Management: Arup Packaging Limited
Table of Contents
Introduction
The case discusses Arup Packaging Limited situated in Australia that plans to expand its market into Europe. It deals with packaging solutions made of plastic, paper, aluminum, and glass. Even though the organization is used to delivering massive packaging solutions with similar designs to large companies in Austria, the European market includes small organizations which require varied product designs. The human resource issues relevant to the case are recruitment and selection of the manager who will head the European market branch and employees with varied set of skills, especially those specialize in two product lines, namely plastic and paper. Another issue is training new employees and remunerating them. To address the issues, Arup needs to reach applicants aged 18-24 through advertising its job position in local dailies, social media as well as using employee referrals. It should utilize selection criteria based on employees’ ability to work in teams, health status, and level of attention to detail, which can be measurable owing to such selection methods as demonstrations and group exercises, health reports, and recommendation letters respectively. Additionally, to attract applicants to the position, Arup should offer on-job-training, health insurance, skill-based pay as benefits and incentives.
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Recruitment Practices
Arup can reach applicants aged 18-24 by advertising the job position in local dailies, social media, and through career departments in local universities as well as colleges, referrals from employees, training applicants, remunerating them fairly and offering bonuses and incentives, and encouraging teamwork. Since the employees in the company are over 30 years of age, they are parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends to the youths in the region. Considering that referrals are important in attracting hard-to-reach applicants (Tomčíková 2013), the employees have the ability to convince them to join the company. Young people are normally willing to join friends who participate in the activities they are invited to do as there is a sense of belonging (Ekwoaba, Ikeije, & Ufoma 2015). Nonetheless, to depart from its traditional age limit of above 30 years, the company should inform the employees regarding the new age requirements so that they can inform people aged 18-24 about the amendments. Moreover, Arup should also indicate the new age requirements in all its advertisements. Social media and institutions of higher learning are important channels of reaching the youth for employment as many youths study in colleges and use various social media platforms (Kumari 2012). The given age group also likes teamwork due to socialization but has low skill levels or experience. Thus, training is an indispensable instrument in drawing young people’s attention to the vacancies. Additionally, they may be committed to an organization for long if they receive a respectable payment for the work they do. The organization should thus pay them slightly above the recommended base pay.
Simultaneously, the company can attract potential female applicants through making the job advertisements women-friendly, spreading them in places where women spend much time. For instance, most likely they include women organizations, female-oriented websites, and career fairs at institutions where women tend to study. The company should also indicate in the advertisements that women are encouraged to apply. Obviously, custom-made advertisements are advisable to use as they focus on bringing the right group on board (Mamoon 2013). To make the vacancy more appealing for women, the policy regarding maternity leave should include prenatal and post- natal periods as well as family planning services. Encouraging women to take leadership positions in the company will motivate many potential female applicants to apply and obtain employment in the company as they want to realize their full potential and benefit from a package of perks and bonuses.
Selection Criteria
The selection criteria the company should use to decide on applicants for Factory Worker – European Packaging position should aim at choosing employees internally and externally. Furthermore, its final decision should be based on the following selection criteria: health, ability to work in teams, and attention to detail. Regarding the internal selection practices, since the company has employees specialized in only one line of packaging, the selection criteria should identify the employees’ level of skills along with their ability to work in teams and health status. Accordingly, selecting employees based on their level of skills will enable the company to have a workforce with high qualification in one line of specialization, i.e. paper or plastic. As a result, it will save the managers’ time and the company’s resources, which it would have used to train employees in both skills (Ekwoaba, Ikeije, & Ufoma 2015). The ability of employees to work in teams will enable the company to implement high performance work systems. According to Boxall (2012), high performance work systems are a set of practices that aim at empowering employees to become highly involved in organizational processes and tasks as well as be responsible for their work. It entails identifying the issues that require a solution in the company, recruiting employees with the skills that can enable effective completion of the tasks, urging the staff to work in teams, and evaluating the performance of employees while paying them adequately to make them continue working for the company.
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Similarly, since the requirements of employees to hold the Factory Worker – European Packaging position include satisfactory state of health, attention to detail, and ability to work in teams, the company should consider applicants’ health status, ability to work in teams, and ability to be attentive to detail to select employees externally. Therefore, it is essential to request the applicants to provide a health report containing their health history and current health problems from certified medical professionals. The qualifications that the company indicates should also aim at demonstrating the applicants’ history of team working, which one can verify through recommendation letters, referees, and calls from the previous organizations the applicants worked for. Consequently, such actions enable cross checking and ensure that solely suitable employees are on the short list for the position (Chungyalpa & Karishma 2016). Lastly, the applicants’ ability to be attentive to detail guarantees that they pay sufficient attention to specific processes and procedures while executing a task, thereby enhancing quality of products.
