The Role of Holden Human Resource Team in the Continued Operation of the Company Tills Its Closure - Case Study Example

Business Name: Institution: Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 The Role of Holden Human Resource team in the continued operation of the company tills its closure. 5 Process to select employees for reduction and lay-off 7 Step 2; Identification of the affected employees 9 Step 3; establishing the selection Criteria and the Merit Criteria. 10 Step 4 - Determine the assessment methods to be used, and assess the affected employees. 10 Step 5 – Determine which employees are to be retained and which are to be laid off. 11 Step 6 - Communicate results to employees. 12 Recommendations 12 Laying-off 12 Retention of employees 12 Keeping an efficient workforce 13 Conclusion 13 Reference 14 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to identify how my Australian Holden Human resource team will solve issues pertaining to the maintenance of an efficient workforce to continue with productivity and development of strategies for the ultimate reduction and lay-off of its employees in accordance with the Australian Industrial law and consideration of jurisprudence. Some of the Australian industrial laws it will consider include the Fair work Act 2009, the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986and the commonwealth equal opportunity act[Bal13].Additionally we will consider the sources of labor law, including the Work Relation Act 1996 (Cth) that provides different methods of treating contracts between employees and employers’[Bro03]. The Company has expressed that its continued operation in Australia was no longer an option. Therefore, the company was preparing to close shop in the year 2017. This action will see up to two thousand nine hundred employees lose their jobs. The intended exist will see the closure of the company’s manufacturing plants in Adelaide and Port Melbourne where many workers are employed. However, before its closure it intends to continue its production in an efficient way. There should be normal production regardless of the future decision of the company. Nevertheless, the company states that building cars in Australia is not sustainable[JOH13]. It is the responsibility of my team to assess the best possible way to address this situation, according to the Australian Industrial law and the International laws on Labor. It also has a responsibility to the Head office in Detroit to make sure that the announcement will in no way change the current performance of the company. This report, therefore, seeks to give solution on approaches that my team can use to make sure that there is a continued and efficient production in the company. Introduction Holden Australia a car manufacturing company that has been operational in Australia for years reported at the end of the Year 2013 that it intends to close production in the year 2017[Gri14]. Its major production plants based in Australia are in the Port Melbourne and Adelaide. This closure will result in the loss of 2,900 jobs in Australia. The company insists that continued production in the country is simply impossible and unsustainable for it. Recent years have seen the company experience major losses running into millions of dollars[Beb13]. Until its closure in 2017, the company intends to continue with normal production. This announcement has seen a tense situation with its employees over their eminent unemployment situation, resulting in most employees seeking new employment opportunities in other companies. Naturally, such a condition might disrupt the normal operations of the company. Between the announcement date and its closure in 2017 the efficiency of the company might be in jeopardy, a situation the Australian Holden Manufacturing Company considers unacceptable. My team has to create an environment that will enable efficient production to continue. This will be done side to side with their development of the strategy that will see the company slowly reducing their employees, according to the Australian Industrial law and finally its closure. The strategy ought to be efficient to allow the company to operate with no complications till the year 2017. Thus the human Resource has their work cut out for them for the entire period till closure. The Role of Holden Human Resource team in the continued operation of the company tills its closure. In this report to the head office in Detroit, the role of the my team will be clearly elaborated in all the aspects needed for the continued performance of the company during the remainder of its operation time in Australia and the procedure used to lay off employees. To ensure efficiency in production the my team will adopt a strategy from a leadership point of view by providing quality and standard levels that the employees should work towards. We will make sure that a framework is created that will see the employees follow up on the achievement of quality and efficiency required. The framework will also assist the company and my team to be up to date with its production as the closure situation unfolds[Gov151]. Through this planning, it will ensure that the company’s remaining employees understand how to share their roles as well as allow the management to be successful in their continued role. We will also be researching on each and every employee that we would like to employ in order to understand their specialization and previous performance in the section. Additionally we will also evaluate talent and critical skills that can be useful to the company at this period. We will also have the responsibility of familiarizing the company departments and the unique needs of the company. Thus, they ensure that the employees in those areas receive consistent and essential information on the department at all time. We will also conducts frequent follow up, to make sure that the employees finish up on the required paperwork that we may have formed in order to further understand what the employees think the roles of their department are in the continued production of the company[Gov151]. This can also be achieved through the management of various departments to ensure that the work in their department is up to the given standards. Additionally we should make sure that follow up is conducted to ensure an efficient working within the department. The company’s announced closure saw the employees become stressed and un-relaxed due to the view that they will soon be laid-off. This would see their previous work performance taking a dive to the bottom as