HRM500 Week 3 Scenario Script: Work/Life Balance; Planning and Recruiting Human Resources Slide # Scene/Interaction Narration HRM500 Week 3 Scenario Script - Part 1: Work/Life Balance Slide 1 Introduction Page Slide 2 Scene 1 Angela's Office [HR Director Angela, HR Manager Michael and HR Manager Ashley] Angela: Ashley and Michael, I have been looking at the absences in the organization and reviewed the feedback from the last survey regarding work/life balance concerns. Our employees want more flexibility to attend their kids' sporting events, take them to doctor's appointments, and to visit or volunteer at the school. They are also concerned with childcare costs and caring for elderly parents. Ashley: Also, our single parents have a hard time finding affordable child care and health insurance. Michael: Middle class families with two incomes have to work longer hours and it's hard for them to coordinate care for their children outside of school hours. Families are torn between spending time at work or with their family. Slide 3 Scene 2 Angela's Office Angela: What do the two of you suggest so that we can meet the needs of our employees? Keep in mind that more than half of our workforce represents single parent homes. Ashley: We need to expand our health benefits to offer more complete coverage to our employees' children, for one thing. In addition, we could provide education benefits for our workers. We can provide vouchers toward day care costs and referrals for individuals caring for elderly parents. Michael: We need to incorporate flex time that will allow employees to attend activities for their school aged children. Angela: This will also give us an advantage in our recruiting efforts. Slide 4 Scene 3 - Angela's Office Ashley: When providing flextime, we need to make sure we still have enough employees at work to meet the needs of our customers. Michael: We can require employees to give us at least a week's notice prior to the time off needed, and they can make up the time away from work within the same work week. This will prevent other employees from becoming overworked and the company from paying overtime. Ashley: We will need to look at forecasts for each day to determine how many people can have time off in a given day. Exempt employees will have the option to work from home remotely to make up the hours, since each has been assigned a laptop. Slide 4 Interaction: What suggestions can be made to young managers regarding worklife balance? Leaders are willing to accommodate work-life balance challenges if your performance is up to par. Work-life policies are a recruiting tool and work arrangements should be negotiated with your leader within the work environment. Employees that continue to have work-life balance issues can be viewed as entitled, uncommitted and even incompetent. Although leaders are accommodating when it comes to work-life balance, many ultimately believe it is your responsibility to solve the problem. Slide 5 Scene 3 Angela's Office Angela: Great job! The two of you have come up with some good ideas on how we can support our workforce in the area of work-life balance by addressing employee requests for more flexibility to attend their kids' sporting events, take them to doctor's appointments, and become more involved in their school lives. Ashley: We also brainstormed ideas for managing childcare costs and caring for elderly parents. Michael: So what comes next, Angela? Angela: Our final steps will be to take our recommendations to the executive team and determine how much is in the budget to support these programs. We will also need to look at the impact on operations and research the possible elimination of underutilized programs so that funding can be redirected towards the new programs. In the meantime, let's move to the conference room to discuss the next item on our agenda Planning and Recruiting Human Resources. HRM500 Week 3 Scenario Script - Part 2: Planning and Recruiting Human Resources Slide 6 Part 2 - Introduction Slide 7 Scene 4 - Conference Room Angela: Ashley and Michael, I just came from Montrose's strategic management planning meeting for the upcoming year. We will need to consider forecasting the demand for labor, determine the labor supply, and define labor shortage. Based on a trend analysis of the previous year, we will need to increase our work force by tenpercent to meet the demands. This estimate is based on changes in the economy and technology, competitors, and trends in the workforce. Scene 5 - Conference Room Ashley: Based on our inventory levels and the forecasted demand for our products and services, the need to hire more employees is justified. Michael: Before we make a hasty decision to hire new employees, we should consult with experts in the field who can review and analyze statistical planning models and look at the history of our growth and relationships between variables. Some variables may include customer buying patterns and call center call history. Angela: Good observations, both of you! Ashley, I would like for you to review inventory and service levels for the previous twelve