Selection Method
The organization should utilize group exercises, health reports, and recommendations from supervisors as selection methods to assess applicants’ health status, attention to detail, and ability to work in teams. To select employees internally, group exercises are the most suitable technique for evaluatitg the ability of employees to work in teams (Kipchumba & Yano, 2014). Specifically, the company should put the applicants in groups, provide them with tasks, and monitor the participants to establish who performs better than others and eventually choose them for the position. Also, an HR specialist usually assesses employees’ ability to be attentive to detail and work in teams through recommendations from line managers (Kipchumba & Yano 2014). Since supervisors directly work with employees in the departments and may be involved in appraising performance of employees, the company should use their recommendations when deciding on a candidate for the positions. Thus, such selecting methods as group exercises, health reports, and recommendations are effective when evaluating applicants for the abovementioned job position as they consume little time, are less costly, and can help hire a substantial number of employees internally.
To select employees externally, demonstration, health reports, letters of reference, and conversations with previous employers are applicable as selection methods for appraising the ability to work in teams, state of health, and attention to detail respectively. Speaking of the first method, the company should ask the applicants to demonstrate in writing a scenario and attach it to their application letters. The scenario is usually about modelling a situation. For instance, an applicant has to imagine that they face a performance flaw within the company and should successfully eliminate it in teams (Opayemi & Oyesola 2013). Accordingly, such method will enable the company to identify those who have shown team-working skills. Health reports from reputable and certified physicians in the region help determine healthy applicants who will be able to effectively cope with the stress and pressure associated with the new job post. The company should also verify the applicants’ ability to be attentive to detail on the basis of references and feedbacks of previous employers. In this regard, the company should ask the applicants to let their referees or previous employees write letters regarding their ability to be attentive to details and send them to the company. The letters are likely to assist in evaluating the applicants’ level of attention since such record comes from people who worked with the candidates in question and know their strengths and weaknesses.
Incentives and Benefits
One of incentives that the company could introduce to employees to attract them to the position is on-the-job training and development. The most appealing benefits include health insurance and payment based on skills. New employees may normally lack the required skills and knowledge to successfully perform their work, thereby feeling insecure about applying for the jobs. In addition, considering the high skill and knowledge levels necessary for employees to take the position, it is prudent to promise newcomers that they can receive on-the-job training to improve their skills and qualification. Another motivating fact is that the organization continuously train and develop its employees so that they can ascend the professional hierarchy (Elnaga & Imran 2013). Subsequently, the training and development could enable the organization to invite workers with wider skill set, facilitating their success in the Factory Worker European Packaging position. Training and development could help the company address the weaknesses in employees’ skills. Moreover, additional courses can elevate employees’ skills to a level that would enable them to effectively deal with the expected rapid changes in design of packaging products (Elnaga & Imran 2013). Hence, employees can improve their performance as they are knowledgeable about the safety standards and processes of the organization, which makes it easier to invent innovative measures that would help tackle clients’ issues.
The organization could also provide employees with health benefits and pay them according to their performance records and skill levels, which can definitely attract potential applicants. In today’s world, health has been a determining factor of production. Healthy people are able to work without delays even in stressful environment. In addition, current treatment costs are very high (Loewenstein et al. 2013). Considering that one of the requirements for the position is satisfactory health condition, the company should introduce health insurance benefits to maintain employees’ and their families’ health. Additionally, paying employees based on their skill levels and performance records could encourage them to apply for the job in the company, improve their skills, and earn more. Again, through the training and development programs, especially on-the-job training, that the company is recommended to offer employees are able to enhance their skills and subsequently boost company’s productivity.
Conclusion
Reaching a large number of applicants to fill the required 150 positions demands the use of local dailies, social media, and employees’ referrals. The company can use selection criteria that take employees’ health status, ability to work in teams, and attention to detail into consideration. The selection methods that aim to measure the selection criteria include demonstrations, group exercises, health reports, and recommendation letters. Furthermore, Arup could attract the applicants to the company by offering incentives and benefits, including employee training and development programs, health insurance, and skill-based pay.