Reference no: EM133309428

The New Training Program

Currently, Carter Cleaning Centres have no formal orientation or training policies or procedures in place. Jennifer believes this is one reason why the standards to which she and her father would like employees to adhere are generally not followed. The Carters would prefer that certain practices and procedures be used in dealing with the customers at the front counters. For example, all customers should be greeted with what Jack refers to as a "big hello." Garments they drop off should immediately be inspected for any damage or unusual stains so these can be brought to the customer's attention before they leave their items to be processed. This would certainly reduce the number of customers who may then later blame us for those stains when they discover them upon pick up. The garments are then supposed to be sorted into nylon sacks to separate the garments in each order and prevent any mix-up of items with another customer's order. The ticket also has to be carefully written, with the customer's name, telephone number, and the date clearly noted on all copies.

The counter person is also supposed to take the opportunity to try to sell the customer additional services such as waterproofing, or simply notify the customer that "Now that people are doing their spring cleaning, we're having a special on drapery cleaning all this month." Finally, as the customer leaves, the counter person is supposed to make a courteous comment like "Have a nice day." Each of the other jobs in the stores-pressing, cleaning, spotting, and so forth-similarly contain certain steps, procedures, and, most importantly, standards the Carters would prefer to see upheld.

The company has had problems, Jennifer feels, because of a lack of adequate employee training and orientation. For example, two new employees became very upset last month when they discovered that they were not paid at the end of the week, on Friday, but instead were paid (as are all Carter employees) on the following Tuesday.

The Carters use the extra 2 days, in part, to give them time to obtain everyone's hours and compute their pay. The other reason they do it, according to Jack, is that "frankly when we stay a few days behind in paying employees it helps to ensure that they at least give us a few days' notice before quitting on us. While we are certainly obligated to pay them anything they earn, we find that psychologically they seem to be less likely to just walk out on us Friday evening and not show up Monday morning if they still haven't gotten their pay from the previous week. This way they at least give us a few days' notice so we can find a replacement."

There are other matters that could be covered during orientation and training, says Jennifer. These include company policy regarding paid holidays, lateness and absences, benefits (there are none, other than the legally mandated benefits), substance abuse, eating or smoking on the job (both forbidden), and general matters like the maintenance of a clean and safe work area, personal appearance and cleanliness, timesheets, personal telephone calls, and personal e-mail. Jennifer believes that implementing orientation and training programs would help to ensure that employees know how to do their jobs the right way. And she and her father further believe that it is only when employees understand the correct procedures and standards expected by management that there is any hope their jobs will be accomplished the way the Carters want them to be accomplished.

The Career Planning Program

Career planning has always been a pretty low-priority item for Carter Cleaning, since "just getting workers to come to work and then keeping them honest is a high enough order," as Jack likes to say. Yet Jennifer believes it would be constructive to give some consideration to what a career planning program might look like for their organization. Despite the high turnover rates for some jobs, there are still some of their employees which have been loyal, hard-working employees for many years, and she frankly felt a little bad for them: "Perhaps we could help them gain a better perspective on what they want to do," she thought. And she definitely believed that career support would have an effect on improving Carter's overall employee retention rates.

On a group basis, please research, analyze, and discuss the following:

1. Specifically, what should the Carters cover in their new employee orientation program, and how should they convey this information?

2. In the HR management course, Jennifer took, her instructor discussed the use of a job instruction sheet to identify tasks performed by an employee. Should Carter Cleaning Centres use a form like this for the counter person's job? If so, what should the form look like?