Twinkle Toes Human Resource and Day Care - Essay Example

Twinkle Toes Day Care number Executive Summary This report has been developed for Twinkle Toes, a day care centre which is now considering having a new site. This site will focus on catering a new geographical area. The report consists of the concept of how human resource is an important asset for the company and what methods must be completed to ensure that the resource is utilized to its maximum potential. The report will cover the concepts of human resource planning, recruitment and development along with those of training and career counselling. Within the explanations of these concepts, suggestion will also be provided for Twinkle Toes. It is important for all organisations to ensure that proper strategic human resource planning is implemented in their firm. Proper job descriptions need to be developed so that the right type of employees can be hired and all work operations take place smoothly. If Twinkle Toe proper makes investments of time on the recruitment and selection policies, then the right staff can be hired and the day care may face success. Training and career planning for employees is a very important element for remaining a competitive firm. Twinkle Toe has been suggested to implement training programs so that employee performance can improve. Career progression is important for employees as they look forward for achieving growth and success in their career life, therefore Twinkle Toe needs to provide the career progression opportunities for its employees so that they remain interested in working with the day care centre. Table of Contents Introduction to the Business 4 Strategic Human Resource Planning 4 Job Analysis and Job Design 5 Strategic Recruitment and Selection 6 Employee Learning 6 Training for the Employees 7 Four Fundamental Steps of the Training Systems Approach 7 Career Planning, Career Management and Career Development 8 Conclusion 8 Reference List 10 Appendix 11 Introduction to the Business The industry of the day care centre is booming due to the increase in the number of women who are willing to walk through their career paths without it being distracted by their personal family lives. The industry includes a number of day care centres, each with their own idea of how the children should be brought up or the importance of having children to develop their skills around other children. A major concern for the parents is to find the right day care that they can afford. All day care centres are not that affordable for every parent and hence, they do consider other alternatives such as hiring help within their own home, which has its own risks as well. The risks of hiring a babysitter at home and actually having the child admitted at a day care centre must be evaluated before a final decision is made. Another concern for the parents is the minds of their children. The minds of the children at the age of five tend to be like a sponge where they can absorb absolutely all facts and figures that they are provided with, without them having the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. For such a reason, the parents are concerned about the values that would be embedded into the minds of the children during their day long stay at the centre. Strategic Human Resource Planning The first resource that must be thought about is the human resources of the day care centre. Human resource is a particularly important asset of any company because the over achievement or under achievement of this asset can define the future of the company. Twinkle Toes needs to define the amount of human resources that it requires at the new site but before this decision can be made; there are a few questions that will need to be answered first. The first question that should be answered is that of the business strategy and needs that need to be catered. Twinkle Toes may have begun as a day care centre; however, with its business further developing and competition creeping in, there is a need for the company to reconsider the strategy that it was first developed on. Frangos (2002, p. 37) stated “Without the ability to measure HR’s strategic contribution, organisations cannot manage human capital as a strategic asset”. The company also needs to understand what needs it is really catering to for the parents as well the child. Since the parents are concerned about the values that will be engrained in the minds of the children, the day care centre must first define values for itself. There are a number of values such as sharing with other children and using scissors and a pencil which would help them in their daily lives. Since each of these values can be taught in a positive as well as a negative manner, there is a need for Twinkle Toes to define what the limits of these values will be and the steps that will be used to promote them. The second question that must be answered is that of the job description of the staff that is currently hired or is to be hired. The job description is an important document that defines the tasks and responsibilities of the human resource at each position and it also defines the level of authority and the boundaries for the position that they have been hired for. The job description is not a static document however, since the dynamics of the market do not remain static. As the market faces change, the needs of the customers change and this means that the job description must also change. Job Analysis and Job Design The job description was discussed to be the most important part of an employee’s life in a company because it defines the exact work that needs to be done by him / her. The job description is hence, developed through the steps of job analysis and design. Job analysis is the process of defining the basic requirements of a position in the company such as the skills that would be required for the job, the knowledge and responsibilities that would be related to the job as well. The job analysis helps the organisation to understand the importance of the position and how effective it would be in the contribution to the overall mission and vision of the company. The job analysis could mean having to interact with the employees, working currently in the position or by just observing them so that one can understand what their daily routine is and the tasks that they complete. Once the job analysis is in place, the job can be designed and the company executives can understand what the basic requirements are in order to jot them down in the form of a document for future reference. This jotting down of the requirements could be in the form of a job description or a job specification. For Twinkle Toes Two, the job descriptions of the employees must be documented in an organised manner so that it can be understood as to the amount of strength that is required at the new site (Eagly and Carli, 2007). Strategic Recruitment and Selection With the job analysis complete and the job descriptions in place, it is now time for the company to consider what the criterion will be for selecting the people. It is better to select the right people at first and then help them grow, rather than taking on board the wrong people and then training them in the right path so that they can grow (Groysberg, Balog and Haimson, 2007). Having the right set of skills in place at the right time is a strategic decision and a difficult one as well but it is necessary so that there are no additional costs that hit the company at the time. Having the wrong set of people for achieving a goal could create a massive financial disorder for the company and this would mean that the company would need to incur additional overhead costs in order to fix its mistakes (American Jewish University, 2012). Recommendation for Recruitment & Selection Process So for the day care centre, the company must consider the kind of employees that it would like to recruit and this planning procedure must be completed long before the company begins its recruitment process. The company needs to know the exact human resource that it is looking for and would be profitable for the company. It is easier said than done, however, this decision must be made by the top management, namely Jenny Carter. Making a career progression in the organisation is considered as a reward for loyalty (Hamori, 2010). However, this was not the case anymore. The company would need to look for the right employees who would be willing to work for long term with it. Employee Learning When we consider the concept of recruiting the right people into the company, we must also consider having to develop their skills as time passes by because there is a need for the employees to remain motivated as well. As the employees continue to contribute to the goals of the organisation, they need to have the motivation to follow on. This can be achieved by providing them suitable compensation; however, another method is to allow them to utilize opportunities that may creep up during their career, helping them to move further up the managerial ladder. The employees must be provided with a number of opportunities in the form of promotions or healthy contests within the employees so that the employees would be motivated to work harder for the company. Twinkle Toes can provide a number of opportunities for the employees in the form of having a supervisory role within the organisation for the individual who has worked exceptionally well over a year or a concept such as the “employee of the month” which is rewarded in a number of organisations. Training for the Employees The employees must be provided with learning opportunities and along with that, they must also have the opportunity to develop their skills as they grow with the company. There must be the concept of learning new skills for the employees so that they would be able to compete with the external environment, which is the competition for the organisation as a whole. If there is a change in the dynamics of the environment, then the employees must be prepared for changes in the skill set that is required. The changes are not necessarily the vanishing of their current skills, but rather the further grooming of their skills (Maurer, 2002). For the day care centre, the company must consider conducting frequent training sessions for the employees so that they are well aware of the values that they must engrave into the minds of the children and they must also be aware of what is expected of them. The employees are human assets and have the tendency to forget what is expected. This is why a constant reminder in the form of trainings would help the employees to grow and develop their skills continuously. There are different methods for training staff, non managerial and managerial. But since the day care centre will focus mainly on non managerial staff, the company must conduct frequent training sessions in the form of orientation workshops where the employees may be able to have a hands-on experience with the environment they will be provided with. The employees could be given a certain situation that they could face in their routine and be asked to frame a decision around it (Infande, 2012). Four Fundamental Steps of the Training Systems Approach There are four basic steps that must be followed