Bridgeton Temporary Services

Bridgeton Temporary Services provides bookkeeping and accounting services on a contract basis. Employees act as accounts payable clerks, accounts receivable clerks, general bookkeepers, computer programmers and accountants. The seventy-five employees are each assigned to a supervisor who decides where each person will work. The supervisor also checks with the client for an evaluation of Bridgeton's employees. Employees report each day to the client, but must notify their supervisor at Bridgeton that they have arrived.

Employees have a variety of educations, from high school diplomas to masters degrees. The firm also employs a number of working mothers with CAs who do not want full-time employment. Employees generally stay with Bridgeton for ten to twelve months. Then they secure full-time employment elsewhere, decide they do not wish to be employed at all, or obtain part-time employment with one of Bridgeton's clients.

In addition to relatively high turnover, Bridgeton also suffers from high absenteeism. When questioned the employees indicate that no one cares about them, that their pay is low, that their work frequently is uninteresting and below their capabilities, that they are moved among jobs too frequently and that they frequently are not notified about their work assignment until thirty minutes before they are expected to be at the workplace. Many add that they feel someone is always looking over their shoulder. The company itself has more requests for temporary help than it can fill; yet it has been unable to secure enough workers. Some clients have complained about poor-quality work from some of the bookkeepers. Also, although revenues are increasing, profits have not kept pace.

Questions:

1. Could the HR department fulfil the role of an Internal Consultant within Bridgeton? Why? Why not?

2. What can the HR department do to fix things at Bridgeton? Outline a plan of action that could lead to HR becoming a strategic business partner within Bridgeton.