23 Mini-Case

Objectives

• Understand how to use low data for HR planning.
• Understand how an HR problem can be solved efficiently by using data.

Part A. Individual analysis

Read the following background data on the Great Mattress Company.  Using the information provided, think about the implications of this information for future recruitment at the company.

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The Great Mattress Company is a leading bed-in-a-box mattress company in Canada. The concept of mattress-in-a-box has revolutionized the industry by allowing customers to

go online to research, select, and buy a mattress. With no showrooms and in-home 120+ night sleep trial Canadians are waking up to the reality that it really is possible to buy a better mattress at a better price.

The company is very successful and sales have risen sharply in the past few years. This has generated a need for more customer service representatives.  The advertisement for customer service representative contains the following qualification:

·      Ability to type 40 words per minute

·      Must be available to work occasional nights, holidays and weekends

·      Experience in customer contact

The job involves answering the telephone, referring customer calls to a supervisor, and some selling of additional services.  The salary is $14.50 an hour for a 30-hour workweek.  Customer service “reps”, as they are called, work 4 days of 7-hour shifts per week.  They do not receive any fringe benefits.

The majority of the workday is spent talking with customers on the telephone regarding account or delivery problems with their mattress.  Billing errors consume about 50 percent of the reps’ time. Most of the remaining time is spent responding to customer complaints such as late or improper delivery, or nondelivery.  Examples of these complaints are: “my mattress was supposed to be delivered today, but it did not arrive”,  “I want to return my mattress but the box is no longer usable”,  “my mattress is the wrong colour”. Most of the subscribers who call to register complaints are not friendly.

While the company has been able to successfully recruit new customer service reps, turnover in the position is very high.  The Director of Human Resources has prepared recruitment data (next page).  The data shows that 200 applicants from all recruiting sources had to be screened to produce 40 who accepted a job offer.  Within 6 months of hiring, over half of the new hires had resigned from the newspaper. Exit interviews with departing customer service reps revealed many reasons for their dissatisfaction with the job:

• All customer service reps are required to work one Saturday and one Sunday a month.
• Seventy-five percent of calling customers are irate about things for which the customer service reps have no control.
• Customer service reps must sit for long periods of time, talking with customers on the phone. Physical movement is restricted.
• Customer service reps have little contact with other people in the company.
• The work environment is hectic and noisy.
• Customer service reps have not been trained to respond to billing complaints.
• Supervisors monitor a sample of calls taken each day and often contradict what the customers service rep say to customers.