there is little zeal and morale on them this would ultimately reduce their performance. Hence my team is involved in the maintenance of their working standards. The team will therefore need to encourage the company’s employees do their own honest job responsibility and determine whether their skills have shortfalls. Determination of this will be considered by the use of a skill matrix created by my team. My team would also create a plan for the company’s production that will see the employees and the employees attend classes and activities that support their unit’s objectives and the plans that we will have set[Ber151]. Our hardest part of it is the procedure for the lay-off of the staff and to determine which employee gets laid-off first. This calls for criteria to be followed in determining which employee is more qualified to remain that the other. The criteria will have to access the employees’ resume, their profile or other information from the candidates to make sure that they meet the position required. Prior to the company’s action to lay-off its employees my team should inform the employees on the decision and therefore allowing them to determine whether they want to continue working in the company. This would see those who are willing to be laid off submit their names for the procedure voluntarily[Was15]. The positions to be vacated by the employees must have been determined by the management for this action to take place. Process to select employees for reduction and lay-off The employee lay-off process or reduction is a different process from the appointment process, as the employees in this case had previously met the merit to work for the company if the qualifications they were employed with have not changed. At the time of their employment they had been fully assessed for all the requirements of the role or position they were going to take in the company. The goal of the retention- lay-off process is thus to make a difference between those works that have to be retained and those to be laid-off from all those who had previously been found qualified. An official communication should be done to the employees on the criteria that should be used. However, before the process has started my team should have explored other options like the relocation of the employees to another company or a subsidiary. The process should also include a guaranteed job option offer for the laid off employees. All the employees are also entitled to redundancy pay based on a sliding scale and calculated by reference to the employee’s continuous service on the termination date. However, the right to lay off employees without pay depends on the contractual position that is whether it has been permitted by the employment contract previously signed. In a situation where this is imposed by an employer without contrary to the employment contract, the employee has the right to pursue legal action in a civil or industrial court [Lab15]. The laying off strategy is as follows [OBr14]; Step 1 – To determine the position of the organization that will be affected by the decision. In this case the whole company will be affected by the closure of the production Step 2 – To identify the same affected positions and employees in the company. Step 3 – To determine the selection strategy that will ensure that care is taken on who is selected for either retention or being laid off. Step 4 – To Review the selection criteria and the merit criteria to make sure that the process is fair and of the best standards possible. Step 5 – To determine the consideration methods to be used, and the method put forth to compensate the affected employees. Step 6 – To determine which employees of the company are to be laid-off and which are to be retained. Step 7 – The Communicate results of the final decision to employees In this situation where there is a need for a workforce reduction and the elimination of all positions of the company, my team has to determine that all similar positions have been eliminated. As there is no employee to be retained at the end, the need to assess them may be minimal. In such a situation where the company calls for the lay-off and reduction of the employees, the process will involve the following: My team and the management must determine that reduction of the position in the company has to be done and future laying-off will follow Step 1: Determining which part of the organization will be affected. My team must select the boundaries and the positions that are affected by the closure decision of Holden. In doing so the management and the My team Advisor should in the first place consult the organization business and the My team plans since they are a useful part in the information gathering when they are performing an environmental scan a skill gap and a work force analysis. Through the ability of the two positions of understanding the future and current operations of the firm clearly the team can make decisions that serve the Holden Organizations interest and also treat the employees with fairness. In every decision of this process my team Manager must advise the employees of any decision made in a timely manner. Step 2; Identification of the affected employees The closure of the company affects all the employees of the Holden Company in Australia. However reduction is still necessary to ensure that the company does not just exist at once but gradually does so. Employees that are immediately affected by the decision to exit are the first to be notified of their situation. Selection of these employees should not be discriminative against them in any way. We should make sure that it follows the Age discrimination act 2004 (Cth) that prohibits the lay-off of persons on the basis of that person’s age, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) that prohibits the discrimination of workers on the basis of sex, their marital status or their potential pregnancy and their family obligations. We also have to consider the Disability Discrimination Act 1992(Cth) that prohibits the indirect or direct discrimination of disability and the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (1975) that prohibits the racial discrimination based on color nationality or descent. Of this selected employees those that have a previously presented incapacity, disciplinary and performance problems in accordance to the company’s policies are first to be dealt with prior to the selection of reduction or retention for the remaining period. Regardless the employees are included in the selection and the reduction process. Step 