The goal of this work is to present strategic advice to the management at Ellard Williams, Incorporated, which is a manufacturing company that has been struggling with its human resources recently. Specifically, the manufacturing firm was founded in 1987 and based in the New England area of the United States. Almost 11,300 employees work for Ellard Williams, generating sales more than $200 million annually over the past ten years while profits exceeded $15 million annually in seven of those years. The recent three years, however, a series of organizational mistakes, blunders, and mismanagement has affected the profitability of Ellard Williams. A recently completed strategic analysis indicates growth will slow, profits will fall, employee turnover will remain at higher than appropriate levels, and employee compensation will lag further behind the industry average. Hiring prospective employees to fill vacant positions has been especially challenging for Ellard Williams over the past three years. The number of applicants has decreased more than 20 percent, the length of time to fill a position has risen from an average of five weeks to almost 11 weeks, and 40 percent of applicants selected did not pass the six-month probationary period, double the number of two years ago. Management is concerned that human resources have not adapted over the past years to the recruiting challenges that exist in organizations.
The contemporary labor market is competitive, and the levels of competition appear to be rising with time. This scenario means that companies must strategize better on their acquisition and retention of skilled laborers. The case is even worse in terms of talent obtainment since the modern managers are preferring more talent to professional training (Rynes, 2009). The scenario also makes competition more intense for managers since the job candidates have a variety of choices. Among the factors that motivate them to choose some employers over others is the assurance that they get from them concerning their career development (Rynes, 2009). In fact, all job seekers will be attracted to employers that promise them an elevation in their career both in earnings and in management. Therefore, issues such as struggling financial progress, managerial wrangles with labor unions and others might scare potential candidates from a specific firm and take them to others. Another factor is that of the reward system that the companies provide to their potential employees. The rewards range from salaries to other fringe benefits that organizations offer their employees (Chambers et al., 2009).
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The case study of Ellard Williams indicates that the management could be scaring away potential employees with their exceptionally too long probation period that the workers have to go thru before they are conformed as permanent employees of the institution. In this case, the potential employees will always seek to work in those companies that have shorter probation periods than Ellard Williams. Even while there could be other factors, the last one for the purpose of this work concerns managerial competencies. It is only natural that employees will always want to work in environments that have effective management of the human resources (Chambers et al., 2009). For such a reason, the case of Ellard Williams compromises the image of the company to the public concerning employee welfare.
The case study of Ellard Williams Inc. suggests that the company made three critical mistakes in relation to its process of hiring talented staff. First, the management failed to recruit strategically. Strategic recruitment means that that the managerial focus does not base on not only the immediate position that should be addressed but also on related positions (Yakubovich & Lup,, 2006). This approach to recruitment means that the company’s performance is not always jeopardized in the event that some of the management leaves the institution for better opportunities. In such cases, the company only replaces those who leave with others from within the institution. It is also notable that the company has been abusing the variable pay factor through its noticeably long probation pay period. As much as the case study does not indicate the salary incentive that it offers the applicants, it does indicate that the workers risk working six months before they are confirmed as full-time workers entitled to a full salary. This element suggests that the company and its management has been ignorant of the variable pay factor, which is one of the fringe benefits that motivates the workers to want to work for specific organizations (Yakubovich & Lup,, 2006). Specifically, the employees might feel that six months of unaccounted work would be too extravagant for their efforts to afford. Lastly, the organization has not embarked on a serious talent search. The case study does not indicate any efforts that the firm has undertaken to attract talented staff. Instead, the management at Ellard Williams has only been waiting for the desired candidates to show up for interviews, which is not ideal for a modern corporation (Yakubovich & Lup,, 2006).
Three of the most useful strategies that companies such as Ellard Williams can use in the recruitment of talented staff are summarized into an inclusive approach. An inclusive approach means all approaches that do not place the management in the sole position of searching for staff. Therefore, the first approach should be the creation of a thriving culture in which the employees thrive while seeking to produce their best for the corporation (Chambers et al., 2012). Specifically, the company faces issues of employee motivation, which is why there is a need to strategize their motivation and commitment to work before focusing other issues. This way, the organization will improve its reputation to the public as one of the best in terms of employee management. The second approach should be the development of a magnet tribe, which emphasizes the fact that talented people are drawn to institutions because of the type of people that exist. Such people have the capacity to attract their network, which transforms the attitude of clients and the public to the institution as a place that everyone should work for (Chambers et al., 2012). Lastly, Ellard Williams should transform its existing workers into raving fans, which will be an approach at using them to recruit some of the best talents available within the labor market.
Talent recruitment has a close connection with creativity, which is why the company should focus on this trait in the candidates. The most qualified candidates should also exhibit the goal-orientation, teamwork, flexibility, dependability, and integrity characteristics. The company should also focus effective communication because of the role that it plays in both management and performance of employees (Rynes, 2009). Additionally, the most qualified recruit should be one who shows the right attitude to the nature of work that they will be tasked with doing following a successful completion of the scheduled interview.
References
Chambers, E. G., Foulon, M., Handfield-Jones, H., Hankin, S. M., & Michaels, E. G. (2012). The war for talent. McKinsey Quarterly , 44-57.
Rynes, S. L. (2009). Recruitment, job choice, and post-hire consequences: A call for new research directions. CAHRS Working Paper Series , 398.
Yakubovich, V., & Lup, D. (2006). Stages of the recruitment process and the referrer’s performance effect. Organization science , 17 (6), 710-723.
