Answer as Can you Can

TASK

This case study has been taken from a CIPD Past Paper Section A. Try to complete all questions within 1.5 hours spending equal time on each question. There is no word limit.

Assume the role of the HR consultant who is also a co-opted member of the Board of Trustees. The Board has asked you to look at two very specific aspects of the Hospice: The future of workforce planning and resourcing (reporting on both employees and volunteers) and the fitness for purpose of the Hospice governance.

1. Critically review the case study organisation through a SWOT analysis of its administrative employees. Make recommendations based upon the strengths and opportunities you have identified. Justify your recommendations.
2. Critically review the Hospices deployment of voluntary workers. On the basis of this, recommend actions the Hospice should take to ensure it is not over-reliant upon voluntary workers whilst at the same time ensuring they remain committed to the Hospice. Justify your recommendations.
3. The Charity Governance Code (2017) published The Seven Principles of Good Governance (for smaller charities) which the Board of Trustees is expected to follow. These are: organisational purpose; leadership; integrity; decision-making, risk and control; board effectiveness; diversity; openness and accountability. Critically review the work of the Board of Trustees against ANY THREE of these principles.
4. Provide the Board of Trustees with a set of proposals to ensure it engages with the strategic direction of the Hospice and improves its governance. Justify your proposals.

Note: In your responses, you are allowed to improvise or add to the case study details provided below. However, the case study should not be changed or compromised in any way.

CASE STUDY

This case study is about a hospice (Community Hospice) and looks at three groups of workers: The Board of Trustees; the administrative employees; and the voluntary workers. The Hospice was founded in 1979 thanks largely to the efforts of a small group from the local community who initiated public support for it. Public meetings were held all across the proposed catchment area and, as a result, volunteer support groups were established in local towns and villages to spread the message and help with fundraising efforts.

Community Hospice achieved charitable status, and expert help was brought in to oversee the establishment of appropriate governance arrangements and establish a Board of Trustees, which is comprised of a range of professionals. The Board is primarily concerned with direction, policy and strategy. The day-to-day management of the hospice is with the paid professional staff who report back to the Board - though this tends to be sporadic and subject to workloads associated with the continuing growth of Community Hospice.

There is no funding from central government and there is concern that local fundraising has reduced; yet some Trustees continue to support further expansion of the Hospices work. There is concern amongst some of the staff that the Trustees interest in growing the Hospice is becoming detached from the local area it serves and from the operational issues that staff face.

When a trustee resigns they are replaced through a professional and personal network of colleagues. More recently, two new members of the Board have joined through a different route and have no connection with the history of the Community Hospice. They are more open-minded to new strategies and a re-evaluation of the direction of the Hospice and are concerned about the pace of expansion of the Hospice and the impact on its governance. They have urged others on the Board to evaluate its effectiveness, and, where appropriate, to co-opt specialist people to the Board to help them. These suggestions have been begrudgingly accepted by the rest of the Board.

In the early days of the Hospice there were around 15 Volunteer Support Groups (VSGs) each with around ten members. 40 years on the number of VSGs has declined, some merging and others closing, so that currently there are eight groups that are still active. The decline is partly attributed to the ageing of members, and very few young people coming through to replace those who leave. Currently the average age of the volunteers is 67 and an overall profile of their characteristics can be summarised as white, middle-class, predominantly female, retired professionals. VSGs see themselves as the public face of the Hospice.

In addition to their fundraising a number of volunteers work (in their voluntary capacity) at the Hospice itself. In particular they carry out clerical and reception work. More importantly, they step in to administrative roles to cover for employee absence. This is a considerable shift from their early involvement which was limited to a meet and greet service for new patients and visitors to the Hospice.

The role of these voluntary workers now includes updating patient records and inputting data that is later used in reports to the Board of Trustees. The Board is grateful for their involvement as it has improved the efficiency and accuracy of reports. Consequently, the Trustees havent looked at the strategic direction of managing people. They are content to rely upon the Hospices long history of voluntary workers to fill any gaps left as a consequence of staff shortages.

Some days there may be as many as five voluntary workers in administration. At other times there may only be one. Employees are never sure of their number from week-to-week, and sometimes even from day-to-day.

The Head of Administrative staff reports to the Director of Communications and Income Generation, who is a member of the senior management team. Due to their voluntary status the reporting line of the voluntary workers has never been clarified.

The proportion of administrative staff at the Hospice has struggled to keep up with the growth of the Hospice. In particular the number of inpatients has tripled and Outpatients and Counselling have been added to the services it offers. From a core staff of 19 full and part-time administrators, eight work less social hours between 7.30 a.m. 3.00 p.m. (full-time) and all six part-timers work 2.30 p.m. 7.00 p.m. This leaves a core of five administrators who work regular days.

As sickness absence and employee turnover is rising, the Hospice is becoming increasingly reliant upon its voluntary workers who provide flexibility in their working hours. Full-time employees resent the control that voluntary workers have over when they work.

When the Head of Administrative Staff recruits new employees, she relies on experienced voluntary workers to mentor them. For the most part she ignores any ethical issues that may arise from how and where she deploys voluntary workers. It relieves pressure on an increasingly stretched and demotivated group of employees and senior managers are happy with the current arrangement.

Over the last three years Health Authority funding has been cut, and it has become harder to justify replacing staff who leave. Staffing problems are projected to continue, partly as a consequence of changes to inward and outward migration of the area and this will affect staff at all levels. It will pose new challenges for the future supply of both employees and voluntary workers.

To bring a fresh approach to how the Hospice operates the Board of Trustees has appointed an HR Consultant with a remit to examine the governance of the Hospice, and also to work with the Head of Administrative staff to look at administrative arrangements. For both activities the Consultant is expected to bring forward recommendations that will be acceptable to the Board, including compliance with the Charity Governance Code (2017), for smaller charities - https://www.charitygovernancecode.org/en/front-page