Designing an intervention to increase the motivation and the flexibility of the workforce in a large dairy company

The new CEO and the director of HR of a large dairy company have sought your advice regarding the kind of intervention that might be effective in helping them involve employees in order to motivate them to work more flexibly and support the modernization of the diaries.

The company is Danish owned. It began production in the UK six years ago following the acquisition of a number of British dairies. It now employs 2,400 people at six dairies and one other plant that produces fruit drinks. The last few years have been a difficult time for the dairy industry in the UK and many companies have gone out of business. Supermarkets are selling milk at very competitive prices, presenting a fierce challenge to the doorstep delivery business and the abolition of the Milk Marketing Board has led to a sharp increase in the price of raw milk. After the new CEO was appointed he initiated a restructuring of the UK business, creating strategic business units serving particular segments of the market and major customers such as the large supermarket chains. The company has also invested heavily in state of the art processing and packaging equipment. But further action is still needed to ensure the company's success. Labour requirements fluctuate considerably as the demand for dairy products vary over the week and over the year. Operations managers cope with peak periods by making extensive use of overtime working. Many of the workers at the company's processing sites are low paid and make a living wage by working overtime. It is not unusual for workers to work between 50 and 70 hours over a six day week. There is always plenty of overtime at peak times such as Christmas, but in order to ensure that overtime is available at other times employees operated machines inefficiently. Managers experience great difficulty persuading employees to work flexibly or accept new practices. Over the years they have used supplementary payments as a way of getting things done. There are over 90 different rates of pay and no formal grading system to justify differences.

The state of industrial relations varies across sites, ranging from good to difficult. Absenteeism is high, running at about 10 per cent.

The company needs a skilled and well-motivated workforce able and ready to react flexibly to customers' demands and willing to support the modernization of the dairies.

Your task as Change Practitioner

1. Design an intervention that will involve the employees in order to motivate them to work more flexibly and support the modernization of the diaries.
2. Identify issues that might affect the success of your proposed intervention and explain how you would address these issues.