Athletics Co. Talent Management Plan

The ABC Athletics Co. is experiencing growth and in need of additional human capital to support increased sales.  The company currently employs two hundred and fifty employees.  In the last five year, the company has experienced increased turnover, and projection shows this trend will continue for the next three years.  In addition to increased turnover, the company will experience attrition due to retirement.  Whenever a company loses employees to attrition and turnover, it cost the company in the time it takes to recruit new talent to train the newly hired employees.  It also negatively impacts morale, productivity, and the company’s brand.  The talent management approach is essential to managing an organization human capital, which is one of the greatest assets every business can have.  ABC Athletics Co. needs a new talent management approach to support both short term and long term workforce changes.

Workforce Planning

Workforce planning is the planning process for current and future employment needs.  It ensures that the organization has the right amount of bodies and the perfect person in the right job to move the company forward.  A staffing plan is used to determine if additional staff is needed currently or in the future and the skills needed to create success.  “The various steps needed to develop a staff planning program:  job description, job requirements, fair employment considerations, assessment of current employees’ skills, turnover trends, and business trends” (“Staffing: Planning: How do we develop a staffing plan?,” 2012).  The ABC Athletics Co. is experiencing increased sales while the production staff continues to decline.  A portion of the new job description is as follows:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Performs work as assigned by department supervisor.
• Inspects assembled product for quality standards.
• Observes and removes faulty product parts from assembly line.
• Cleans workstation, equipment and surrounding areas.
• Fix or adjust production equipment/machinery issues.
• Notify supervisor of any mechanical or material issues.
• Assembles the materials to produce the finished product.
• Attach appropriate labels and tags to products and packages.
• Place finished goods on the designated pallet and prepares them for shipment.
• Adheres to all safety guidelines and procedures.
• Ensures that all production deadlines are met.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Able to avoid distraction; work cautiously but efficiently on the noisy production floor.
• Possesses knowledge of the production equipment.
• Is able to identify problems or malfunctions with machinery and equipment.
• Demonstrates analytical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary to troubleshoot production issues.
• Pays close attention to detail.
• Understands all safety guideline and procedures
• Works efficiently and manages time effectively.
• Possesses physical strength and stamina required to stand, walk, and lift less than 15 pounds for long periods of time.
• Possesses physical dexterity necessary to assemble product parts.

Education and Experience

• High school diploma or GED is required.
• Valid license to operate factory machines.
• Experience preferred

Other Duties

The job description is not designed to cover or contain a complete list of duties or responsibilities required of the employee for this job. Please note that duties and responsibilities can change at any time without notification (“Job description:  Production worker,” n.d.). ABC Athletics Co. employees have not received the development needed to keep skilling updated, which has resulted in employee turnover.  Increased turnover is projected to continue for the next three, which is detrimental to the organization.  Today ABC Athletics employs two hundred and fifty employees, and the expectation is twenty-five of those employees will retire this year.  It is the goal of the company to attract and retain new talent to replace those employees lost and will lose in the future.

Talent Sourcing

ABC Athletics Co. needs to focus sourcing for the production worker on external source except for employee referrals.  ABC Athletics Co. will source to online job boards, social media, and employee referrals.  Online job boards such as Indeed and Monster allows the organization to advertise the position to a wide range of individuals from anywhere in the world.  As a result, this will enable the company to reach more potential recruits.  The advantages of utilizing an online job board to recruit are the reduced cost due to fewer fees as well as a larger pool of talent to select. ABC Athletics Co. has also selected Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to recruit potential hires.  The advantages of utilizing social media are its ease of use and that it is mostly free.  The company can also target a large talent pool, those who are actively seeking employment and those who are not. The third source for recruiting top talent is employee referrals.  If interviewed, the referral will most likely accept and stay as they are already familiar with who ABC Athletic Co. is, what the job entails, and potentially will remain with the organization.

Talent Selection

The selection process consists of placing qualified applicants into the right jobs through the screening process of weeding out the candidates that do not match requirements with the skills and qualifications necessary to be successful in the role.  “The selection process typically consists of eight steps: (1) initial screening, (2) application forms, (3) preemployment tests, (4) interview, (5) conditional job offer, (6) background investigation, (7) medical or physical examination, and (8) job offer” (DeCenzo, Robbins, & Verhulst, 2018, p. 175).  The initial process begins with sorting through all of the resumes and online applications to determine who meet, exceed, or fail to meet the minimum qualifications for the job.  Next phase is scheduling an interview with those applicants who passed the initial screening and preemployment test.  After the interview process, the candidate receives a notification that they are being offered the job or turned down for the job. ABC Athletics Co. interview process begins with a phone interview for the candidates who survived the initial screening process.  During the phone interview, HR will ask questions based on the resume or online job application submitted and the essential function required for the job.  After the phone interview, the candidate receives instruction that a link will be sent to them to complete testing.  The preemployment test will test the candidate’s knowledge of machinery ABC Athletics Co. uses to produce its products.  All candidates who were successful through the initial screen, phone interview, and preemployment testing are scheduled to attend an in-person interview. The in-person interview will include a one on one interview with the manager of the production department.  The interview questions are a combination of unstructured and behavioral based questions.  After the interview, the candidate will receive an expected time table of when they should receive a job offer or turn down the notification.

