Please respond as you would in a professional situation to your supervisor
1. Manor Care Changes Its Benefits and Reduces Turnover
When Manor Care, Inc. set out to become one of the world's great service organizations, it decided to find out what would motivate its front-line service employees to stay with the company. At 72 percent, employee turnover was a big problem for the Springfield, Maryland-based parent company of Choice Hotels International and Manor Health Care Corporation. After conducting extensive surveys and studies, the company concluded that to reduce turnover, it needed to offer its lower-paid front-line employees a benefits program they could afford. For instance, while Manor Care's 401(k) plan was a good one, only 20 percent of employees making $12,000 a year were participating in it.
The company decided to redesign it benefits program, and the result was a program unlike any before it. For instance, in contrast to most defined contribution pension plans, which make contributions based on a uniform percentage for all participants, Manor Care adjusted its contribution percentages according to employee salaries, paying proportionately higher amounts at the lower salary ranges. But Manor Care did not stop there. It also revamped its medical benefits in a similar manner, so that the more an employee earns, the higher his or her deductible and co-payments are. Long-term employees pay less for their benefits as their years of service increase. Since the company redesigned its benefits package, turnover among front-line employees has declined by 25 percent. In turn, customer service quality has increased, according to surveys completed by 10,000 of Manor Care's health-care customers.
a. Do you think Manor Care could have reduced turnover just as much by raising front-line service employees' compensation? Why or why not?
b. What other steps might Manor Care take to reduce turnover?
2. You have just graduated with your HAS degree and have been hired by Quality Home Care. The owner hasn't given you a written job description or even a title but has told you what he wants you to do. "I started this company because I got tired of the bureaucracy at Mega Health System. We couldn't get anything done. Even when it was obviously best for the patients and for the company, there was always some reason we couldn't move ahead: not in the budget, the lawyers have some concerns, not consistent with our core strategies, and on and on. Well, I started my own company, hand-picked the best staff members, offered them a little higher pay than they were getting from Mega and some basic benefits. It worked. Our patient volume grew another 25% last quarter and we expect that to continue. We're now up to 20 employees, and need more. I've had to hire some people I didn't know before. I don't have a management degree but I need to have all the administrative things done that they taught you how to do at Weber. The first thing I want you to do is organize all this Personnel stuff. Remember, I don't want a @#$% mega-bureaucracy here, I just want things organized so we can keep up with this growth!"
a. What are the main factors you would consider in establishing an overall Human Resources strategy for QHC?
b. List the titles of the first five HR policies you would recommend to the owner and the main concepts that would be covered by each policy. Briefly explain to the owner why he needs a policy in each of these areas. Do not write the full policy statements. Remember, he doesn't consider himself an administrator, he's extremely busy, and he hates bureaucracy-this needs to be concise, clear, and persuasive.