Woodcorp Corporation Case Study

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Woodcorp needs to address the anticipated loss of employees to come over the next three years and also the shortage of skilled workers. There are many ways in which we can do this.

- Advertising

- Job Fairs

- Unions – Job Boards

- College and University Campus Visits

- Recruitment Websites

- Contacts with professional and labor associations

- Government Agencies such as HR & Skills Development Canada – HRSDC

- Foreign workers

While some of the suggestions are low cost others are not as practical and would be expensive for the HR department to perform. The campus visits and job fairs throughout the province would require travel expenses and may not be cost effective. To bring in foreign workers from other countries would be extremely expensive but would be considered as a last resort.

With regards to the shortage of skilled artisans for our company, Woodcorp could approach the local carpenters college and develop a Co-op program in which students can come work with our company in return for tuition and experience. At the end of the program there will be a job available with above average starting wages and an extra weeks vacation for every year they commit staying with our company.

To attract high quality applicants, unconventional methods such as - a three dimensional virtual world – could be used. Millions of people around the globe participate through their avatars. Although a possible unrealistic approach it would appeal to the generation Y population.

Advance knowledge allows HR to be pro-active in our approach of hiring new workers, and addressing the shortage of skilled artisans. We need to generate a pool of applicants and identify job openings by learning what each job requires by reviewing job analysis info, particularly job descriptions, specifications and characteristics. By doing so we can then determine the future job incumbents.

Woodcorp has to determine how many employees will be needed and how much it will cost to find the right people who naturally fit with our mission that are self motivated and team players.

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Woodcorp has to immediately begin an aggressive campaign to select a new General Controller. As this employee is the CEO’s right hand ‘go to’ main person it’s imperative that we select the right individual for the job. No one in-house is qualified so we must advertise locally, nationally and perhaps internationally. There has to be a well-defined job description in place, listing the responsibilities, education, descriptive duties and commensurate package available. There will be a 2nd interview for this position. The interviews we should implement for this position will be structured, behavioral and situational.

For the replacement of the Manufacturing Director we can look at the five employees within the company that have expressed interest in this position. We can have these employees fill out a questionnaire that details their work experience along with education, competencies and qualifications. Then we can proceed with a structured interview. When we determine the successful employee we can then have that person job shadow the Manufacturing Director. For the unsuccessful job candidates they will be notified that they will be considered for future promotions.

The first step in the planning process is developing market research, mission statements and other documents that describe long-term intent. This strategic alignment must be behavioral driven and also look at styles, motivation, knowledge, skills and abilities.

In order to gain more insight, on board and exit interviews should be performed. We need to look at the traits of our top performers so HR has a better understanding of who may fit the roles of the General Controller and the Managing Director.

To forecast our future workforce needs we need to identify critical success factors and look for opportunities to increase operational efficiencies and reduce redundancies or counterproductive practices in the management process.

Woodcorp also has to advertise in the ways that have been described above in order to reach a broader base of job applicants. I feel advertising would be a very effective means as wells as job fairs and HRSDC.

We need to create job descriptions that clearly define the positions, duties, requirements, education, experience, knowledge and analytical thinking. The Delphi Technique would be excellent for singling out specific traits, talents and specifications. We need to develop a clear and objective understanding of behavioral tendencies. In a labor environment where there is a talent shortage, Woodcorp has to become proactive in retaining our workers long term and in doing so we need to look at the following:

- Need to increase our training

- Develop succession plans

- Hire retired employees

- Offer flexible working arrangements

- Develop an RRSP program

- Offer extra time for extra work

- Advertise local, nation wide or international

- Remain an equity employer

In order to encourage more applicants, Woodcorp has to look closely at re-designing our job specifications by enrichment. We can increase the pay scale and with that there will be additional responsibilities. Applicants must complete an application, take a job related written test and undergo an interview. We have to be careful that there is no systemic discrimination against applicants, especially those with foreign qualifications and those that are ‘over qualified’.

In the selection strategy there are short term and long-term influences. In the short term we look at the results of job analysis, HR plans, organizational policy constraints and the quality and number of recruits. For the long term we address training, career planning, performance evaluation, compensation and collective bargaining.

For middle management employees a personality test and an aptitude test can be implemented. For carpenters or office employee’s knowledge tests will measure a person’s information while a performance test measures ability to perform specific components of the job for which they have been hired.