthcare (as they are included in the firm’s annual reports) as well as on data and figures related with the firm’s ‘tools’ regarding the recruitment of staff. On the other hand, because the recruitment of staff (medical or other type within the healthcare industry) is taking place mostly through journals and websites, an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of these ‘means of recruitment’ will help towards the evaluation of the agency’s performance as well as the location of any potential weaknesses. In this context, the data revealed through the company’s statements are going to be compared with the services provided by the agency (as they can be evaluated through the examination of the journals and websites used by the company) in order to formulate a valid assumption regarding the stability of the firm’s performance and mainly the effectiveness of its employee resourcing strategies. It has to be noticed that the above data, figures and techniques are going to be presented separately in two sections: one referring to the firm’s financial performance for the last three years (because the data involved can be used for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the firm’s strategy) and one referring especially to the ‘tools’ used by the company for the employee resourcing (mainly the journals and the websites involved). Analysis of Research Section One – Financial performance of Cheviot Healthcare for the years 2004 to 2006 The last three years have been an extremely positive period for Cheviot Healthcare. More specifically, the company managed to increase its annual profits (net profits) reaching the 280,000 pounds approximately in 2006 while for 2004 this figure was just 135,000 and in 2005 had increased to 182,000. At a next level, return on capital employed has also increased to 3.5% in 2006 (from 1.2% on 2004) which can be characterized as a significant development for a small size firm like Cheviot Healthcare agency. Moreover, the firm’s operating costs have been remained at relatively stable levels around the 45,000 pounds on an annual basis, which is a significant achievement if taking into account the increase of all property – related expenses in the greater London area (where the firm is based). The firm has managed to reduce its costs in certain sectors of its activities (mostly in the employee remuneration – reduction of number of firm’s employees) introducing an advanced scheme of interactive online services which gives to the firm’s customers the chance to view all existing positions in the market and apply online for the position in which they are interested. The reduction in the operational costs has also been combined with a reduction to the costs related with the payment of creditors, mostly the bank. More specifically, the company managed to reduce its annual payments towards a loan which has been given to the firm as a financial support when starting its operations, in 1998. Because of the good cooperation between the company and the bank involved the latter has decided to reduce the annual repayments of the specific loan up to 20% which has been really helpful towards the decrease of firm’s expenses on an annual basis while the amount saved can be invested directly in the extension of the company’s activities. Section Two – Tools used by Cheviot Healthcare for employee resourcing The main tools used by Cheviot Healthcare in its daily recruitment processes are two major websites in the healthcare industry (locum123.com and doctors.org.uk) as well as a series of journals related with the healthcare industry, like indicatively, the BMJ careers and Doctors. The above tools offer a variety of advantages for Cheviot Healthcare agency. At a first level, regarding the websites, because the access to them is free by the interested candidates, this means that the advertisements posted by the agency in this site’s pages, can reach a significant number of candidates. On the other hand, because the application process can be completed on-line (at least at a first stage) this means that the agency can save a significant amount of money regarding the remuneration of its employees (the number of employees recruited by the agency can be limited in accordance with the market needs at each particular period of time – use of temporary staff instead of permanent for the coverage of the agency’s needs). At the same time, the high quality of these websites’ structure ensures furthermore the credibility of the agency in its market – an element which counts for all interested candidates in the healthcare industry. As for the journals used for the promotion of agency’s services, these can also be considered as a valuable tool regarding the recruitment procedure followed by Cheviot Healthcare. More specifically, the relevant journals can ‘cover’ the cases of the interested candidates that do not have a very ‘friendly’ relationship with technology or those who just prefer the press when having to be informed for vacancies in their industrial sector. However, journals have the disadvantage that require staff by the agency’s side in order to respond to the candidates’ potential enquiries and to proceed the recruitment process which in this case will take more time to be completed. Options and Evaluation The presentation of the data related with the agency’s performance the last three years as well as of the methods used by the company for the employee resourcing, proves that Cheviot Healthcare has achieved to develop an effective and appropriate daily operational scheme. Towards direction, we could refer to the suggestions made in the literature regarding the provision of services in the healthcare industry. More specifically, Lens (2002, 27) stated that ‘the provision of health care has been transformed from a purely professional undertaking to a business providing professionals services’. On the other hand, Fleischman et al. (2002, 1) tried to identify the basic characteristics of healthcare services providers’ mostly of the hospitals and found that these are ‘complex