Reference no: EM133013760

CASE STUDY

The COVID-19 pandemic has plunged individuals and businesses into panic mode in which businesses are forced into acquiring new software systems designed to monitor and evaluate both employees who work from home and those who continue to work in office.

You are the Human Resource (HR) Manager for a reputable telemarketing company in Jamaica with both full-time and part-time employees. After two months of instituting a work from home programme to facilitate social distancing, several members of staff who were not assigned to work from home reported flu-like symptoms. Also, a line manager told you that a member of his department who was assigned to work from home, Miss Jenifer Small, whose performance on the job was always acceptable, was not responding to customers' requests.

On her return to work on the assigned day, the line manager did not enquire about the problem but immediately gave Jenifer a letter of dismissal saying that she had gone contrary to the terms of her contract. Miss Small as well as other employees complain that they were not evaluated and were given no incentive or proper training regarding protocols to be followed. Jenifer has three children; two who attends online classes and a two-year-old.

Miss Small has submitted that she had numerous things to attend to which took priority such as boosting sales and lowering costs. Furthermore, she has never received periodic feedback from her line manager whether in terms of praise for a job well done or criticism if things did not go well which would allow her to improve. Jenifer believes that she was doing well by meeting the weekly sales target. She thinks that there are criteria such as quality, quantity, attendance and punctuality that should be evaluated from time to time even if a worker is paid at piece rate. She feels quite strongly that managers need to formally evaluate employees on standards such as efficiency, safety and adherence to budget.

Question

What advice would you give to the line manager?

Discuss the importance of human resource management to any organisation.