Fit to Table - a Case Study in Training and Development

Fit to Table - A Case Study in Training and Development

Problem Statement

Fit to Table, a small startup company, has recently encountered issues with employee morale, policy compliance, and removal of an employee from the business. Management is seeking guidance on how to address the aforementioned issues legally while upholding the best company culture.

Analysis

Anika Jensen, VP Human Resources, needs to first look through all policies and determine which acts described are a violation of policy, which are a violation of the law, and what is neither, but behavior that should be coached or reprimanded. Specifically with Hillary Showalter, the employee that was terminated from the company, there are a few violations of company policy. Showalter tweeted external of the company a comment that put Fresh to Table in a negative light in the public eye. While her comment may not be considered disparagement against the company, it would be against the Social Media Use policy which states that “employees may be construed by others as representatives of the company and thus should exercise good judgment, particularly in posts relating to anything that concerns the business or more generally, that might be considered by others are offensive or inflammatory” (Mukunda & Holtom, 2017). Furthermore, Jensen should review the comments made over the Slack messaging tool as disparagement to other employees in the business, specifically the comments referencing someone in a protected class or mentioning a gender, age, etc. While these comments were initially made in private, they are now exposed to others in the organization through the transition of work and others may now have a different opinion of these individuals based on these comments.