months. Michael, I would like for you to contact Source Forecasting to help us with determining labor demands for the upcoming year based on the previous year's demand for our products and services and other variables external to the company. Let's meet tomorrow morning to discuss your findings. Slide 8 Scene 6 - Conference Room Angela: Good morning! Yesterday I asked you to review inventory and service levels for the previous twelve months and to contact Source Forecasting to help us determine labor demands for the upcoming year. Ashley, tell me what you found out. Ashley: Based on historical trends, we need to increase our staffing levels by fifteen-percent, which is five-percent more than originally stated. This takes into consideration voluntary and involuntary terminations and the potential for employees to move to new positions. Michael: When I contacted Source Forecasting, they were able to look at trends in the economy, competitors within our industry, changes in technology, and trends in the labor force. They recommended a fifteen-percent increase in staff as well. Scene 7 - Conference Room *Address will be shown on slide (www.bls.gov) Angela: Sounds like you both got solid information! Next we will need to look at determining the labor supply to fill these positions. We have to analyze detailed information of how many people in the organization are in each job category and possess specific skills. Ashley: We may need to modify our plan to reflect changes due to retirements, promotions, transfers, and voluntary and involuntary terminations. We will need to monitor the plan during the year to determine if there are unforeseen circumstances that exist in the external environment. Angela: Where can we find this information? Michael: Sources of data for the external labor market include the Occupational Outlook Quarterly and the Monthly Labor Review, which are both available through the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Slide 9 Scene 8 - Conference Room Angela: Ashley and Michael, I would like for both of you to review these sources today, and we will meet again later to determine if there is a labor shortage in the areas we will be hiring for, as well as your findings regarding the external labor market. Ashley, you did an excellent job looking at historical trends to support the need to increase our staffing levels by fifteen-percent, which was five-percent more than originally stated based on voluntary and involuntary terminations and the potential for employees to move to new positions. Michael, you did a good job contacting Source Forecasting to look at trending in the economy, competitors in our industry, changes in technology, and patterns in the labor force. Let's complete a brief activity before you move on to your assignment. Slide 10 Interaction Slide 11 Scene 9 - Conference Room Angela: Great job completing the activity. Your last assignment was to check the Occupational Outlook Quarterly and the Monthly Labor Review to determine if there is a surplus or shortage of labor in the areas in which we will be hiring. What did you find? Michael: Based on the forecasts for labor demand and supply, there is a surplus of customer representatives in the labor market. There is a deficiency in skilled laborers, whom will we need to manufacture our products. Ashley: This will present serious hiring challenges for the organization. The demand for skilled-trades positions is great. The average age of skilled laborers working in this area is fifty-five years, and the younger generation does not find skilled labor positions attractive. However, since a higher number of older workers are now working past retirement, if we could find a way to recruit younger workers, we would already have training opportunities in place for them through this older generation. Slide 12 Scene 10 - Conference Room Michael: There is a misconception that these jobs do not pay well. We will need to partner with the employment commission and community colleges in the area. We can offer paid education and training if students agree to a two year commitment here at Montrose. Ashley: We can hire employees who possess the core competencies needed to be successful at the organization, and then offer extensive training for new employees to cover any gaps. As a final option, we may decide to outsource some of our production or customer service to a vendor. Slide 13 Scene 11 - Conference Room Angela: These are all great ideas. I can tell that you have done your research. Now that we have ideas for meeting the demands of our increase in products and services, we can create a plan and set a specific goal for gauging our success in addressing our labor deficiencies. Our goals will be based on our analysis of labor supply and demand. Ashley and Michael, you did a great job forecasting the demand for labor, determining the labor supply, and defining the labor shortage. Don't forget to participate in this week's discussions and complete your assignment on Trends in the Workplace. We will meet next week to finalize staffing plans and set our goals - have a great week, team