and imposing institutions’ while at the same time they tend to ‘command enormous capital investment, expensive high technology, and often the largest payrolls of any organization in their community’. The above comments regarding the providers of services in the healthcare industry can help towards the identification of the main characteristics of the appropriate strategy, i.e. of the strategy that should be chosen by the participants in this industry in order for them to survive on a long term basis. In the case of Cheviot Healthcare, the tools used by the firm for employee resourcing could be characterized as effective, appropriate and cost-saving regarding the required target. A possible ‘upgrade’ of the relevant procedures through the addition of other printed or electronic databases could be possibly help towards the further increase of the firm’s performance which however does not seem as a firm’s priority at this moment. More specifically, the company has set as its priority to ‘secure’ its profits at a specific level before trying to increase its operational activities, a decision which can be evaluated as quite justified in the industry involved (healthcare) which is characterized by a strong and continuous competition in all its particular sectors. Conclusions and Recommendations Generally, it has been accepted in the literature that in order ‘to improve its effectiveness and have greater impact, the human resource function must understand how to add value in the organization by helping line managers align HR strategies, processes, and practices with business needs; This will require HR professionals to perform increasingly complex and at times paradoxical roles; (Conner et al., 1996, 38). On the other hand, the study of Sims (2002, 3) showed that human resources involve HRM programs aimed at developing HRM strategies for the total organization with an eye toward clarifying an organization’s current and potential problems and developing solutions for them; they are oriented toward action, the individual, the global marketplace, and the future’. The role of culture for the development of all firms operating in the healthcare industry is significant (as for firms in all industrial sectors). In this context, Soutar et al. noticed that (1999, 203) ‘culture is an important idea as it deals with the way people live and approach problem solving in a social and organizational context’. Regarding the above, the introduction and the application of appropriate corporate strategies can help the firm to increase its performance on a long term basis. As for the workplace conditions in UK, the research made by Casey et al. (1999, 81) showed that ‘in many UK organizations flexibility has become synonymous with deregulation and the opportunity to cut labour costs’. Towards the same direction, Scullion (1994, 86) supported that international firms operating in Britain have to take into account the following three significant issues regarding their human resources management policies: ‘a) international staffing, b) international recruitment and c) a variety of issues surrounding the problem of shortages in international managers’. In any case, an issue that needs to be taken into account regarding the strategy followed by the company for the employee resourcing is the fact that each particular case in the healthcare industry (i.e. its position involved) usually refers to specific competencies and qualities of the potential candidates. For this reason, the selection stage of the whole recruitment procedure has to be very well structured and helpful towards the identification of possible negative ‘attitudes’ of the candidates involved. In this context, it should be helpful to refer to the study of Torrible et al. (2006, 1453) which included a series of surveys taken by medical staff in Canada. More specifically, ‘two hundred fifty-three surveys (47.7%) were completed and returned (from 54 participating geriatricians, 9 GM trainees, 50 internal medicine residents, and 140 senior medical students); the survey asked respondents to rate factors influencing their choice of medical career, the attractiveness of GM, and the anticipated effectiveness of potential recruitment strategies; although feedback varied across the four groups on these issues, consistencies were observed between medical students and residents and between GM trainees and geriatricians; all groups agreed that role modeling was effective and that summer student research programs were an ineffective recruitment strategy’. The above research although involve specifically in the geriatric sector of healthcare industry, it can be used for the evaluation of recruitment strategies in all healthcare sectors. On the other hand, it should be noticed that there are several issues that the company needs to take into account when deciding to differentiate its current recruitment strategies. Towards this direction, it should be helpful to refer to the study of Werbel et al. (1996, 1337) who found that ‘previous research suggests that one or more of three mediating variables account for the relationships between recruiting sources and applicant effectiveness: demographic characteristics, realistic expectations, and perceived person-job fit; using a sample of 242 newly hired marketing representatives, the study found that employees recruited through college placement offices had better initial levels of performance than did employees recruited through newspaper advertisements; while all of the proposed mediating variables were associated with some recruitment sources, none of them mediated the effects of recruitment sources on performance or turnover, a finding that can lead to the assumption that there may be complex contingency relationships between recruitment sources and employee performance and turnover’ (Werbel et al., 1996, 1337). At the same time, the study of Gross et al. (2006, 121) showed that ‘career choice, sense of professional identity and career behaviour are influenced, subject to change and capable of development through interaction