Flexible Working Policy - Case Study Example

Location is very important in an organisation. Luckily for The Dolman Hotel, they have it. The Dolman has a very strategic location being in the Liverpool city centre and has good transport networks. However, location is not the only thing important for an organisation to prosper. Another factor that The Dolman has to focus on is the Human Resource Management. As I see it, The Dolman has the edge when it comes to the services they offer but the company has a lot of issues with their employees. One cause of this problem is the management. The Dolman is being operated by David Mannering whose expertise is in financial management. David might be very good in his field but managing an organisation such as a hotel is different. This is probably the reason why the policies at Dolman do not seem to be appropriate for their staff. Another factor that imposes a problem is having David’s personal assistant look after personnel administration. In short, the organisation did not have a skilled HR manager to handle the hotel’s human resources. This is the reason why a lot of employees at Dolman were having problems and issues. The organisation does not have clear policies on their human resources which affected the staff turnover and the service that the employees provide the customers. As a business advisor specialising in Human Resource Management, I have to find ways to resolve these issues in the company. I will look for alternatives that might be helpful in solving the organisation’s problems and implement the appropriate policies in the areas of flexible working, internet recruitment, selecting and inducting people with the right skills, staff retention, and the involvement and participation of staff at The Dolman. HRP and Flexible Working Policies Fluctuating demand and supply of labour may impose a problem in an organisation if they are not handled properly. Some employees might find it hard to balance their family life and work. Sometimes, this results to frequent staff turnover and loss of employees. However, there are still a lot of ways that can be done to manage this problem. One of them is flexible working. According to Hewitt (2007), “allowing people to work in a sensible way that allows them to balance earning a living with looking after their children is not only good for families and children, it is good for business too.” There are different types of flexible working and some of them might be very useful for The Dolman. One type of flexible working is Part-time working where in the employee can work less than the standard working hours (BusinessLink). This can be useful in the organisation because it will allow their workers to spend more time with their private lives whenever it is needed. Through this, employees will be satisfied with their jobs and will perform in the workplace effectively. Flexi-time is also one of the most implemented flexible working in the U.K.(NHS 2005) where the employee is given the right to change their working time as long as it is outside the set core of hours set by the employer. It also allows employees to arrive early or finish late or the other way around (European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions 2007). The Dolman can benefit to this because this HRP is capable of reducing absenteeism (Salix software ltd). With flexi-time, it is easier for the employees to accommodate their personal needs so they won’t have to leave their job due to family matters and other personal things. The organisation can also benefit in terms of revenues because it can extend its opening hours which will allow them to cater to more customers. However, this will not be a burden to the company since employees are still required to be present during the core time or the peak hours of the business. Another HRP on flexible working that might be helpful on The Dolman is self-rostering where employees choose the shifts they would prefer. With this, the employee is able to give attention to his life without having to compromise his job. According to (Union of shop, distributive, and allied workers 2005), one advantages of self-rostering are it gives employees control over their working hours which allows them to attend to their personal commitments. Another advantage is that “it can help achieve a better match between staff levels and fluctuations in demand”. And lastly, it can help improve employee retention. The last HRP that can be implemented in The Dolman is the compressed working hours in which the employees are allowed to compress their working hours in fewer days (BusinessLink). This will enable the employees to balance their time with their personal life and career. This is also proven to improve attendance rates for the National Health Service (NHS 2005). Given the information above, I highly recommend that the organisation implement HR policies such as flexi-time, self-rostering, and compressed workweek to give make employees feel that they are being valued as humans and not just mere inputs for the company to operate. Through this, the employees will feel less pressure which can result to better performance in the workplace. I think part-time working may not be appropriate for Dolman since it allows employees to have fewer working hours with the same benefits as the other options. What the organisation just needs to do is to match the schedules of the employees to keep the hotel operation running. In that way, employees will feel no burnout in the workplace because they are given opportunities to spend