Case Questions:

1. Discuss the problems/issues at hand at Carter Cleaning, in the 3 cases provided below.

2. If Jennifer conducted a job analysis on positions at Carter Cleaning, what problems at the stores could be solved? What HRM activities would involve the use of job descriptions?

3. What method(s)s should Jennifer use to collect the job information? Explain why

4. What is the recruitment related problem at Carter Cleaning? If you were Jennifer, how would you use recruitment activities to help solve the turnover problem?

5. Describe the selection processes that Jennifer could use to reduce each problem of employee turnover and employee theft. How would these processes reduce turnover and theft?

HR IN ACTION CASE INCIDENT 2 Carter Cleaning Company The Job Description Based on her review of the stores, Jennifer concluded that one of the first matters she had to attend to involved developing job descriptions for her store managers. As Jennifer tells it, her lessons regarding job descrip- tions in her basic management and HR management courses were insufficient to convince her of the pivotal role job descriptions actually play in the smooth func- tioning of an enterprise. Many times during her first few weeks on the job, Jennifer found herself asking one of her store managers why he was violating what she knew to be recommended company policies and procedures. Repeatedly, the answers were either Because I didn't know it was my job" or "Because I didn't know that was the way we were supposed to do it. Jennifer knew that a job description, along with a set of standards and proce- dures that specified what was to be done and how to do it, would go a long way toward alleviating this problem. In general, the store manager is responsible for directing all store activities in such a way that qual- ity work is produced, customer relations and sales are maximized, and profitability is maintained through effective control of labor, supply, and energy costs. In accomplishing that general aim, a specific store man- ager's duties and responsibilities include quality control store appearance and cleanliness, customer relations. bookkeeping and cash management, cost control and productivity, damage control, pricing, inventory control. spotting and cleaning, machine maintenance, purchas- ing, employee safety, hazardous waste removal, human resource administration, and pest control. The questions that Jennifer had to address follow. Questions 4-16. What should be the format and final form of the store manager's job description? 4-17. Is it practical to specify standards and proce- dures in the body of the job description, or should these be kept separate? 4-18. How should Jennifer go about collecting the information required for the standards, proce- dures, and job description? 4-19. What, in your opinion, should the store man- ager's job description look like and contain? HR IN ACTION CASE INCIDENT 2 Carter Cleaning Company Getting Better Applicants If you were to ask Jennifer and her father what the main problem was in running their firm, their answer would be quick and short: hiring good people. Originally begun as a string of coin-operated laundromats requiring virtually no skilled help, the chain grew to six stores, each heav- ily dependent on skilled managers, cleaner/spotters, and pressers. Employees generally have no more than a high school education (often less), and the market for them is very competitive. Over a typical weekend, literally dozens of want ads for experienced pressers or cleaner/ spotters can be found online or in area newspapers. All these people usually are paid around $15 per hour, and they change jobs frequently. Jennifer and her father thus face the continuing task of recruiting and hiring qualified workers out of a pool of individuals they feel are almost nomadic in their propensity to move from area to area and job to job. Turnover in their stores (as in the stores of many of their competitors) often approaches 400%. "Don't talk to me about human resources planning and trend analysis, says Jennifer. We're fighting an eco- nomic war, and I'm happy just to be able to round up enough live applicants to be able to keep my trenches fully manned." in light of this problem, Jennifer's father asked her to answer the questions that follow. Questions 5-21. First, how would you recommend we go about reducing the turnover in our stores? 5-22. Provide a detailed list of recommendations concerning how we should go about increasing our pool of acceptable job applicants so we no longer face the need to hire almost anyone who walks in the door. (Your recommendations regarding the latter should include completely worded online and hard-copy advertisements and recommendations regarding any other recruiting strategies you would suggest we use.) Id not believe CHAPTER 6 HR IN ACTION CASE INCIDENT 2 Honesty Testing at Carter Cleaning Company cash. According to Jack Carter, "You would not bel Jennifer Carter and her father have what the latter describes the creativity employees use to get around the manage as an easy but hard job when it comes to screening job appli- ment controls we set up to cut down on employee theft cants. It is easy because for two important jobsthe people who actually do the pressing and those who do As one extreme example of this felonious creativity L the cleaning-spotting the applicants are easily screened tells the following story: "To cut down on the am with about 20 minutes of on-the-job testing. As with of money my employees were stea employees were stealing, I had a small typists, as Jennifer points out, Applicants either know sign painted and placed in front of all our cash regis how to press clothes fast enough or how to use cleaning ters. The sign said: YOUR ENTIRE ORDER FREE TE s and machines, or they don't, and we find out WE DON'T GIVE YOU A CASH REGISTER RECEIPT very quickly by just trying them out on the job." On the WHEN YOU PAY. CALL 552-0235. It was my intention other hand, applicant screening for the stores can also with this sign to force all our cash-handling employees with this sign to Top