An Indiscreet Workplace Conversation on Hiring

Paper Outline

1. Executive Summary

2. Statement of the Problem

3. Analysis of the Problem

4. Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions

5. Recommended Solution, Implementation and Justification.

An Indiscreet Workplace Conversation on Hiring

1. Executive Summary

One objective and goal that is common to all businesses in the world is the need to make profits. For a business to achieve this, all the departments that make part of the business have to coordinate, whether it is a big or small private or public company. One of the departments that are faced with the greatest challenge is the Human Resource department or rather its management team. This is due to the fact that the people that are hired are the ones that determine the direction of a company. There is also the hard decision to be made on the duration of stay of employees and whether a company has the necessary funds to hire and train other employees in case those who were there have to leave for some time or permanently. This paper will be a case study on a company that is faced with the responsibility of filling a vacant post in their company. There will be deliberations on the challenges that they face and the possible solutions.

2. Statement of the Problem

The problem at hand is brought to attention by John who is discussing the matter that is going on in his company with his three friends. Joe is a director at a large organization with fast growing business units. The company is setting up an investment advice unit and needs someone to take care of it. There are three candidates that come for the interview to fill up the position. One of them is a lady, and the other two are gentlemen. All of them have the necessary requirements for the post but the lady seems fit for the position based on her earlier experience.

However, Joe seems to be looking at the long term future needs of the organization other than the short term. He therefore feels that hiring the lady would put the organization in a difficult state in the near future. This is due to the fact that, the lady says one of the main reasons why she wants to leave her former city New York is because that is not a place to start a family. Joe, therefore, feels that the lady is set on starting a family soon. This means that in a year or two she will be going for a maternity leave. This is the main problem, he probably feels that it would be more costly for the company to hire and train someone else during this period. His friends that are all married and career men seem to share his sentiments.

3. Analysis of the Problem

In this case, Joe together with his friends are not sexists, in fact, they almost all agree that the girl is more qualified for the position. Other factors that are necessary for a company to thrive fully are put into consideration. This includes time which is an invaluable asset and also resources that come into place probably for the whole process of advertising for the vacant position, to the carrying out of the rigorous interview process and the final but most challenging task of training the candidate that is found to be most fit for the job. These sentiments are blatantly aired by Andrew who says that he runs a firm with unpredictable cash flows and it would be a great hassle to hire and train another employee in case the one that he had hired has to leave for a maternity leave. He adds that it would even be more costly when the company has to pay their share of the maternity leave since leave days are payable. Andrew feels that he would no doubt hire one of the two guys.

Under the Ontario's ESA and the Federal Employment Insurance Act, there are other factors that these friends need to consider, these are issues to do length of service, seniority and probation. The lengths of service and seniority are factors that will continue to build even when the lady is on leave (Ontario Ministry of Labor, p.1). This will increase the benefits that she gets on account of the length of time she has spent in the organization. Seniority will be advantageous in case there is the laying off of staff, promotions or vacancy entitlements. These are areas that the lady will keep growing in incase she is hired by the company and goes for maternity leave. On the other hand, they will be disadvantageous to the organization which will not have benefited from her services for a long time. She might not even have finished her probation by the time she goes for leave (Ontario Ministry of Labor, p.1). These are probably the factors that Joe the director and the team concerned with recruiting the person to fill up the position will be deliberating on. Joe's friends, Matt, Andrew and Steven also share the same sentiments.

While all the partners concerned with the welfare of the organization deliberate upon the best decision to be made. Another factor that they need to put into consideration