time with their life and they will be able to perform well and serve the hotel customers fully. Impact of Internet Recruitment With the continuous development in technology, a lot of things have been done over the internet – even recruitment. Many organisations say that it is effective and it definitely reduces the costs of the company. In a study by Nicholson & Green (2004), 38% of 5000 staff surveyed feels that internet is the most effective way amongst any other recruitment method. Also, the study concluded that the effectiveness of internet recruitment has doubled from 2000 to 2004. Another study by Cleave (2002) stated that, 88% of companies recruit on their homepage. In his study on the effectiveness of the internet in recruitment, he concluded that employees who use the internet in job application are more educated than those who don’t. However, internet recruitment also has its downsides. According to Pin, Laorden & Diez (2001), the traditional hiring process has six steps which include job opening, recruiting/attracting candidates, sorting applicants, contacting candidates, closing the deal, and socialising with the new employee. With internet recruitment however, Pin, Laorden & Diez (2001) stated that only three of these steps (steps 2-4) are being undertaken. So, if the company just relies on internet recruitment, they must have been missing a lot. In the case of the Dolman hotel, I think it is not good for the organisation to use internet recruitment on bar staff, waiters, reception staff, and cleaners. First of all, the traditional hiring process has been used even before technology has penetrated the market. Even without the use of internet, many companies have been successful with their operations. I think recruiting employees in the internet will allow The Dolman to overlook some of the characteristics of their possible employees that cannot be seen in the internet. I mean, not every aspect of the applicant’s personality will be reflected through the internet. There can be cases that the applicant may not seem to be your ideal employee when you look at his/her curriculum vitae but is smart and hardworking enough for the job. In the case of Dolman hotel, the job of waiters, bar staff, cleaners, and receptionists does not require a lot of credentials. What these jobs require is basically attitude towards work. And I don’t think one’s attitude towards work can easily be reflected in online recruitment. It is still important to conduct interviews for the organisation to analyse and observe the characteristics of the applicant and if they are really fit for the job. It is also mentioned earlier that applicants who use the internet to find jobs are more educated that those who do not. This information might be useful for companies who need skilled workers and professionals. In the case Dolman Hotel, however, the organisation is in need of blue-collar workers. The Dolman does not need managers but bar staff, cleaners, and waiters. These positions do not require educated people so it is not appropriate to use the internet for recruitment just because of the fact that applicants who use the internet are more educated. Using the traditional hiring process will help the company filter their possible employees. The Dolman is in need of workers with good attitude towards work and not the educated ones. So it is better to focus on the characteristics of the applicants and not on their educational background. In terms of cost, the impact of internet recruitment to the Dolman could be good since organisations save a lot printed material and agency costs when conducting internet recruitment (Crail 2007). However, it can have detrimental impacts on the quality of service that the hotel will provide to their customers because the company will not be able to screen their applicants very well. Selecting and Inducting People with the Right Skills Choosing the right man for the job is probably one of the most tedious parts of the recruitment process since it can have a huge impact on your company. With The Dolman, it seems like they really have to work on choosing their employees because staff turnover has been increasing and the organisation always finds it difficult to fill vacancies for waiters and other bar staff. The company has to select the right people that will do their best in their job. In selecting the right people, the company should first decide on who will select the employee. This person could be a personnel specialist, line manager, or the supervisor (Acas 2008). I think it is best that The Dolman chooses a personnel specialist in selecting their employees since they know who are really qualified to do the job. Before selecting the best candidate, the applicant should have accomplished an application form, aptitude tests, psychological tests, and interviews (Acas 2008). I think Dolman really needs this process so their applicants will be filtered very well. The company should emphasize on the psychological test and interview since this is the part where they will be able to get to know the characteristics and attitudes of their would-be employees. Induction is also very important since it allows the employees to feel at ease with the company eventhough they are new to the organisation. According to Acas (2008), induction is basically familiarizing the selected applicants in the surroundings of the company and the nature of the job. It is important that the employees of Dolman get familiarized first with their job so they can prepare themselves emotionally and physically. The induction