Strategic Role of HR
and the Legal Environment
Your first assignment
with the company is to do a review of their current HR practices and describe
to the owners how they stack up to current practices. Remember, this business
started as a small business with very few employees. While the owners feel the
need the for an HR manager, there is always the nagging issue of “could we
have spent the money on another help desk person and gotten more bang for the
buck?” These guys
are programmers and
business owners, not managers. They need reassurance that hiring an HR person
is the right thing to do.
Facts you need:
– The company has 25
employees
– There are 2 female
employees, the rest are male
– Most workers are
under the age of 35, but there are 4 employees between ages 40-49, and 2
employees over the age of 50
– Terminations are
rare in this company, but they have happened. One employee was terminated for
drug use and viewing pornography on company computers.
– The company has 3
company vehicles used for on-site services
– Hiring has been ad
hoc, mostly by word of mouth.
– There is no employee
manual and few formal policies and procedures.
Respond to the
following questions:
1. Why do they need to
worry about all of this HR stuff anyway?
2. What issues could
occur if we just leave things the way they are?
3. What laws apply to
them in their company?
4. What policies and
procedures would be useful to the company?
