Sara was sitting at her desk on just the second day of her new job. Her desk

Fantastic news! We've Found the answer you've been seeking!

Question:

Sara was sitting at her desk on just the second day of her new job. Her desk was relatively clear, with the exception of her computer, phone and a welcoming bouquet of flowers and balloons provided by her mother. On the corner of her desk were a few files that she had asked her part-time administrative assistant, Shirley Kemps, to provide for her review. Shirley was now reporting to her third supervisor since joining Blackfoot Farms five years ago. Shirley retired after working for 40 years at a bank in Blackfoot. She liked the ability to work a few hours a day, but the revolving door of HR managers has been difficult for her. Sara, consumed by her own thoughts, second-guessed her decision to join the family organization. She had a strong relationship with her parents, sister and brother, but always feared this relationship would be compromised if she joined the family business. In addition, she had left a truly enjoyable job that combined challenging work with world travel. What gave Sara the most anxiety, though, was the lack of progress made by the past HR managers. Several questions ran through her mind. How could this be? Why weren't they successful? Why did they leave so soon? Why was the culture resisting HR? Would she suffer the same fate as her predecessors?
Sara turned her attention to the task at hand. Her father, Mitch, was going to start introducing Sara this afternoon to employees in each area of the operation, a process that would take the next month. When spoke with her father about joining Blackfoot Farms weeks earlier, Sara asked him what he thought was the biggest challenge relating to the workforce. Mitch immediately said that the availability of labor to process milk and eggs was the biggest HR challenge. Blackfoot relied heavily on immigrant labor to staff its production facilities; approximately 35 percent of the overall workforce and 80 percent of the production departments were immigrants. During their conversation, Mitch said, "Farm labor is certainly not for everyone." She agreed saying, half-jokingly, "I know. If it was, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Sara had worked as a farmhand throughout high school and college. She knew everything about the long, difficult hours that often lead to conflict among employees in the production facilities. This tension could be definitely magnified between the immigrant and nonimmigrant workers because of communication barriers.
She knew based on her own experience that silos had been created over the years because employees communicated primarily with those of similar backgrounds. Although she witnessed this years ago, she had to find out for herself sooner rather than later if this was still the case. She had noticed when she reviewed the employee files that there was a clear distinction between the immigrant and domestic labor forces. Although documentation was missing from the files of domestic employees, they were much more complete than those of the immigrant workers. It did appear that all employees had completed I-9 forms (Employment Eligibility Verification Form) regardless of citizenship. But Sara noticed that there were few annual performance evaluations in employee files, and they were particularly absent in the immigrant worker files. If performance documentation was included in an immigrant worker's file, it was usually a disciplinary notice. One document that seemed to be consistent in most files was an acknowledgement that employees received and understood the contents of the employee handbook. Sara thought to herself, "Do non-English-speaking employees really understand what is in the employee handbook?" For that matter, with what she had seen so
far, she wondered if even the English-speaking employees understood the contents of the handbook.
One Month Later
In addition to being introduced to employees by her father during her first month at work, Sara knew it was important to spend time working with employees in each area of the organization. The operation had changed considerably since her college days, but for Sara, gaining employee trust was the primary reason she was investing time working in various operational areas. She also knew it was important to her father. Sara's activities ranged from working alongside employees in the milking parlor on the third shift to serving as a tour guide at the visitor center. The experiences gave Sara a chance to learn about Blackfoot employees, what motivated them and what interests they had outside of work.

She had also completed one of her first goals: to facilitate a series of focus group conversations among non-management and management employees. She had conducted separate sessions for non-management employees. She felt it was important to have non management immigrant employees in separate conversations. She asked Silvia Blair, HR coordinator, to be present at each of the focus group meetings. Sara felt she could identify a number of areas that needed to be addressed just from her own observations, but she wanted to hear directly from employees about their work experiences at Blackfoot. Given the large number of immigrant laborers, communication barriers emerged as a key theme in each focus group. Sara also hosted several focus group discussions for non-management employees, separating immigrant and nonimmigrant employees, to identify issues specific to each group, particularly as they pertained to communication. She chose this format as a way to continue building trust and to improve communication among employees.

