Reference no: EM133330249

Jessie and Ashton managed to weather the storm around their expansion plans and are now in several different locations. It is 5 years later, and they are thrilled to have hired Deepak Sawant, an HR person, about 2 years ago to help them with future business and employee needs.

As the business has grown, so have certain employee issues. For example, they've had to ensure that all employees understand appropriate behaviours toward customers even when customers are rude or aggressive. Jessie suggests that surveillance cameras be installed in all stores to ensure the safety of employees as well as to be able to observe how some managers treat staff. Ashton isn't sure this is a good idea and suggests that a code of conduct be initiated along with a discipline process. He feels a softer approach would work better and not be as intrusive as cameras. Both Ashton and Jessie feel staff need to be informed as to what is occurring and why.

With the assistance of Deepak, Ashton develops a discipline process that includes an informal meeting with the employee to discuss the issue and a time frame for improvement; a 2nd, more formal meeting to explain that the employee's behaviour must change or more serious discipline will be considered; and a final meeting with the employee where the employee is asked to make a decision to resign or else be terminated. The code of conduct and discipline process are communicated to all employees, including at workshops, to help them understand what it means in practice. Since the implementation of the code of conduct and discipline process, they've had a few occurrences when an employee at 1 location was rude to customers and had to be disciplined. The store manager isn't confident that the employee's behaviour will improve.

Consideration for a New Store

Even with the concerns about how to handle certain employee issues, Jessie and Ashton are considering opening a store in a very exclusive part of the city that is not close to any of the existing stores. The other locations are still in shopping malls, and this would be a departure from the current business model. They realize that the actual working location and store environment might be much nicer and more attractive than the mall locations. This has them concerned about how to staff the new location: should they offer everyone an opportunity to express interest and then select the best people, or should they just pick the individuals they feel have the best skills for the new location, without allowing all staff to be considered?

At the same time that Jessie and Ashton are thinking about opening another store, they've received information that some employees at 1 of the stores are unhappy about how they are treated by their manager and have been speaking with a union representative. This situation, along with the employee discipline, has them concerned about opening another store and what might happen if their staff become unionized.

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