Onboarding

Onboarding process not only welcomes the employee on their first day but also sets the employee up for success by providing them the necessary tools, knowledge, and resources to be productive employees.  The orientation process, also part of the onboarding process, prepares the newly hired employee for their first day of employment with the company through introductions of the HR team, leadership team, trainer, and their training peer group.  The first day includes going over the organization's strategic goals and the part the employee plays in helping the organization reach those goals.  The first day also covers what is expected of the employee, rules, and guidelines, and completing human resources paperwork that make it official.  “Effective onboarding procedures can address these issues, reduce turnover, and increase new employee productivity, engagement, and success” (DeCenzo, Robbins, & Verhulst, 2018, p. 204).

Employee Development and Engagement

The development of an employee focuses on the employee’s growth and performance in the future. Development begins at onboarding to ensure decreased turnover and organizational growth.  In today’s market, coaching and developing employees is essential to remaining competitive in the market through employee engagement.  Employee engagement begins after the trust is developed; their ideas are taken seriously, established clear communication, and have a supportive leadership team.  “Transparency and confidence in an organization can inspire employees to be engaged—meaning they’re involved, enthusiastic and committed to their work” (Lytle, 2016, para. 2).  When an employee is engaged, they feel valued and give their all by working smarter, productivity increases, and are committed to the organization.

Performance Management

Performance management measures the performance of employees against the organization's goals and objectives.  It assesses whether or not the employee is meeting the essential function of the job.  ABC Athletics Co. incorporates both a yearly and continuous assessment process.  Each employee will meet with their supervisor once a month and discuss their performance and set monthly goals. The company also incorporates yearly performance appraisals.  The annual assessment serves as the sum of all the monthly meetings, which gives the employee knowledge of how they should be rated at the end of the year.  Annual reviews are the portion of the year where merit increases apply for a year's worth.  The yearly performance appraisal will require the employee to write up their assessment for each objective and rate themselves on whether they failed to meet expectations, met expectations, or exceeded expectations.  The self-evaluations give the employee a chance to sing their praise.

Succession Planning

Succession planning is established to ensure that there are employees who can step into a leadership role when available.  The idea of the plan is to track those individuals progress and provided coaching and development where needed.  At ABC Athletics Co. the succession planning begins at the time of onboarding.  HR recognizes those individuals who have the skills and competencies necessary for a position that carry more responsibilities.  HR will also keep track of the top performers and ensure that they receive additional opportunities to shape their leadership skills such as shadowing opportunities, running projects, and receiving training.

Talent Retention

A retention strategy must align with the organization's strategic goals.  A retention strategy consists of a plan the organization establishes to ensure that the employee of the company is engaged and productive.  ABC Athletics Co. retention strategy begins with onboarding where new employees learn about the organization, the expectations of the job, how their role fit in the bigger picture, and the type of culture that’s been established.  The second step is creating a buddy system for the new hires.  The company will assign a top tenure performer to buddy up with a new hire to show them the ropes, help them learn to be efficient early in the employment process, and help in coaching and developing the new employee.  Next, establish a recognition program to ensure that employees continuously receive the acknowledgment they deserve from both leadership and their peers.

Conclusion

ABC Athletics Co. has set themselves up for success by ensuring that the organization is attracting and retaining talent, thus reducing the climbing turnover rate and meeting the sale demand.  The company has established a new job description, created a new staffing plan, researched and picked the most effective recruiting sources, updated the selection process, create an onboarding plan, ensure continuous development for the employees, establish a performance management, ensure succession planning is in place for future management, and a plan to retain the company’s talent.

References

• DeCenzo, D. A., Robbins, S. P., & Verhulst, S. L. (2018). Fundamentals of human resource management (13th ed.). Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com
• Job description:  Production worker. (n.d.). SHRM. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/job-descriptions/pages/cms_006459.aspx
• Lytle, T. (2016). 7 Tips to increase employee engagement without spending a dime. SHRM. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/1016/pages/7-tips-to-increase-employee-engagement-without-spending-a-dime.aspx
• Staffing: Planning: How do we develop a staffing plan? (2012). SHRM. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/howdowedevelopastaffingplan.aspx