The company provides the cake and ice cream and the birthday employees are given a company sponsored gift certificate for a dinner for two at a local restaurant. In addition to the birthday day each month we have a potluck each month. Many companies have annual potlucks or holiday parties only, but we believe more frequent affairs help to maintain the bond of friendship among the workers, thereby insuring a higher retention rate. Emplyees who are happy with co-workers and have friends on the job are less apt to seek other employment.

Each month, the first Friday of the month, each department has a department wide potluck. We allow a 90 minute lunch period instead of the usual 30 minutes and management rotates which departments they join each time. Employees bring dishes to the affair and the company provides the napkins, forks, plates and cups.

4. How does your organization access the level of employee satisfaction/dissatisfaction?

We have a unique system at this company for doing that. Of course we have the standard suggestion box, exit interviews, and other methods that help us determine how happy or unhappy the employees are, but we also have a system on the time clock. Each morning when they clock in the machines asks them to push a button that describes their mood. The choices are happy, angry, sad, unhappy, stressed. Each day when the employee clocks out the same question is asked.

We have a computer program that records the answers and periodically analyzes the data to see if there is a growing dissatisfaction in any area of the company. It has worked well for several years and we are actually being talked to by other companies about purchasing the right to use it for their workers.

The indicator as they come on duty helps us to know if things are happening at work causing the moods, or if they were angry before they began work.

Does your organization have any type of grievance procedure for non-unionized employees? If so, describe.

A described it in the last question. Okay, if they have a grievance they are asked to take it to their immediate supervise first. If that does not resolve it to their satisfaction they can come to my department. We have an open door policy and I will set up a mediation to resolve the situation.

5. What is the primary reason that employees leave your organization?

The number one reason that they leave is relocation. We have 30 manufacturing plants nationwide and many employees transfer to other parts of the nation to work. The second reason is to gain better retirement packages. Unfortunately at this point we do not have a very competitive retirement program. We are working on resolving that but we have lost several employees recently to companies that had stronger retirement programs.

6. What policies and practices do you...

We offer a sign on bonus for all departments, if they come to work with us and stay six months they get $1,000 bonus. After a year they get an additional $1,000 bonus. We also offer a $500 bonus at both of those benchmarks to the current employee who recommended the new employee. This helps insure that employee recommendations will be for good workers as they won't get the bonus if that person quits.
In addition to these programs we offer a relocation package which is highly unusual in the manufacturing industry. We pay the relocation costs back after the employee has been with us for three years. Most companies do not pay to relocate manufacturing workers, but we believe it will help us obtain the best employees and offer them an incentive to stay.

CONCLUSION

From this interview and the literature studied to write the paper, I have come to realize the importance of providing qualified human resource management to any organization. Their job is to insure the recruitment, retention, and satisfaction of the employees is maintained so that the turn over rate can be kept at a minimum and productivity at a maximum. Strong human resource management skills are essential to complete these tasks.

Human resource management is a changing and evolving field. Today, training in diversity, mediation and retention skills are no longer "extra" but part and parcel of the education any human resources manager receives. Globalization and a more transient workforce creates a need for managers to double their efforts to retain the good employees and trim the non-productive members of the group. This interview demonstrated some of the ideas that are currently being used to provide a solid employee base in one company, but many of the ideas and basis for the way this company does things can be extrapolated for use in other companies.

References

Ferris, Gerald, Galang, Carmen (1993) Diversity in the workplace: the human resources management challenges. Human Resource Planning

Harris, Joanne L. (2004) Creativity, communication help employee retention.(News)(human resource management tips) Hotel & Motel Management.

Leinfuss, Emily (1993) Employees empowered by direct access HRMS. (human resource management system) (includes directory of human resource management systems)

Software Magazine

Warech, Michael (2004) Evaluating the impact of human resources: identifying what matters.(Resources) Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly

Wheeler, Anthony R. (2005) Post-hire human resource management practices and person-organization fit: a study of blue-collar employees.

Journal of Managerial Issues