Four weeks into his internship at Grower’s Choice, a growing regional food store chain, Chase was encouraged when the HR director told him that he would be needed to make some changes in the process for requesting and recording time off. He e‐mailed his professor that maybe his boring internship was finally going to get interesting. It was, but not in ways he would have predicted. 

Grower’s Choice started 40 years ago as a produce market and has grown into a chain of 20 small supermarkets. Throughout their growth, they maintained an emphasis on high‐quality fresh produce and a family atmosphere. Their management, headquarters, distribution center, and full‐time store employees were mostly long‐term employees with an average of 20 years with the company. A large number of young part‐time employees were hired to keep the stores running. When Chase arrived to begin his internship, he was surprised to learn that the HR department processed payroll, hired, and trained employees and little else. In his first month, he had learned to check references, add new employees into the computer for payroll processing, and check time sheets against the schedules for accuracy. Although computers were used for payroll, much of the data had to be entered manually from paper time sheets. There were paper forms for applications and time-off requests. E‐mail was limited to employees at headquarters and four or five full‐time staff in each store. The company had grown in number of employees, stores, and sales, but HR seemed to be stuck in the 1980s.

The next day, Chase asked Alonzo, the HR Director, if the changes in the time-off requests included using online scheduling software. He laughed and explained, “It isn’t anything that complicated. Since you’re pretty good with computers, we would like you to rewrite the form so it has room for a whole month instead of 2 weeks.” Chase went on to explain that there were several software vendors that could streamline the process. Alonzo replied, “Maybe someday, but we have a lot of older managers who don’t handle change well” before returning to his office.

A few hours later, Alonzo could be heard shouting “No Way! No Way!” into his phone before running out of his office toward the office of the CFO. When he returned, he appeared shocked and shaken. He explained that he had just learned that a manager who had been with the organization for over 25 years had just been fired for falsifying time sheets for 5 years. “Apparently, the part‐time bookkeeper was in a serious accident 6 years ago. She wasn’t able to drive after the accident and asked to work from home. The payroll information she processed couldn’t leave the store, so we couldn’t accommodate the request. We were told that she found a way to get to work and that was the end of it. Turns out, the store manager took the documents to her home for her to complete the payroll just like she was going to work every day. He picked up computer disks from her when she was done and sent them to us like she was in the store the whole time. We’ve been paying her for 5 years and she hasn’t shown up for work once. Incredible!” When Chase asked what happens next, Alonzo shook his head and said “I don’t know. The CFO wants to have them both arrested for fraud. How could this happen?”

Chase echoed Alonzo. “Yup. It’s incredible,” but silently congratulated the store manager for getting around HR’s inability to change with the times.

Questions:

1. In what ways could HRIS software make the HR department more efficient at Grower’s Choice? How could HRIS have made a difference in the situation with the disabled bookkeeper and the time sheets?

2. Explain the legal and ethical issues involved in the case.

3. How can Grower’s Choice improve their views of diversity and work–life balance? 

4. Research: Examine the Careers section of two to three supermarket chains in your area. What evidence do you find of HR use of technology?