programme will include a tour on the hotel and a meeting with the management and some of the staff. A briefing on the benefits, rules and regulations, and other company policies will be done. Policies to Encourage Staff Retention Stock options are a form of compensation which serves as a bonus or reward or an incentive for employees so that they would continue in the company. A stock option is a privilege in which the person can acquire particular numbers of share of the corporation’s own stocks at an exercise price. The exercise price is the specific price of the stock per share (NriInvestIndia). One benefit in stock options is that it gives the employees the incentive of improving their corporate performance through the alignment of employee interests with corporate interests. In this way, employees can improve their knowledge in the field they are into since they already own a share in the company. They can also get to voice out their interests and match it with the corporation’s interest. This is good because the company gets to know the views of their employees when it comes to their business. Another advantage of choosing stock options as a form of compensation is the retention of employees. Since stock options offers a part of the future sales growth of the company, employees would not think of resigning in the company because they want to get their shares in the future income the company would generate. There are also some cases that employees earn more money in stock options than their annual income. Because of this, employees are motivated to continue to the company they are working because of the financial benefits of stock options (Allbusiness). If the Dolman includes stock options in their benefits, employees will not think of resigning to the company because they can only get their share at a certain period of time. Also, as said earlier, it offers even higher compensation than the basic salary so more employees will be encouraged to stay in the organisation. The employees will also have the feeling of involvement in the company because they have their shares. The Dolman always has the option of increasing employee salary but this is not effective in retaining staff because if the company offers cash, there is a possibility that other companies will also offer cash more than what The Dolman can offer. If this happens, employee retention is not assured. Other than compensation, the company can implement the flexible working policies mentioned in the earlier part of the paper. Offering employees a lot of options when it comes to their working hours will encourage them to stay in the company. 1 It is also important to implement appraisal systems to evaluate the performance of staff and management. The company can use the 360-degree feedback system. This kind of evaluation system tries to seek information about a person’s performance through people who have been working or had a working relationship on the person being evaluated. One advantage of this kind of evaluation procedure is that the feedbacks come from people who have been working or had a working relationship with the person being evaluated. Because of this, feedbacks are most likely to be accurate since the people around the person being assessed are the ones who really know the competency and weaknesses of that person. Another advantage is that the employee is able to compare his perception about himself and how others perceive him as an employee. Lastly, the evaluators are able to give feedbacks confidentially and anonymously to avoid conflicts among colleagues. In using this kind of appraisal system, the individual being evaluated is given more room for improvement (Heathfield). 2 The feedback system will allow the employees to voice out their complaints and lamentations about the company. This will make more room for improvement in the management and the entire company so employee complaints will be lessened, thus, encourage them to continue working with the company. Involvement of Casual, Flexible, and Full-time staff Flexible workers are already introduced in the first part of the paper. Casual employees, according to Kryger (1999), work with temporary contracts with limited benefits and limited or no security of employment. According to Christensen (2008), casual employees pay the same taxes that the country requires but they get higher pay. In countries like Australia, many people choose to be casual employees so they can get higher pay. With The Dolman, I do not recommend the participation of casual employees because, as said in the case, it is difficult for the company to fill in vacancies especially for waiters. Casual workers are not stable and they can get out of the job easily compared to full-time employees. In Australia, one reason why people like to be casual workers is that they can “ease out of the workforce easily when nearing retirement” (Kryger 1999). This will just encourage workers to leave their jobs whenever they want to and the company will have to suffer. According to Wolff & De-Shalit (2007, p.9), vulnerability is the disadvantage of casual workers. Apparently, this will provide no help for The Dolman so it is just right to hire full-time staff and flexible workers. With full-time staff, there is an assurance that they will comply with the company’s contracts. For those who want to balance their life and career, flexible working can be an option. This will help the company retain employees and have security when it comes to their workers. 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