2. We are currently handling most of our personnel-related activities, such as sign-ons, benefits administration, and appraisals manually. What specific suggestions would you have for us in terms of using software systems to automate our HR processes? Cleaning in Challenging Times As the economic downturn worsened, revenues at the Carter stores fell steeply. Many of their customers were simply out of work and didn t need (or couldn t afford) dry cleaning.

Working customers were cutting back wherever they could.

The Carters actually found themselves giving away some free cleaning services. They started a new program wherein existing customers could get one suit or dress cleaned free each month if they needed it for a job interview.

In the midst of this downturn, the Carters knew they had to do something to get their employment costs under control. The problem was that, realistically, there wasn t much room for cutting staffing in a store. Of course, if a store got very slow, they could double up by having a cleaner/spotter spend some of his or her time pressing, or having the manager displace the counter person. But if sales only fall 15% to 20% per store, there really wasn t much room for reducing employee head count because each store never really employed that many people in the first place.

The question therefore naturally arose as to whether the Carters could cut their employment expenses without dismissing too many people. Jennifer Carter has several questions for you.