be frustratingly hard because of the nature of some of to place their receipts into the cash register where they the other qualities that Jennifer would like to screen for would be recorded for my accountants. After all, if all Iwo of the most critical problems facing her company the cash that comes in is recorded in the cash register, are employee turnover and employee honesty. Jennifer then we should have a much better handle on stealing er father sorely need to implement practices that in our stores, right? Well, one of our managers found will reduce the rate of employee turnover. If there is a a diabolical way around this. I came into the store one way to do this through employee testing and screening night and noticed that the cash register this particular techniques, Jennifer would like to know about it because manager was using just didn't look right, although the of the management time and money that are now being sign was dutifully placed in front of it. It turned out wasted by the never-ending need to recruit and hire new that every afternoon at about 5:00 P.M., when the other employees. Of even greater concern to Jennifer and her employees left, this character would pull his own cash father is the need to institute new practices to screen out register out of a box that he hid underneath our supplies. those employees who may be predisposed to steal from Customers coming in would notice the sign and of course the company. the fact that he was meticulous in ringing up every sale. Employee theft is an enormous problem for Carter But unknown to them and us, for about five months, the Cleaning Centers, and one that is not just limited to sales that came in for about an hour every day went into employees who handle the cash. For example, the his cash register, not mine. It took us that long to figure cleaner-spotter and/or the presser often open the store out where our cash for that store was going. themselves, without a manager present, to get the day's Jennifer would like you to answer the following work started, and it is not unusual to have one or more questions. of these people steal supplies or "run a route." Running a route means that an employee canvasses his or her Questions neighborhood to pick up people's clothes for cleaning 6-21. What would be the advantages and disadvan- and then secretly cleans and presses them in the Carter tages to Jennifer's company of routinely admin- store, using the company's supplies, gas, and power. It istering honesty tests to all its employees? would also not be unusual for an unsupervised person 6-22. Specifically, what other screening techniques (or his or her supervisor, for that matter) to accept a could the company use to screen out theft- 1-hour rush order for cleaning or laundering, quickly prone and turnover-prone employees, and how clean and press the item, and return it to the customer exactly could these be used? for payment without making out a proper ticket for the 6-23. How should Jennifer's company terminate item posting the sale. The money, of course, goes into the employees caught stealing, and what kind of worker's pocket instead of into the cash register. procedure should be set up for handling refer- The more serious problem concerns the store man- ence calls about these employees when they go ager and the counter workers who actually handle the to other companies looking for jobs? Experiential Exercise TL HR IN ACTION CASE INCIDENT 2 Carter Cleaning Company The Job Description Based on her review of the stores, Jennifer concluded that one of the first matters she had to attend to involved developing job descriptions for her store managers. As Jennifer tells it, her lessons regarding job descrip- tions in her basic management and HR management courses were insufficient to convince her of the pivotal role job descriptions actually play in the smooth func- tioning of an enterprise. Many times during her first few weeks on the job, Jennifer found herself asking one of her store managers why he was violating what she knew to be recommended company policies and procedures. Repeatedly, the answers were either Because I didn't know it was my job" or "Because I didn't know that was the way we were supposed to do it. Jennifer knew that a job description, along with a set of standards and proce- dures that specified what was to be done and how to do it, would go a long way toward alleviating this problem. In general, the store manager is responsible for directing all store activities in such a way that qual- ity work is produced, customer relations and sales are maximized, and profitability is maintained through effective control of labor, supply, and energy costs. In accomplishing that general aim, a specific store man- ager's duties and responsibilities include quality control store appearance and cleanliness, customer relations. bookkeeping and cash management, cost control and productivity, damage control, pricing, inventory control. spotting and cleaning, machine maintenance, purchas- ing, employee safety, hazardous waste removal, human resource administration, and pest control. The questions that Jennifer had to address follow. Questions 4-16. What should be the format and final form of the store manager's job description? 4-17. Is it practical to specify standards and proce- dures in the body of the job description, or should these be kept separate? 4-18. How should Jennifer go about collecting the information required for the standards, proce- dures, and job description? 