Post #1

What is your business? What is your companys competitive advantage in the market? How can this differentiate your company from other competitors that are already in the market? My business is a barbershop, and the competitive advantage is providing top-tier customer service to clients. This differentiates my company from other competitors by not just giving a great quality haircut, but also giving the clients a great customer service experience.

What is the employee group that is most important to your business's success? The employee group will be the barbers because they are the ones who will be cutting hair and representing the companys customer service. The knowledge & skills they need to possess are great communication, hand-eye coordination, interpersonal skills, time- management, active listening, attention to detail, the ability to work well with others, work well on your own, be understanding, and flexibility. The behaviors they need to engage in are to provide the same knowledge and skills listed above with a positive attitude, which leads to the culture that needs to be established. The culture that needs to be established is creating a positive & friendly environment for the clients while providing top-tier customer service such as ensuring they are well taken care of.

Now, what will be the benefits program(s) of your choice? How can this help your company attract and retain workers with the behaviors and characteristics that you have identified in Q2? Or how can this foster behaviors that are identified in Q2? The benefits program I will implement in my business is to offer one new clipper or trimmer annually, the clipper or trimmer will be the barbers choice and offer a discount on booth rent for whoever made the most progress on increasing clientele, this will be every quarter of the year (every 3 months). This will help my company attract and retain workers because a lot of barber shops do not offer benefits. The offering of a new clipper or trimmer of the barbers choice will help retain the customer while knowing they also have a chance to get a discount on booth rent every quarter, the booth rent discount will motivate the barbers to improve customer service. This will motivate the barbers to develop and improve their knowledge & skills such as customer service, communication skills, ability to work with others, etc. This knowledge and skills will not only attract more clientele for the barbers themselves, but it will also help my business and foster the behaviors of providing top-tier customer service.

Lets also think about the possible unintended consequences of this benefits program. What are some possible unintended consequences? Why? One of the possible unintended consequences would be the employees might think offering a new clipper or trimmer should be quarterly instead of annually, therefore they wouldnt be as motivated to stay in the company very long. Another unintended consequence would be the consistently fully booked barber might see the quarterly discount on booth rent as an opportunity more for beginner barbers with not much clientele. Therefore, it might discourage the experienced/fully booked barbers and decrease morale.

What are your plans to mitigate the unintended consequences identified in Q4? How can the plans mitigate the unintended consequences? My plan to mitigate the unintended consequence of offering a new clipper or trimmer would be to offer the benefit bi-annually instead of annually, if that does not work then maybe offer a gift card instead. My other plan to mitigate the unintended consequence of offering a discount on booth rent would be to educate the employee(s) on how to open availability to gain clientele while maintaining or improving his/her income. This will give them the opportunity to still continue to receive the benefit.

Post #2

What is your business? What is your companys competitive advantage in the market? How can this differentiate your company from other competitors that are already in the market?

If I had the opportunity, I would start a bagel shop. My focus would be on artesian quality products, freshly made, with farm to table schmears and toppings. It may take a little bit of time for an order but perfecting a bagel meal would be the priority crafted by bubbly morning people.

What is the employee group that is most important for your business's success? From the employee group you selected, what behaviors are required to achieve the competitive advantage defined in Q1? Or is there a particular sub-population group that you need to attract? If so, who are they? What are some other required characteristics (e.g., personality) of the employees in the job group that you have selected?

Bakers and bagel sandwich crafters/waiters would be the employees who play a key role. Bakers for quality bagels and kind happy-go-lucky personnel for the front end, the face of the company. I would like to provide a hip casual vibe for customers with a hand-crafted treat to enjoy on the run or to stay and get work done. Ultimately, morning people who understand morning people. Understanding that what we offer may not be the quickest crafted meal while we serve up farm-to-table ingredients, taking pride in our bread and even more pride in our employees. The most important jon with in my bagel shop would be the Food service manager would be keeping record of the required documentation that government agencies regard of sanitation or food standards, one bad rating can tarnish a reputation forever. They would need to monitor food preparation, perform quality control with portion sizes, and have a keen eye for detail of garnishing and presentation of food to ensure that food is prepared and presented in an acceptable manner, per the website. This would be important for cross-training purposes and for our guests to experience something they will come back and love each time. Lastly, having someone schedule and receive both food and beverage deliveries and inventory while checking delivery quality would be ideal.

Now, what will be the benefits program(s) of your choice? How can this help your company attract and retain workers with the behaviors and characteristics that you have identified in Q2? Or how can this foster behaviors that are identified in Q2?

I will offer a manager training program to incentivizes growth from within our company. I will offer flexible work hours. Additionally, a free bagel meal each shift should my employees be hungry. Additionally, PTO can start accruing after 90 days for full time employees with the potential to use, sell back, or roll over.

Lets also think about the possible unintended consequences of this benefits program. What are some possible unintended consequences? Why?

A major concern would be what meal the employee got for free. It is one thing to get something off the menu but there are loopholes and substitutions that can be made that could abuse this policy. I think the important thing to know is that our store won't have a huge margin for overproducing and avoiding as much waste as possible is a company goal. Offering a managerial training program escalating to a key holder and closing managers to be promoted to managers and potentially store managers, baker, or food service manager depending on goals and expectations of the employee. A consequence here could be they feel the weight of more responsibilities while learning and not having been promoted until fully trained. This could lead to the overworked underpaid attitude. There would need to be limitations for the PTO to meet/beat tax consequences for my employees.

What are your plans to mitigate the unintended consequences identified in Q4? How can the plans mitigate the unintended consequences?

Having managers check out the employees buying the meals would be one way to mitigate the free meal. The Bagel shop would offer a friend/family discount to help take the pressure off the employee needing to get food for others, which would also be administered by a manager. For my managerial training program, it could be work at your own pace, mixed with on-the-job training and networking. It would come with a slight increase in pay with a promise of a base salary/pay once the position is assumed. I would need to be well versed or have an experience tax person explain in detail the best way to allocate PTO.

For each post, suggest a benefits program(s) that your classmate has not thought of that can attract the workers (or foster behaviors) that were identified in Q2 of the classmates initial post. Also, explain why the benefits program that you have suggested can attract the targeted workers (or foster intended behaviors).