SECTION A [25 MARKS] Read the following and Answer the questions that follow: EKC Group has focused on staff wellbeing without breaking the bank. 24 Oct 2019. Ive been here for 10 years. I just love it so much, laughs Emily Johnson, assistant principal at Broad stairs College. With a varied career before her decade with the college, including a stint as a self-employed flooring contractor and several years looking after data for the likes of Halifax and Tesco, Johnson is no stranger to change. The organisation has changed almost beyond recognition during her tenure, having merged with several other institutions in the area the most recent only last year to become part of EKC Group. It now comprises five further education colleges in east Kent, as well as three business units covering commercial ventures, community education, apprenticeships and corporate learning. Were quite an entity in the south-east now, she says. Similarly, her colleague, Natalee Hill, deputy head of HR for the group, returned from maternity leave to her role as HR manager at Canterbury College in 2017 to find it had become part of EKC Group. But with the organisation constantly changing and more potential shake-ups in the pipeline as it continues to expand, looking after the workforce has proved a challenge for Johnson, Hill and their teams. Following a restructure last year, says Johnson, staff survey results werent fantastic and morale had hit a low point. If you hadnt been placed at risk of redundancy yourself, you knew someone who had, she says. Add that to a high sickness absence rate and work needed to be done to turn EKC Group into an employer of choice. The senior leadership team was committed to making this a really good place to work, and for people to go home and say, I love my job, says Johnson. But with more than 1,300 employees across the group, from lecturers and administrators to support and catering staff in the commercial areas, finding a solution was no mean feat. After researching best practice in improving staff wellbeing, including attending CIPD events and speaking to other local organisations about their approach, the team began to ask the workforce directly which, they say, has been the key to getting it right. Although policies and procedures had been standardised across the group following the mergers, doing the same to the organisations wellbeing strategy was far less simple. Sometimes, what you think people want and what they actually want are two different things, says Johnson. You might put in yoga classes to improve wellbeing, but they may not want yoga classes. Youve got to engage your staff to find out what will really work for them. Following feedback from employees, Broad stairs College collaborated with local sports facilities to offer a range of activities; trained a group of mental health first aiders; and is educating its line managers in the importance of spotting signs of mental ill-health. Its also encouraging the incorporation of more physical activity into day-to-day roles, including taking the stairs instead of the lift, and having one-to-ones while walking along the seafront rather than sitting in a meeting room. Its all physical activity, but its not necessarily boxercise or ballet, which people may not want to do, says Johnson. But, as Hill explains, improving wellbeing across the group has been as much about better promotion of existing initiatives as it has introducing new ones. Some of the benefits had been there for quite some time, but we werent promoting what we had on offer, she says. And added to the ever-stretched budgets the education sector is enduring, EKC Group is finding itself having to do more with less to improve mental and physical wellbeing. Funding is definitely a challenge, and we provide things within the confines of what were able to, says Johnson. But its not necessarily the things you can throw money at that make the difference. Work has also been ongoing to move away from the organisations always on culture, which Johnson says has been detrimental to employees mental wellbeing and that means the senior leadership team leading by example in not expecting staff to answer emails after 5pm, or at the weekend. In this day and age, technology is everywhere, and everyones jobs are so busy, its almost like the working day never ends, she says. Its been a really hard change for some people. Its up to them if they want to send emails at 8pm, but they shouldnt expect a reply we all have lives outside work. Despite only being a focus of Johnson and Hills for the last year, the impact of the organisations renewed effort to improve employee wellbeing is already being felt. At Broad stairs College alone, the number of staff who say they feel valued has increased 12 per cent, and across the entire group, the number of employees who agree their manager is considerate of their workload has increased from 50 per cent to 68 per cent, while those who say they are proud to work at EKC Group have shot up from 57 to 79 per cent. But theyre not stopping there. The more people we speak to, the more ideas we get, says Johnson. Plans are afoot to trial other initiatives including working a nine-day fortnight, a step challenge and a technology-free day. Different initiatives work better in different areas of the business, she adds. Our wellbeing policy isnt set in stone its always evolving. But all this effort isnt just in aid of getting better survey results, says Johnson. As well as the benefit of happier students coming from happier staff, she highlights that looking after the workforce is just the right thing to do. Its not all about the numbers we have a moral obligation to our peoples wellbeing. Theyre like our family, and we want to see them happy at work. a) Discuss any 4 benefits of merging. (16 marks) b) As a result of feedback collected from employees, outline any 4 changes that were implemented. (9 marks) SECTION B [25 MARKS] Read the following and Answer the questions that follow: What Employers Want: How to Bridge the Gap Between Employer/Expectations By Mariel Cariker, 2018 Technological disruption is keeping both the workforce and the world of education on their toes. Both sectors must constantly adapt to keep up with skills demand. But why is there such a gap between the skills taught in school and the skills needed in the workplace? And what can be done to fix it? According to Joseph Fuller, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, companies should open their minds to applicants who are obtaining skills outside of fouryear degree programs. One thing that I found in my research is that companies are increasingly raising the bar in terms of the academic requirements they apply to applicants for jobs, as a way to try to ensure that they get a higher-skilled labor force, he says. But in doing that, what theyre doing is going after the most sought-after part of the educated workforce. After all, Joseph says, Only one-third of Americans have a four-year degree. Joseph notes that when you require a fouryear-degree at jobs that traditionally didnt need one, youre pushing the hiring market into more expensive and competitive territory. What we need is employers to have more solutions where they can draw on non-degree holders to fill important growing jobs, he says. As the workforce changes, the traditional image of education changes as well. According to Collin Gutman, head of skilled trades at Penn Foster, both employees and employers should be considering alternative learning methods like apprenticeships, when it comes to skill development. Certainly, there are some people who