Issue

The rapid expansion of the business has brought with it many difficulties which the owners are struggling to cope with. Amongst those problems is high staff turnover, heavy administrative burden, need for higher levels of supervision, loss of ‘personal’ service to customers and generally lower levels of trust between staff and management. It is also proving more and more difficult to employ ‘good’ staff. In addition to this, a new member of staff is making waves and discussing the merits of joining a trade union with other staff members.

Every day there seems to be another problem with staff which must be dealt with. To reduce the burden, Mary and Tom have employed you, an HR administrator, to help deal with the staff issues. During your second week in work, when Mary and Tom are away, a serious issue is brought to your attention as follows: – A staff member, Maureen, has approached you and reported that two members of staff, Patrick and Milena, have been getting food from the deli and not paying for it. Employees are permitted to get food from the deli and pay for it at the end of their shift.

On checking the staff records of Patrick, Milena, and Maureen you notice the following:

• Patrick has been working on a part-time basis for over two years and has a record of being late and calling in sick.
• Milena has joined recently, is also working part-time and is the employee who has been speaking about the merits of joining a trade union.
• While there have been no official complaints made against Maureen on her staff records, it has been noted that there may be an issue related to her poor treatment of new members of staff.

On perusal of the Grievance and Disciplinary procedures that are on the file, you realize there are no rules relating to theft of food from the deli as the policies pre-date the opening of the deli. This renders the Disciplinary Procedures not fit for purpose. Furthermore, having spoken with some staff members, you discover they are not aware that there is a procedure to initiate a grievance. You have recently completed the Higher Certificate in Supervisory & HR Practice at the University of Limerick and are aware of the importance of Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures for organizations.

Task/Questions

Review the case study and prepare a report for management evaluating the key issues. You should draw on class lectures, readings, relevant legislation, case law, and supports available to both management and employees to address the issues.

Your report could contain (but not be limited to) a summary of the issues, available options, procedures, possible outcomes, best practice, the role of dispute resolution bodies and any other issues which you consider important. Your report should be no more than 1200 words.