4-19. What, in your opinion, should the store man- ager's job description look like and contain? HR IN ACTION CASE INCIDENT 2 Carter Cleaning Company Getting Better Applicants If you were to ask Jennifer and her father what the main problem was in running their firm, their answer would be quick and short: hiring good people. Originally begun as a string of coin-operated laundromats requiring virtually no skilled help, the chain grew to six stores, each heav- ily dependent on skilled managers, cleaner/spotters, and pressers. Employees generally have no more than a high school education (often less), and the market for them is very competitive. Over a typical weekend, literally dozens of want ads for experienced pressers or cleaner/ spotters can be found online or in area newspapers. All these people usually are paid around $15 per hour, and they change jobs frequently. Jennifer and her father thus face the continuing task of recruiting and hiring qualified workers out of a pool of individuals they feel are almost nomadic in their propensity to move from area to area and job to job. Turnover in their stores (as in the stores of many of their competitors) often approaches 400%. "Don't talk to me about human resources planning and trend analysis, says Jennifer. We're fighting an eco- nomic war, and I'm happy just to be able to round up enough live applicants to be able to keep my trenches fully manned." in light of this problem, Jennifer's father asked her to answer the questions that follow. Questions 5-21. First, how would you recommend we go about reducing the turnover in our stores? 5-22. Provide a detailed list of recommendations concerning how we should go about increasing our pool of acceptable job applicants so we no longer face the need to hire almost anyone who walks in the door. (Your recommendations regarding the latter should include completely worded online and hard-copy advertisements and recommendations regarding any other recruiting strategies you would suggest we use.) Id not believe CHAPTER 6 HR IN ACTION CASE INCIDENT 2 Honesty Testing at Carter Cleaning Company cash. According to Jack Carter, "You would not bel Jennifer Carter and her father have what the latter describes the creativity employees use to get around the manage as an easy but hard job when it comes to screening job appli- ment controls we set up to cut down on employee theft cants. It is easy because for two important jobsthe people who actually do the pressing and those who do As one extreme example of this felonious creativity L the cleaning-spotting the applicants are easily screened tells the following story: "To cut down on the am with about 20 minutes of on-the-job testing. As with of money my employees were stea employees were stealing, I had a small typists, as Jennifer points out, Applicants either know sign painted and placed in front of all our cash regis how to press clothes fast enough or how to use cleaning ters. The sign said: YOUR ENTIRE ORDER FREE TE s and machines, or they don't, and we find out WE DON'T GIVE YOU A CASH REGISTER RECEIPT very quickly by just trying them out on the job." On the WHEN YOU PAY. CALL 552-0235. It was my intention other hand, applicant screening for the stores can also with this sign to force all our cash-handling employees with this sign to Top be frustratingly hard because of the nature of some of to place their receipts into the cash register where they the other qualities that Jennifer would like to screen for would be recorded for my accountants. After all, if all Iwo of the most critical problems facing her company the cash that comes in is recorded in the cash register, are employee turnover and employee honesty. Jennifer then we should have a much better handle on stealing er father sorely need to implement practices that in our stores, right? Well, one of our managers found will reduce the rate of employee turnover. If there is a a diabolical way around this. I came into the store one way to do this through employee testing and screening night and noticed that the cash register this particular techniques, Jennifer would like to know about it because manager was using just didn't look right, although the of the management time and money that are now being sign was dutifully placed in front of it. It turned out wasted by the never-ending need to recruit and hire new that every afternoon at about 5:00 P.M., when the other employees. Of even greater concern to Jennifer and her employees left, this character would pull his own cash father is the need to institute new practices to screen out register out of a box that he hid underneath our supplies. those employees who may be predisposed to steal from Customers coming in would notice the sign and of course the company. the fact that he was meticulous in ringing up every sale. Employee theft is an enormous problem for Carter But unknown to them and us, for about five months, the Cleaning Centers, and one that is not just limited to sales that came in for about an hour every day went into employees who handle the cash. For example, the his cash register, not mine. It took us that long to figure cleaner-spotter and/or the presser often open the store out where our cash for that store was going. themselves, without a manager present, to get the day's Jennifer would like you to answer the following work started, and it is not unusual to have one or more questions. of these people steal supplies or "run a route." Running a route means that an employee canvasses his or her Questions neighborhood to pick up people's clothes for cleaning 6-21. What would be the advantages and disadvan- and then secretly cleans and presses them in the Carter tages to Jennifer's company of routinely admin- store, using the company's supplies, gas, and power. It istering honesty tests to all its employees? would also not be unusual for an unsupervised person 6-22. Specifically, what other screening techniques (or his or her supervisor, for that matter) to accept a could the company use to screen out theft- 1-hour rush order for cleaning or laundering, quickly prone and turnover-prone employees, and how clean and press the item, and return it to the customer exactly could these be used? for payment without making out a proper ticket for the 6-23. How should Jennifer's company terminate item posting the sale. The money, of course, goes into the employees caught stealing, and what kind of worker's pocket instead of into the cash register. procedure should be set up for handling refer- The more serious problem concerns the store man- ence calls about these employees when they go ager and the counter workers who actually handle the to other companies looking for jobs? Experiential Exercise TL