Reference no: EM133330754

Assignment:

You are the Director of Human Resources at Gateway Construction in Langford, B.C. The past 18 months have been very challenging, first with delays to building construction due to COVID-19 outbreaks among the construction crew, and then due to atmospheric rivers, which are heavy rains that have caused flooding on Vancouver Island. Last year, issues related to flooding prompted closures to the Malahat Highway, which is the main corridor between Greater Victoria and the rest of Vancouver Island. Approximately 40 percent of the employees at Gateway Construction live north of Victoria, in the Cowichan Valley, and rely on the Malahat Highway to get to work.

Last fall, when the Malahat was closed for 2 days due to flooding, not enough employees could get into work to meet WorkSafeBC safety regulations, so the company had to stop construction of an 8-storey business tower for that time. That cost the company $90,000 in lost productivity and wages, and angered the client because construction was already behind schedule. Given how common these climate-change-related weather systems are becoming, senior management met and decided that employees are responsible for getting themselves to work and need to make that a priority, otherwise the company won't be profitable and could be forced to close.

As the Director of Human Resources, you have made arrangements with the Langford Best Western hotel to provide a special rate of 50% off per night to Gateway Construction employees, and they will be eligible for a free breakfast in the morning. This could be an option for staff who decide to stay in town instead of going home during periods of bad weather (atmospheric rivers or heavy snowfall) and taking a chance that they won't be able to get into work along the Malahat Highway.

You need to inform staff of this option and that sick pay is not available to employees who miss work due to traffic issues. Also, if the company cannot operate due to too few staff coming into work, no employees will be paid for the day if they aren't working. Furthermore, any losses in productivity will be factored into the employees' end-of-year bonus, the same as any other loss incurred by the company. It is important that you are very persuasive with this message because a lot of people rely on Gateway Construction for employment and to support their families on their wages. However, you can anticipate that many of the 36 employees who live outside of Greater Victoria will be annoyed or possibly upset by the company's position, and may resist complying because they would rather go home to their families instead of paying to stay in a hotel during bad weather or when bad weather is in the immediate forecast. However, it is not feasible for the company to pay for employees to stay in hotels because they choose to live further outside of town.