Human Resources Management: Individual Assignment Case: Laying Off Workers Every manager, at some point in his or her career, is likely to be faced with the difficult task of laying off employees. Assume that you are the manager in the internal auditing department of a 4,500-member corporation. You have been notified by top management that you must permanently reduce your staff by two individuals. Below are some data about your five employees. Mary: age 32. Mary has been employed with your company for five years in the accounting department. Her evaluations over the past three years have been outstanding, above average, and outstanding. Mary has an Master of Business Administration (MBA) from a top-25 business school. She has been on short-term disability for the past few weeks because of the birth of her second child and is expected to return to work in 20 weeks. Peter: age 49. Peter has been with you for four months and has 11 years of experience in the company in payroll. He has an associate's degree in business accounting. He's also a Certified Public Account (CPA). Peter's evaluations over the past three past years in payroll have been average, but he did save the company US$150,000 on a suggestion he made regarding using electronic time sheets. Paul: age 31. Paul has been with the company almost four years. His evaluations over the past three years in your department have been outstanding. He is committed to getting the job done and devoting whatever it takes. He has also shown initiative by taking job assignments that no one else wanted, and he has recovered a number of overdue and uncollected accounts that you had simply though should be written off as a loss. Lisa: age 35. Lisa has been with your company seven years. Four years ago, Lisa was in automobile accident while traveling on business to a customer's location. As a result of the accident, she was disabled and is wheelchair-bound. Rumors have it that she is about to receive several million US dollars from the insurance company of the driver that hit her. Her performance during the past two years has been above average. She has a bachelor's degree in accounting and specializes in computer information systems. Bobby: age 43. Bobby just completed his double master's degree in taxation and law and recently passed the bar (legal) exam. He has been with your department for four years. His evaluations have been good to above average. Five years ago, Bobby won a lawsuit against your company for discriminating against him in a promotion to a supervisory position. Rumors have it that now, with his new degree, Bobby is actively looking for new jobs. Questions Given these five brief descriptions, which two employees should be laid oft? Discuss any other options that can be used to meet the requirement of downsizing by two employees without resorting to layoffs. Discuss what will you do to assist the two individuals who have been let go and to assist the remaining three employees. Suggested Format Introduction - Brief background of the report - Report objectives - Report significance - Report coverage (how you organize your report) Criteria of assessments - Identification of criteria (Education? Yearly experience? Loyalty? Age? Potential? Performance? Or else?) - Weigh the different criteria - JUSTIFICATION of the weighted criteria -SHOULD take the past performance appraisal records as important reference SYSTEMATIC assessments - Logically compare the different workers - Use TABLE - JUSTIFY your decision Should consult the legal advisers the decision may involve some sensitive and legal issues before implementation Any POSSIBLE options that can replace layoffs - Cost control measures? - Internal transfer? (must have consent with the other departments!) - Early retirement? - Incentives for resignation? Remedial actions for workers let go and remaining workers - Hire as Consultants? (No pay) - Title inflation for the remaining workers? (No pay increase) - Internship to reduce the workload? - Or else Report format - May make use of number system to organize the report - Should use section and subsection headings to make your report more organized - Language proficiency Questions Given these five brief descriptions, which two employees should be laid off? Discuss any other options that can be used to meet the requirement of downsizing by two employees without resorting to layoffs. Discuss what will you do to assist the two individuals who have been let go and to assist the remaining three employees. Suggested Format Introduction - Brief background of the report - Report objectives - Report significance - Report coverage (how you organize your report) Criteria of assessments - Identification of criteria (Education? Yearly experience? Loyalty? Age? Potential? Performance? Or else?) - Weigh the different criteria - JUSTIFICATION of the weighted criteria SHOULD take the past performance appraisal records as important reference SYSTEMATIC assessments - Logically compare the different workers - Use TABLE - JUSTIFY your decision - Should consult the legal advisers the decision may involve some sensitive and legal issues before implementation Any POSSIBLE options that can replace layoffs Cost control measures? - Internal transfer? (must have consent with the other departments!) -Early retirement? - Incentives for resignation? Remedial actions for workers let go and remaining workers - Hire as Consultants? (No pay) Title inflation for the remaining workers? (No pay increase) - Internship to reduce the workload? - Or else Report format - May make use of number system to organize the report - Should use section and subsection heading to make your report more organized - Language proficiency