Farelle Industries, which has been active in the garment industry for over 20 years, is a family business with a workforce of 60 people, most of whom are sewing machine operators. Since the company employs no human resources management professionals, its partners share the various HR-related tasks. Its head office and only factory are located in a city with a population of 10,000 that is a 45-minute drive from a large urban centre.
The company has won a major Canadian defence contract to manufacture apparel for soldiers in the field. The nature of thes e garments is such that they cannot be mass-produced but have to be made on individual sewing machines. Thanks to this contract, the company is looking to double its workforce and hire 50 new sewing machine operators.
The partners initially attempt to recruit the workers they need on their own. After a month, they realize that:
• Since there are no more skilled sewing machine operators available locally, they will have to recruit unskilled workers and train them;
• The wages offered, i.e. on average about $2 above the minimum wage, make it impossible for them to attract workers from other cities; offering a higher wage is not an option;
- Because of the working conditions and the repetitive nature of the work, a number of the new employees quit after only a week;
- The rate of selection errors is high; many new employees aren't able to acquire the skills they need to do this type of work.
The company's management decides to ask a certified human resources professional to improve their recruitment process. They award you a one-month contract to structure their process and hire the resources they need.
Questions
1. How do you plan to attract new applicants?
2. a) Indicate the selection tools that could be relevant in this situation.
b) Determine which tool would be most appropriate.
3. How can the recruitment and selection process be structured to improve the retention
of new employees?