Arthur Reed faces a situation that occurs around the summer months that he dreads but is not to pro-active about. As with most companies, the employees that Arthur supervises wish to use their vacation time to enjoy with their families. Arthur needs to find effective replacement help to fill in the holes created, but has limited resources to assist him. Arthur will need to find a solution to filling the holes left by those going on vacation, while not disrupting the flow of the warehouse.
Background
Arthur Reed, a warehouse supervisor for Blue Grocery Stores and employee of 20 years is once again up against a situation that has been trouble for him in the past. As the nice weather of summer months roll around, many senior staff wish to use the time the company offers and take a vacation. Where this becomes an issue for Arthur, is when the time comes to find temporary employees to fill the spots left by those on vacation. What makes this juggling act more difficult is the hours that are offered are inconsistent as they will be “on call”, the temporary employees are required to pay union dues and need costly work boots. To top it off, the position pays $6 per hour. Arthur has just a few months before the frustration is upon him and he needs a plan.
Key Issues First, Arthur’s would have less pressure against him if he would not wait until the last minute and pro-actively worked on a solution. Nothing will make a task seem more difficult than a condensed time frame, especially one that is self induced. Prior planning and solid organization will be his first area of attention. Blue Grocery Stores is not making this an easy task with a less than attractive offer for those fill in spots. The fact the wage is $6 per hour, they must pay the union dues, the hours are limited and inconsistent and they will need to purchase expensive work boots creates the bulk of why Arthur has had such trouble keeping reliable employees during this time. It’s understandable for the company to want to cover as much as possible for the least amount of money; but these stipulations make this a high turnover position that is tough to keep filled.
Alternative Solutions One possible solution to for Arthur would be to ask his union representation to create a structure for requesting time off, regardless of the time of year. One potential method of structuring requests for vacation time would be to allow those with seniority to have priority of when they would like to go, filling in the rest around them. Another would be to require a 30 day advance notice for the employees who were wishing to take time off. This would allow Arthur the ability to schedule in advance for “on call” employees, giving some stability to the position and ultimately making it easier to recruit and retain. Business survives because of good organization and the lack of organization in how vacations are scheduled is disrupting business. One other possible solution would be for Blue Grocery Stores to keep small quantity of used work boots set aside for the times when there are shifts that need to be filled in. The cost may seem high at first but the money that would be saved by circumventing the swinging door effect with that position will save much more in the long run. Blue Grocery Stores could also explore paying the union dues for those employees instead of providing boots, depending on the cost difference. One final possible solution would be to extend the opportunity to existing employees that are not scheduling time off during those months to work overtime. The cost of overtime is far less than the cost involved in recruiting, hiring, and training all new employees that have a strong chance of leaving for any one of the reason listed in the previous paragraphs. This also creates the opportunity for employees that are looking to take a lead and do more than is what is required of them. Not only would those employees be rewarded with additional pay, they would enjoy the great feeling that comes with helping out.
Solutions
Arthur Reed needs to be more pro-active with preparing for the summer months he is well aware will bring vacation requests. Any change that would be made by the company will be useless if he is not preparing this time. The fact that the company offers so little to a temporary employee and requires so much in return, says to me that the best solution for Arthur as well as the company, is to offer overtime and solicit employees to fill in the gaps that are being left by those going on vacation. This will not only save the company money in several areas, it will show that Arthur is taking the lead over the part of the company he has been left responsible for as well as giving the chance for his employees to make additional money.
Recommendations
Blue Grocery Stores is in need of defining their process on how employees will be allowed to request to use their vacation time, how far in advance they will need to put in such requests and replace the “on call” employee with incentives to existing employees that are interested in filling in those holes. Why waste the money chasing down people to fill a position that few will stick with, when you can reward those that already work for you.