Introduction
On February 6, 2009 it was announced that our facility would be closing on December 31, 2009. Production would no longer continue past this given date and plans were announced to decrease headcount to less than half of the current number the facility employed. No one in the meeting that morning could have ever imagined the proceedings to occurred in the manner they did, as they started for work on that day. The event, which occurred that morning, created the biggest conflict and negotiation opportunities I would ever encounter. Ethically this situation seemed very unethical to me and decisions had to be made that would impact me as an employee and my role as a single Father, but this was a business decision and clearly this business decision was about the bottom line.
Aftermath
The meeting ended with several representatives from the corporate Human Resources entering the training room and announcing the reduction in headcount would begin today. The process was cold, but effective in doing exactly what had to be done and by mid-day 37 people had lost their jobs. These people were escorted from the building promptly. The employees as being escorted out were given follow-up appointments slips to discuss their options regarding unemployment benefits, severance pay, job assistance programs, and exit interviews. The facility was an emotional time bomb waiting to implode and for the employees left we learned our fate included a total shift overhaul, which only added more powder to the keg.
As supervisors we were assigned different personnel to our shift and informed that we were going to be working different shift hours. What had been a 24/7 operation, was now going to be a 24/5 operation. I was infor...
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...onths of 2009. Finally, I did received my retention, not the whole 30,000 dollars, but 5,000 less, which was paid in two installments in January of this year and I was offered a position at a sister company, which allowed me to keep my current status.
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An ethical decision that I was faced with within my professional career was about a month ago. I’m a dental assistant so I work with people every day and I have to deal with people and their personal bias. I had a patient that was underage and she come into the operatory by herself. I asked the patient did she have a guardian with her and she said “yes”, and she started to inform me that her grandfather didn’t like African American people. At that point I was faced with an ethical dilemma to not inform her grandfather about the treatment or to faced her grandfather, that I knew didn’t care for African American people. The problem was very difficult because I didn’t know how her grandfather was going to react toward me as a professional person.
Today, many health care organizations have been forced to reduce their workforce due to the downturn of the economy. Marshall and Broas (2009) state that whenever health care organizations conduct a reduction in force (RIF); there is the potential for legal risk. However, with proper planning and implementing, employers can minimize the risk of litigation (Marshall & Broas, 2009; Segal, 2001). Hence, before carrying out a 10% reduction in workforce, there are a number of steps that need to be taken to ensure it is successful.
I am a shift leader for Walgreens Inc. I work at one of the financially worst stores in the district. The possibility of the store being close is even greater because the store cannot meet sale goals. Naturally, the heaviest burden is places on the team members. For example, team members losing hours, causing team members to lose sales, more responsibility placed on team members, and less chances for team members to recharge and relax. Eventually, these changes in the workplace dynamic could cause severe reductions in team members’ morale, in an otherwise normally positive and happy staff. Therefore in this paper, I will provide ground breaking research that explains the issues of low staff morale and propose ideas for coping with
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2011). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (8th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
The ethical dilemma I will discuss is one that affected me, my relationship with my colleagues, my customers, and my employer. This dilemma was not easy to resolve because of the number of lives that were affected. ...
Economic growth and employee turnover is one of the most critical issue facing corporate leaders today. As a result there is a shortage of skilled workers. We have explored several aspects of the workforce stability. The employee retention issue continues in the face of unprecedented churning in the employment market. Human Resource Managers are provided with a wide range of tools to control employee turnover. Workforce stability can be a HR Manager’s competitive advantage in these turbulent times. This is one of the hottest topics for corporate leaders in all fields in the United States and globally.
Without understand the negative impacts of turnover, a company may be placing itself in a position that will ultimately lead to their demise. We are going to solve our problems and set our company on the path to success, a success that is not only reflected in our bottom line but also our employees’ morale.
Turnover rate involving nurses is at an all-time high. Hood (2014) states, “According to a poll conducted by the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2013) with 16,295 nurse participants, 118,130 nurses believed that inadequate staffing compromised the quality of nursing care services. When the question was asked if they were currently considering leaving their position, 8,734 responded affirmatively, and 3,773 reported that inadequate staffing was the reason for leaving” (p. 490). These statistics are caused by nurses feeling the wrath of working shorthanded, and stressed out from pulling extra shifts.
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
While I worked in the Information Technology department at the Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, I was asked by my boss to take over a technical issue from my peer, and lead a team of employees to resolve a problem. The issue was printing throughout the hospital was not reliable, and the physicians and clinical staff were frustrated as they had sporadic problems printing paperwork, prescriptions, and patient handout information. Another director managed printing, and she had not addressed the problem for over six months. This issue continued to escalate to the point that the Chief Medical Director of Research threatened to hire an outside company to fix the problem. I knew this would be a politically charged project, and there would also be some animosity from the team that did not address the problem. I was prepared for the five stages of a team; however, some were not as easy as others.
It was a cold, dark morning when the phone rang. It was boisterously loud and the clock read six o'clock. The deafening noise jolted us again, and there was only one way to make it stop. Chris picked up the phone and in a tired, drowsy voice, answered, "Hello."
Layoffs are one means by which an organization can reduce expenses with the intent of improving its bottom line. Despite being typically performed as a last resort, layoffs often have a negative impact on the remaining workforce. As a manager, there are numerous areas for concern in managing the workforce going forward. The human costs related to downsizing are “immense and far-reaching” with one of the most profound being survivor syndrome according to Hanson (2015, p. 187). Also known as survivor’s guilt, this condition relates to the emotions felt by those still employed and some of the effects include decreased motivation, moral, and job satisfaction, as well as an increased proclivity to search for other employment. This volunteer turnover being another grave concern for managers, and retention of the remaining workforce is usually dependent on their existing perception of the organization and its culture (Sitlington & Marshall, 2011). Also relayed by
“Employee turnover is a critical cost driver for American business. The cost of recruiting and filling vacancies, lost productivity from vacant jobs, and the costs of training new employees increase operating costs, reduce output, and cut into profits.” (Orville 5-7)
The employees were having issues and company intermingling had proven to not change without an intervention unless the workers take things into their own hands. Acknowledgements to some valiant employees, where a union was discussed and the idea came to life (Featherstone, 2012).
Bersin, J. (2013, August 16). Employee Retention Now a Big Issue: Why the Tide has Turned | LinkedIn. Retrieved March 20, 2014, from