in order to create a successful training session for the employees. The executives at Twinkle Toes must first discuss the basic need of the training session. They must be aware why training is required and what must be achieved by it. Training sessions are usually an incurred cost and this cost can only be converted to profit if the training session successfully achieves what it was set out to do (Harvard Business Review, 2006). Then the executives must also decide on the training material that they will develop for the session. There is the concept of having manuals and handouts to be distributed during the sessions as a future reference for the employees. These manuals must be easy to read and refer to during the employees’ daily routine. Then there is the step of conducting the actual sessions. How these sessions should be conducted is a major question. The sessions could be interactive where the employees have been in the company for a very long time. In these sessions, the employees must be provided with the opportunity of asking questions and issues that they face. This would allow the executives as well as the employees to understand one another better. The executives could, at the end of the session, take feedback from the employees asking them whether they found the training session fruitful and if they had learnt anything. This feedback could then be considered as input to the development of the new and upcoming training session. Career Planning, Career Management and Career Development The executives do not only have the responsibility of keeping the company in profit, but they also deal with the catastrophe of having to manage the careers of the employees. The company as a whole needs to consider that the human resource is the greatest asset for the service industry. Hence, there is a need for the executives to ensure that they provide complete support to the employees for their career paths. The employees must be counselled into defining the career path that they would like to take and then the company would need to provide opportunities suitable to the career path of each employee. The opportunities, once availed, would allow the employees to develop their careers with the company and believe that the company is contributing greatly to their individual profitability as well (Maurer, 2002). Conclusion There are a number of businesses in the industry that are working towards the fulfilment of the needs of their individual consumers. In the same way, Twinkle Toes has also built up a business where it is trying to cater to the needs of the working mothers. Working mothers tend to have the trouble of juggling between carrying forward their career or staying home with their children, since there is no one else to look after them. Twinkle Toes had begun its business with a small day care centre and with its success; it has been able to develop another day care centre. However, it is now in frenzy as to decide the resources that it has available for the new day care centre. Reference List American Jewish University, 2012. Recruitment and Selection [online] Available at: http://www.ajula.edu/Content/ContentUnit.asp?CID=1315&u=3619&t=0. Retrieved on March 10, 2012. Eagly, A. and Carli, L., 2007. Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership. UK: Harvard Business Press. Frangos, C., 2002. Aligning Human Capital with Business Strategy: Perspectives from Thought Leaders. UK: Harvard Business Press. Groysberg, B., Balog, S. and Haimson, J., 2007. Recruitment of a Star. UK: Harvard Business Press. Hamori, M., 2010. Job-Hopping to the Top and Other Career Fallacies. UK: Harvard Business Press. Harvard Business Review, 2006. Hiring and Keeping the Best People. UK: Harvard Business School Press. Infande, A., 2012. The Four Basic Steps in the Training Process [online] Available at: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Infande4.html. Retrieved on March 10, 2012. Maurer, T., 2002. Employee Learning and Development Orientation: Toward an Integrative Model of Involvement in Continuous Learning. Human Resource Development Review. 1 (1), pp. 9-44. Appendix Title of the position: Child care worker Department: Day care centre Reports to: Supervisor Consults with: All levels of management Overall responsibility The childcare worker has to look after the needs of the children and ensure that they teach and take care of the children safely and with a responsible attitude. Key areas of responsibility Cooperate and coordinate with staff members and ensure all policies and procedures of the day care is followed. Assistance required in developing day care programmes. Education to children should be provided in the required manner in the day care. All day care children need to be supervised carefully for all the activities. Child care workers need to have positive interaction with the day care children and work towards nurturing the confidence in them. Comfort and individual attention should be given to all children. Children need to be provided assistance in their educational development. Their washroom, lunch and resting elements need to be taken care of smoothly. Safety concerns of children need to be monitored both in indoor and outdoor activities. Work upon providing a healthy environment to children. Communicate with parents on a regular mode and provide updates on their children activities. Administrative duties need to be performed. Term of employment: 1 month probation then 6 months contract Qualifications Able to deal with children Organisational and management skills should be good Creative and Innovative Responsible attitude at workplace Read More