with the learning environment’. In order to examine the validity of the above assumption Gross et al. used a multimethods investigation ‘into recruitment into and retention in specialties in the West Midlands trying to consider some possible effects of the specialist learning environment on recruitment and retention; participants perceptions are presented as bipolar dimensions, associated with: curriculum structure, learning relationships, assessment of learning, and learning climate; they demonstrate ongoing struggle between different models of workplace learning’ (Gross et al., 2006, 121). It seems from the above that the reactions of medical professionals in the challenges set by the healthcare industry can be differentiated in accordance with the personal attitudes and the experience in the market however there can be always other factors (like the needs for extra training) that can influence their decision to enter a particular healthcare workplace. It should also be noticed that if Cheviot Healthcare intends to develop its operations within the British healthcare market, there are a few issues that need to consider, particularly this of the coverage of the training needs of potential candidates. In this context, we can refer as an example to the study of Piliae et al. (2007, 132) which aims ‘to develop and implement recruitment and retention strategies with Chinese immigrants in a Tai Chi exercise study; recruitment strategies included partnering with a community-based agency, distributing study information using a multimedia approach, communicating in the native language, and demonstrating cultural sensitivity while retention strategies included establishing a tracking method during recruitment, providing personalized feedback, maintaining the same location for all aspects of the study, eliminating potential linguistic barriers, providing personal attention and encouragement, monitoring attendance, utilizing a charismatic Tai Chi instructor, respecting Chinese culture, providing appropriate incentives, and maintaining good communication’. The application of all the above techniques during the recruitment process led to extremely satisfactory results for the participants. More specifically, it has been estimated that ‘sixty persons showed interest in the study, 52 persons were screened, and 39 persons were enrolled while recruitment was completed within 3 weeks; an advertisement in the Chinese newspaper was the most fruitful recruitment source, yielding approximately 60% of the study participants’ (Piliae et al., 2007, 132). The above findings also verify the views of Rudzik (1999, 69) who supported that ‘the recruitment and hiring processes are crucial to quality assurance and cost containment in home healthcare; competency-based orientation programs designed to provide outcome-focused orientation for the intravenous nurse who is new to homecare will benefit both the new employee and the homecare agency’. However, it should be noticed that even all necessary techniques are strictly used by the recruitment agencies in the healthcare industry, the increase in firms’ performance cannot be guaranteed. In fact it is the combination of a successful strategic planning and the application of innovative techniques (i.e. differentiation from the competitors) that can guarantee the development of a relevant firm on a long term basis. In the case of Cheviot Healthcare, the methods used by the firm for the employee resourcing cover an extensive area of the market however it is not clear whether the firm can handle a case involved in international recruitment. It seems that the activities of Cheviot Healthcare refer in the British market although the involvement of the firm in the international recruitment market is not formally denied. On the other hand, because the evaluation of ‘tools’ used by the firm for employee resourcing refer to the British market this is the market used as a starting point for the examination and evaluation of the corporate activities. In this context and balancing the outcomes of the firm’s initiatives as presented above, we could state that Cheviot Healthcare has managed to establish its presence in the healthcare industry of Britain although there is enough space for the firm’s development in the specific market. However, such an effort would require an additional investment on the firm’s capital, which is not among the priorities of Cheviot Healthcare at least for the moment. References Casey, B., Keep, E., Mayhew, K., (1999) ‘Flexibility, quality and competitiveness’. National Institute Economic Review, 168, 70-84 Conner, J., Ulrich, D. (1996). Human Resource Roles: Creating Value, Not Rhetoric. Human Resource Planning, 19(3):38-46 Deeming, C. (2004). Policy Targets and Ethical Tensions: UK Nurse Recruitment. Social Policy & Administration 38 (7), 775–792 Fleischman, A.R., Gray, B.H., Jennings, B., Sharpe, V.A., Weiss, L. 2002. Ethics and Trusteeship for Health Care: Hospital Board Service in Turbulent Times. 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International Nursing Review 53 (3), 231–237 Piliae, T., Froelicher, E. (2007) Methods to Optimize Recruitment and Retention to an Exercise Study in Chinese Immigrants. Nursing Research, 56(2): 132-136 Rudzik, J. (1999) Establishing and maintaining competency. Journal of intravenous nursing, 22(2): 69-73 Scullion, H., (1994) ‘Staffing policies and strategic control in British multinationals’. International Studies of Management and Organization, 24(3): 86-97 Sims, R. R. (2002). Organizational Success through Effective Human Resources Management.Quorum Books. Westport, CT Torrible, S., Diachun, L., Rolfson, D., Dumbrell, A., Hogan, D. (2006). Improving Recruitment into Geriatric Medicine in Canada: Findings and Recommendations from the Geriatric Recruitment Issues Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 54 (9), 1453–1462 Werbel, J., Landau, J. (1996) The Effectiveness of Different Recruitment Sources: A Mediating Variable Analysis. 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