Sara had minored in Spanish in college and had kept her Spanish-speaking skills sharp while working with clients during her consulting days, and her language skills benefitted the immigrant labor population in particular and Blackfoot Farms as a whole. She estimated that about 70 percent of Blackfoot Farms' immigrant workforce did not speak English. She hoped her Spanish-speaking background would help build trust among the Spanish-speaking employees. For the focus-group conversations with immigrant employees, she also hired an external consultant who was more fluent in Spanish and who had a background in conflict mediation. Sara wanted to have someone involved in the discussions who was not employed at Blackfoot Farms to create an additional sense of safety for employees who feared their feedback could result in repercussions.

Sara asked participants to complete a brief survey at the end of each focus group meeting; in the survey, employees were asked to identify what they felt were the biggest issues with the work environment. The consultant helped Spanish-speaking employees complete the survey if necessary. Sara was not surprised by what she learned in the process. Her only real surprise was that not much had changed for employees since she worked at the farm in college.

From an egg production supervisor: "I know a majority of immigrant workers don't speak English, but there are plenty who do. I ask them to translate for me, but it's not effective. I'm not getting what I ask for."
From a dairy production supervisor: "It's really difficult to attract people to work on a farm. It's not just the conditions but the 'around the clock' schedule that people don't want to commit to."
From the marketing coordinator: "Although we have grown considerably as an organization over the years, some of us need to realize we still work for the same company with the same set of goals. I swear some people come to work just wanting to be difficult."
From a maintenance supervisor in dairy production: "With our new technology, I feel like I am more of a trainer than a supervisor. I'm not focusing on the bigger picture, and I know this is affecting our operations."
From a visitor center supervisor: "I'm just amazed by the differences in the generations. I have been working here for 15 years, and I never had issues with work ethic before. Now, I feel like I am catering to the new generation. Don't even get me started about their cell phones."

Themes from Focus Group Discussions (Non Management: Immigrant)
From a shipping clerk: "My supervisor yells at me whenever things don't go well, even if it isn't my fault. He never has taken the time to get to know me as a person. I work hard, and I want my efforts to be acknowledged."
From a dairy production employee (translated): "I am at a disadvantage because I don't speak English. I feel lost because of all the changes made to the parlor. I don't know if I am doing a good job. They don't tell me.
From a custodian (translated): "I have been working at Blackfoot for 12 years. I love working here, but I have been cleaning all this time. I feel like I am capable of more. I just want an opportunity, but I'm afraid to talk with my supervisor. I need my job."

From an egg production facility worker (translated): "I feel like most of us [immigrant workers] are working the off-shifts because of who we are. American employees complain or quit if they don't work the first shift. I don't think it is fair."
From a truck driver: "I listen to talk radio while I'm driving. I hear so much about immigration reform. It's unsettling. I'm concerned that one day I will be without a job. My family depends on me."

Themes from Focus Group Discussions (Non Management: Nonimmigrant)
From a marketing representative: "I feel like I am doing the same thing every day. I enjoy managing our social media accounts, but I wish I was given more meaningful projects that are a better use of my skills."
From a dairy production employee: "The language differences are becoming more and more of a challenge. We are making all of these technology changes, but we aren't doing anything about employees who don't speak English."
From a visitor center representative: "I have a friend who works in a similar position at another company. She makes two dollars an hour more than me. She said there are openings where she works. We are going to lose workers if we aren't competitive with our pay."
From a finance employee: "It's my job to make sure employees follow all of our expense policies. When I question someone, they get very defensive. One person hung up on me, and her supervisor called my supervisor complaining about how I treated her. Why have a policy if we are allowed to act that way?"
From an information technology employee: "With more and more technology being implemented, we are required to support operations like never before. With a 24/7 operation, I'm on call more than I would prefer. There always seems to be something that needs troubleshooting. We should be requiring more support from our vendors."

Questions

1. describe three strategies Sara could implement within the next year to address the communication barriers and conflict that exist between immigrant and nonimmigrant employees at Blackfoot Farms.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of each strategy you recommended in the question above. Each of the three methods must produce measurable outcomes.
3. List six HR performance metrics specific to Blackfoot Farms that HR can develop and implement to illustrate the value of HR services to the organization. Be sure to defend your reasoning for the selected metrics.