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Business Letter

Dear sir/madam

It is now commonly accepted that employees create a very important source of competitive advantages for firms. Consequently it is important that a firm adopts human resource management practices that make best use of its employees.

As the vice president of human resource management for Phoenix Company, Roanoke branch, I was asked by the company’s president, Gregory S. forest, to investigate the tribulations facing the branch and provide recommendations for the same. The report was prepared after an extensive investigation and recommendations provided after clear deliberation of many factors at hand. The report was presented before his excellence the company’s president who reviewed it and directed my office to present to the executive panel specific proposals on one of the recommendations that I came up with.

Roanoke branch has been having a reputation worth of emulation there before. This can be attributed to the massive efforts of the workers and the management team. It is soon to tell but I am convinced that this good work in the past which has been negated; and that is the root cause of all the problems that we are facing today at Roanoke. Are we just moving boxes around or are we fundamentally changing the way the company does business?

In an attempt to realize an increase in profits made by the branch, the branch has been accepting all potential clients without evaluating the accounts in terms of current project workload. Consequently, minus any notice and without any proper compensation for the additional hours, all employees are working long hours daily. As a result of overworking minus any proper appreciation for the same, employee morale and productivity seem to be decreasing as each day passes by. It is in the wake of this that personnel management calls for immediate compensation of the man hours that have gone unpaid and recruitment of more manpower to help those in the field.

Background

Resources lead to sustainable competitive advantages when they are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable. While technology, natural resources, and economies of scale can create value, resource-based theory argues that these sources of value are increasingly available to almost anyone anywhere and they are easy to copy, especially when compared to complex social systems like human resource systems. Since human performance is normally distributed, human resources meet the first two criteria of being valuable and rare. Human resource management systems that successfully develop and engage employees to participate in company activities are likely to enhance the value and rareness of a company’s human assets.

At Roanoke we consider customers to be the most important clients because minus them then phoenix will be no more. We also realize that without the right personnel in place to attend to the unwavering demands of the customers then we might end up loosing everyone to our competitors. With the right personnel in place, who are a rare commodity, we have beat our competitors there before in a game which some of them started more than five decades before Roanoke  came into being. We have thrived in the competitive business through intensive training of our personnel which has cost the company good amount of money. As a department concerned with recruitment, training, and performance appraisal, we will not want to loose our own to the competitors a trend which has been observed through the exit of the art director, Mr. James Brown and the accounts executive manager Dr. Bean Burden. Both of them formed part of the management team and they have been honored several times by this company for their exemplary performance.

This problem requires urgent prescriptions as we evidence that three graphic designers and four of the copywriters are threatening to leave. According to the report my office released on the above problems all was attributed to massive work load minus a reciprocating package. Talking to the financial manager Jennifer Peterson, it was evident that our personnel’s salaries need to be reviewed and there is room for recruiting more personnel to give a helping hand.

On reviewing the wages the personnel in job group J which is the least paid person in our company takes home $20 000 plus a house allowance of 40% of the basic salary. The least paid employee, job group M earns $96 000 plus a house allowance of 40% on the basic salary. Then we have a traveling allowance of $1200 per month for those who are not allocated company cars. Lastly we have phone allowance which is allowed to staff involved with field work and it is given out together with out allowance.

In line with the above my office is proposing the following;

  • Employee development.
  • Review of salaries.
  • More experts to be recruited and the human resource department to be mandated to undertake performance appraisal immediately.

Proposal

Employee development is an important determinant in the performance of any firm which is not a monopoly. First Phoenix should invest in technical and non-technical training which normally has a positive impact on the extent to which the firm succeeds in developing the skills of its employees. We can use employee career management programs to assist our employees in career planning. This is to identify sequences of job assignments that help employees gain the skills and knowledge viewed as important to a company.

Career planning systems not only help to ensure employees have skills they need to advance in a company, but also may ensure those employees’ posses the mix of skills that the firm believes is important for its future success.

The issue of money is very sensitive in any organization and requires careful attention so that as we please one party, all the parties benefit and no one is left complaining. Due to an increase in the workload to increase the profits realized by Phoenix, the company should review salaries of the employees. This is not only to motivate them but to appreciate for the long hours that they devote themselves to work. The review should be performance based. All people in job group k should be moved because the department has found their performance exemplary at Roanoke branch. In line with the same, the allowances should also be reviewed more so allowances when one is out of the working station.  

The human resource department is consented with the responsibility of recruiting upon a confirmation from the finance offices that funds are available. We have received a communication from the right personnel in the department of finance and seek for your acquiescence on the same. Then the department will perform performance appraisal so that all personnel who deserve to be promoted the same is done and the new employees will start from job group K. We may also replenish the old stock with new stock to make everyone alert that careers at phoenix are performance based and also allow fresh graduates to embrace technology which is a basic requirement in this industry.

Schedule

Event

Time approximation

Employee development

To be implemented immediately but for employee security let it have a minimum of three years.

Review of salaries

Immediately

Recruitment and performance appraisal

Performance appraisal should start immediately to replace for those who left and this will give room for recruitment in the next one year at most because an advert would be made then followed by an aptitude test and lastly the oral test. Successful candidates will be required to be trained while working.

Review of allowances

Overtime allowance should be reviewed immediately while other allowances should be considered in the next six months

Advertising and CSR

As from the next financial period the fore mentioned departments should lay more emphasis to the two fields.

Staffing

My office proposes that we have interns in every department which may later form a pool which we can recruit from. The interns will be paid $1200 per week. They should be fresh graduates who are either degree holders or diploma holders in relevant fields from recognized learning institutions.

Copyrighters should be higher diploma holders or degree holders. Those who have an experience of at least two years it will be an added advantage. For those who have an experience of five years and are degree holders can also be considered.

Graphic designers should be degree holders from recognized universities. Those with experience will have an added advantage and those who did their internship from this place.

For the management they must be degree holders with not less than five years experience two of which in management position in a reputable organization. Those who have masters’ degrees it will be added advantage with specialization in a relevant field.

Budget

Job group

Salary scale per month

Interns

$4,800

J

$20 000-28 000

K

$32 000-41 000

L

$48 000-57 000

M

$ 96 000-108 000

Request for authorization

Subsequent to ascension of this document will mandate my office and any other offices affected to make the appropriate changes immediately for the benefit of Roanoke Branch and subsequently induce positive change to phoenix publishing as a whole. My office is devoted to bringing change and all that we have proposed is after extensive research and consultation with the appropriate personnel.

Yours sincerely,

Frederick Engel

V. President HRM

Roanoke Branch