do better by getting a four-year degree. But there are some people who can have a better life than their parents simply by getting a two-year degree, some career training, an apprenticeship etc. And just kind of being on that path from an earlier age. Liberty Mutual utilizes an immersive training method to upskill employees, including coding schools or online programs like Woz U. According to Cathy Scerbo, GM and VP of Technology Services at Liberty Mutual, immersive training programs allow employees to have a good worklife balance, while also helping the company to stay technologically current and competitive. What we need are certainly technical skills. But we need learners. We need people who are curious. We need people who are seeking to understand problem solvers, she says. People who can really dig in and figure out how to maybe incorporate some new tool that wasnt on the market three months ago into our portfolio. While there are plenty of companies looking for employees, there arent nearly enough skilled workers to fill that demand. Collin Gutman says that for those who cant take time off work to upskill, alternative learning routes on the job can benefit both the employee and the employer in the long term. So thats whats really powerful about an apprenticeship, is youre talking about someone whos working 2,000 hours a year, getting paid for those 2,000 hours a year. But at the same time, theyre kind of improving their skill-set, both on the job and on their own time in a kind of learning environment. So, the employers getting in-demand talent. And the employee is getting paid today, while building their wages for the future. Investing in employees can keep a company competitive, and help employees feel fulfilled and happy. Cathy Scerbo notes providing support to employees to help them upskill and obtain new interests helps both the company and the employee in the long run. When folks go through these immersive programs and they come back, they go into a new role. They go into a role where theyre actively coding and theyre working with a team and a mentor thats helping them move that forward, she says. According to Cathy, a lot of Liberty Mutual employees are grateful to have the opportunity to stay at the company and learn a new skill theyre excited about. Thats forward thinking, she says. So, what skills should employees focus on gaining? Joseph Fuller cites research at Harvard, which shows more jobs than ever involve a lot of social interaction. Those social skills are crucial in todays workforce. Its the ability to deal with someone youve met for the first time effectively, its the ability to articulate an argument or negotiate with someone, not negotiate like a contract, but if a customer comes in with a complaint, how do you deal with it? How do you interact with them? he asks. Its the ability to participate in teams with people youre not familiar withcould be colleagues, could be a supplier, could be a customerand be effective. Its not just one persons job to focus on upskilling to fill the skills gap. Collin Gutman says industries and educators need to work together, or the gap will continue to widen. In order to make these positions work, you really need to combine industry and education, because education cant produce a welder on its own. But industry really struggles to produce a welder, because they only know the hands-on aspect. For them to develop curriculum is very far outside their wheelhouse. Its so important to have the employer, the supervisor, and the educator all kind of working hand-in-hand. Although many students do internships or workforce preparedness classes while getting a degree, many companies still dont think students are ready right away. At Liberty Mutual, entry-level hires train for a year before starting their positions, while other new hires do not. Cathy Scerbo says this gap created between universities and companies needs to be bridged. I think we need to start with educating each other at the universities perspective and the corporations perspective just for us to know each other. Why do the universities feel that theyre ready, and why do we feel that theyre not ready? What are we doing in that first year that maybe we could partner with as theyre still in school, whether in their junior year or senior year? And frankly, a summer internship is not enough. So how can universities and companies work to lessen the skills gap? Joseph Fuller notes that its important for both the workforce and the education system to embrace technology and use it to their benefit, as opposed to fighting against the changes. What we have to do is think about a workforce that can benefit from robotics, thats made more productive through automation robotics, which will allow people more capacity to make money. But it is going to require them to master some new skills, he says. And we have to be clear-eyed that our K through 12 systemand most of our high schools and community collegesreally arent well set up to do that now. We need more dynamism and more market responsiveness in the education system. And we need many more opportunities for people to have work-based learning experiences where theyre interacting with that technology in their educational process. One thing is clear, both employers and higher education institutions have to adjust their tactics to keep up with a changing workforce. Although adaptation might be slow going, its crucial so employees and companies can keep up with demand and help narrow the skills gap. a) Technological disruption is keeping both the workforce and the world of education on their toes. Explain this statement. (5 marks) b) For employees to be competitive in the market, they need to acquire relevant skills to their work. Discuss any 5 training methods you know. (10 marks) c) Evaluate why social skills are important in todays work force? (10 marks) SECTION C [25 MARKS] Read the following and Answer the questions that follow: Leadership Faces global Challenge By Tom Loftus Good morning. Amazon.com Inc. may have dropped plans to build a campus in New York, but many tech industry leaders say the city is on track to become a go-to innovation source for businesses world-wide in the next few years. KPMG LLP says more than half of tech executives recently surveyed maintain that Silicon Valley will cease to dominate global tech innovation within the next four years. New York, Boston, Beijing, London and other cities are poised to continue their development as tech powerhouses, CIO Journal's Angus Loten reports. The rapid adoption of digital technology makes it easier to locate tech workers in a wider range of locations, corporate IT leaders say. Geography is less important in an always-on, constantly connected world, Jack Clare, chief information and strategy officer at Canton, Mass.based Dunkin Brands Group Inc., told CIO Journal. For most digital and technology roles, our teams could be based on the moon and be just as effective. Talent evenly distributed. The debate around which city has better technical chops than the others are no longer relevant. Theyre all rich with talent, said Vince Campisi, chief digital officer at United Technologies Corp. Based in Farmington, Conn., UTC two years ago launched a 67,000square-foot digital accelerator in Brooklyn. There, employees were asked to scale its digital and data analytics capabilities. That included developing predictive maintenance applications for jet engines and more. a) Discuss why innovation is necessary in companys success? (15 marks) b) Illustrate 5 challenges that technology can bring in organisations? (10 marks)?