Human resource and personnel Practice Future limited has a large factory that manufactures the products for sale. The raw materials are sourced from suppliers that are vetted and the record of these materials is stored in the masterfile. Future has computerised many of its systems to keep abreast of technological changes. A number of factory workers and other staff are employed by Future (Pty) Ltd either on fixed-term contract, temporary or permanent basis. Miss Ruzvidzo a marketing graduate is responsible for the Human resource department assisted by an HR clerk who is on internship. Miss Ruzvidzo was once the marketing assistant manager at Future until 6 months ago when she was asked to join the HR department after her resignation of the HR manager. The two position (Miss Ruzvidzo and the HR clerk) report to the Human resource director, Mr Kupa who normally delegates the running of the department to Miss Ruzvidzo that includes hiring of factory and administration staff as well as perfoming remuneration related tasks. On remuneration tasks, Mr Kupa discusses the bonus and related increases with the accountant. He then sends an email to Miss Ruzvidzo which she uses as reference for calculating the new pay rates. She then drafts letters informing the employees of the increases. Copies of the email from Mr Kupa and the increment letters are kept in her top drawer for easy access. 

 

 When a vacancy arises or when the foreman requests for additional workers, Miss Ruzvidzo puts an advertisement for the job on the local media. She carries out the interview which is normally a question on whether the potential worker can work under pressure. The interviewees are requested to wait until the end of the day to receive the outcome of their application. Miss Ruzvidzo enlists the names of the successful candidates which is handed over to Mr Kupa who calls out the name of the successful applicants and discusses the terms of the contract including remuneration and working hours. If the applicant agrees to these terms they are hired and given work suits so they can begin work at the start of the following week.

 

  The process is the same when the HR department hires administration workers and other personnel who are not factory workers. Miss Ruzvidzo's responsibility also includes monthly assessment of a need for additional staff in the administration department. She follows the same procedures for job advertisement and interview as with factory workers. Once an agreement is reached, Mr Kupa sends an email to Miss Ruzvidzo and drafts a contract for the new employee with the agreed terms and reference which she authorises using Mr Kupa's digital signature.  The contracts are kept in her top shelf of her cabinet which she does not lock as she sees it as unnecessary. The employees are required to bring copies of their qualification certificates (even if not certified) and criminal records on their first day of work which are kept on the desk drawer of Miss Ruzvidzo for safe keeping. Foreign employees hired to work in the factory are only required to bring their passports. This is the same for temporary employees who are required to just bring a copy of their ID. Both the temporary and foreign employees are paid by cash as Miss Ruzvidzo does not want to have unnecessary documents taking space in her drawer.

 

 The factory is headed by Mr Lucky, the factory foreman whose position allows him to dismiss employees and is also responsible for wage pay-outs to the temporary and foreign employees. Dismissal can take place after an initial warning has been communicated to the employee. This normally occurs when the employee has committed a transgression that displeases either Mr Kupa or the factory foreman Mr Lucky. Clocking in and out used to be carried out by a clock machine. However, since it malfunctioned 8 months ago, workers clock in using clock cards which are placed at the entrance of the factory. The workers clock in their arrival time as well as departure time. The workers return these clock card to Mr Lucky every Monday, where they collect blank new ones again which are created by Mr Lucky as well. He authorises the clock cards before sending them to the HR after approving the hours recorded by the employees including overtime hours. Normal hours are between 8am to 3pm. However, in the event that Mr Lucky considers the work to not be completed on time, he allows those employees willing to work overtime. The overtime hours are recorded by the workers record on the clock cards. 

 

Required:

a)Describe the weakness in the human resource and personnel practices based on the information in the scenario?

b)For each weakness described in (a) above, discuss the risk (s) and consequences that can occur?