3; establishing the selection Criteria and the Merit Criteria. Other key managers and I review the organizational business plan. Since there is change in the remaining positions that give need for additional merit criteria, the manager assessed the existing merit criteria and if there is any need for change then correction on the criteria is done. This is done through the taking of account of the future and current operational requirements and the needs of the company[Pub15]. Step 4 - Determine the assessment methods to be used, and assess the affected employees. The main objective of the assessment is to determine those employees that have been selected for layoff and retention. This is to assure that they meet the merit required for them to continue performing the functions in their position and capacity. This will be based on the needs identified from the business. An appropriate assessment method should therefore be selected in order for the employees to be assessed against each of the merits and to also ensure that the right employee is selected for reduction. Employees that volunteer are accepted for the layoff while those that resign or would retire during the period before the closure of the company are not included in the assessment report. The assessment process and alternative assessment methods should produce data that is relevant to the criteria being assessed. The data needed to asses an individual in respect to specific criteria depends on the importance of the criteria as identified by the management. The utilization of more developed assessment tools generally gives more comprehensive information on the employees. The integration of the employees information from more than one source ensures a more comprehensive and accurate information of the employees being assessed[Pub15]. Methods such as the use of interviews and written examinations, reference checks should be included in this process. The use of different sources of information enhances the process and permits an extensive evaluation of the consistency in the performance of the employee. But this does not limit the manager from the use of other assessment tools like the description of the employee's past record in the company and the managers own knowledge of the employee performance as a source of the employee's performance in the company. In any case the manager must ensure that the selection for retention must meet the qualification set fort by us to ensure a continued efficiency. Although the employees selected must meet the essential criteria the selection team must ensure that the selected also meet the asset qualifications and the organizational need and the operation requirements before the assessment of the essential qualifications if it proves more efficient to do so. Step 5 – Determine which employees are to be retained and which are to be laid off. This section is a crucial step in the decision making criteria, and all decisions must be substantiated and recorded to ensure the accountability of the decisions. Thus, it is important that the manager expresses confidence in the process of assessment and the reason for the decision to lay-off and reduce. This also allows the managers to clearly explain the decision to the employees. The selection strategy is basically the root of the decision on whether the employees of Holden Company become laid- off immediately or are gradually reduced before the closure of the company. At this point I have formed and applied the best merit criteria, and a thorough assessment of the employee has been done to get the appropriate decision. Step 6 - Communicate results to employees. Once the determination is complete on which employee is to be immediately laid off, my team should inform the individuals on the decision. To ensure fairness and transparency of the process, all those employees who got assessed at the same time should receive their results at the same time. We should also be prepared to explain the decision to the employees in relation to the transparency and fairness laws. Information presented to an employee should relate to that employee only. Any other information concerning a third party must not be disclosed. Recommendations Laying-off The company should assure that due law is used in the process of closure and lay-off of employees to ensure that there are no legal court cases that will involve unfair treatment of the employees in the lay-off procedures used[Ott12]. Retention of employees The retained employees must exhibit effort to continue the production in the company as well s a strong will to continue working. Additionally, they must have a good performance track that enables the company to have the certainty of efficient production with them. Beattie Bridgit, the regional general manager of the Right Management in Australia suggests that whenever redundancy is the only option, then the leadership of the organization needs to be active and visible to the employees and they should be able to put in place initiatives to re-engage those who remain[Kni15]. The retained employees work till closure should have normal working hours, according to the Australian Labor Laws with the availability of rest and breaks[Hod15]. Keeping an efficient workforce Incentive should be given to enable the employees of the company to continue with efficient production and allow the company to continue its operation regardless of the eminent closure of the company operations. Conclusion The selection of the employees to be laid-off and those to be retained till the company closes must be in line with the Australian Industrial Law. The criteria must be carefully followed to meet the requirements of the Australian labor commission. All employees selected and laid off must be treated so according to merit. This will allow for legal frictionless closure plan of the company to be realized. It is recommended that due process of the law to be followed by the Our My Team of the company at the conclusion of the company’s operation in the country. Reference Bal13: , (Ball, Walsh, Ruskin, Procter, Drake-Brockman, & Catanzariti, 2013), Bro03: , (Brooks, 2003), JOH13: , (Matt & Hudson, 2013), Gri14: , (Griffiths, 2014), Beb13: , (Bebbett & Taylor, 2013), Gov151: , (Government of Canada, 2015), Ber151: , (Berkeley Company, 2015), Was15: , (Washington State, 2015), Lab15: , (Labour Relations Agency, 2015), OBr14: , (O'Brien, 2014), Pub15: , (Public Service Commission of Canada, 2015), Ott12: , (Ottley, 2012), Kni15: , (Knight, Searle, & Consulting, 2015), Hod15: , (Hodges, 2015), Read More