Memo

To: Senior Management Team

From: HR Practitioner

Date: 2016-05-05

Re: Dealing with Maternity Leaves

In response to the high proportion of maternity leaves in newly hired employees. There

are certain strategies that our organization can consider in order to continue to support

maternity leave while supporting business operations. These strategies will decrease costs

with minimal disruption to the work processes and support adherence to anti

discrimination legislation.

As an employer we must be mindful to our obligation to be non discriminatory in our

hiring practices and support current and future employees in regards to job design.

Legally we cannot discriminate against women in the workforce who are pregnant, and

going on maternity leave. There are strong labour laws around parental and maternity

leaves that we must follow. Pregnancy in the workplace is a fundamental human rights

issue of equality of opportunity: women should not suffer negative consequences in the

workplace because they are pregnant as per the Canadian Human Rights Act. In addition

by re-evaluating our processes to avoid differential treatment we can create a competitive

advantage in the labour market.

Some proposals include:

1. Job redesign to decrease educational requirements and work experience for entry-

level positions. This will decrease the dependence on specialized knowledge and
 allow for recruitment of individuals who are able to quickly learn and develop the

skill necessary to perform the entry-level tasks, while providing a source for

succession. By understanding the critical/specialized versus administrative skills

required in the entry-level positions, we can divide one full time job into two part

time positions. Job sharing will spread resources while cutting the costs of full

time benefits, and provide employees with a work life balance.

2. HR planning should implement a strong employee development plan in order to

ensure knowledge skills and abilities of all employees are transferable from one

role to another. We could also consider return to work early initiatives, job

sharing, or flexible work arrangements.

3. In regards to recruitment and selection, the company can increase applicant

sourcing by placing job postings on diverse posting boards, by collaborating with

post-secondary institutions to establish co-ops and internships opportunities, by

adjusting the educational requirements for different job levels (as mentioned in

job redesign), and by participating in networking events or initiating referral

programs for current employees. In regards to selection, we can implement target

goals for increasing diversity in age and more equal gender hiring for the entry-

level positions.

In addition to these proposals there are many other options we can consider in order to

work in a better way with the high volume of maternity leaves we currently experience. I

will be available upon your request to discuss this situation further.

Analysis

What organizational goals were you trying to achieve in writing this memo?

The organizational goals of this memo are to increase diversity in HR practices to

increase productivity and retention of workers. This memo discusses ways to mitigate the

effects of high cost female employees who go on maternity leave within the first few

years of employment. This organizational goal relates to reducing the costs of hiring

temporary workers and the issue of redistribution of work as they cause low engagement

and motivation among employees. It will also help reduce tension and issues resulting

from the increased workload such as low productivity, which can affect productivity as

well as retention of employees in horizontal roles within the organization.

Who were the two audiences for this memo? What did each audience need from

this memo?

The two audiences for this memo are the manager of the HR practitioner and Senior

Management. Their needs for the manager are to minimize the number of maternity

leaves as well as the costs associated with having to redistribute work and accommodate

maternity leaves. The needs of senior management can be found in the organizational

goals of productivity and increased revenue, which require cost controls in the various

HR functions of job design, HR planning, recruitment, and selection.

Did the managers direction cause you any discomfort? What was the nature and

cause of this discomfort?

In regards to the request to minimize the number of maternity leaves the manager

direction has created much discomfort as avoiding the hiring women for the entry-level

position would be considered discriminatory and a violation of human rights. Not only

would there be legal repercussions due to the issue of ethics but also there could be

serious damage the reputation of the company if this discriminative practice were to be

discovered. The stakeholders of the company such as investors and society may also

believe that the organization is not engaging in socially responsible behaviours and since

members of society are also were the labour market can be found, individuals may avoid

applying to the company or cause negative word of mouth. The image of the organization

could be seriously affected by the decision of sidelining female applicants.

Why did you make the recommendation that you made?

Human rights legislation involves employers may not base differences in rewards on

an employees age, sex, race, or other prohibited grounds of discrimination. Any

differences in pay must instead be tied to such business-related considerations as job

responsibilities or performance. (Steen, 210) It can be noted that ethical and legal

concerns prohibit the organization from engaging in practices that discriminate against

hiring women in the workplace. Direct discrimination refers to policies or practices

that clearly make a distinction on the basis of a prohibited ground. Indirect

discrimination involves policies or practices that appear to be neutral but have an

adverse effect on the basis of a prohibited ground. (Steen, 36)

The main issue that can be seen in the firms hiring practices with can help reduce the

issue of female workers in the entry level role is that in the medium sized company

hires approximately 25 employees per year in entry-level positions. The average age of
your companys new employees is 25 years old (typically post-secondary graduates

with 12 years of work experience) and approximately 57 per cent of your new

employees are female. Approximately half of your female new hires take maternity

leave within three years of hire. By looking at the composition of the workforce it can

be seen that HR functions need to increase diversity of hires and skills required for

work.

When an organization is trying to improve quality or efficiency, a review of work

units and processes may require a fresh look at how jobs are designed. (Steen, 73) By

improving the job design workers perform tasks as efficiently as possible the

organization benefit from lower costs and greater output per worker.(Steen, 73)

Industrial engineering to a job reduces the complexity of the work, making it so

simple that almost anyone can be trained quickly and easily to perform the job.(Steen,

73) Job rotation does not actually redesign the jobs themselves, but moves employees

among several different jobs. This type of enlarged job may still consist of repetitious

activities, but with greater variation among those activities among several different

jobs. This approach to job enlargement is common among production teams. (Steen,

75)

By applying job redesign and job rotation to the job redesign of entry-level workers

the job can be completed by virtually anyone with the skills and abilities that can allow

them to be trained to do the job. This could make qualifications, such as having a post

secondary education and approximately three years of experience unnecessary to the

job. College and university students who are being pruned to have such skills could
work to fill these positions, thus, increasing diversity due to reduced skill and

educational requirements.

Job sharing is a work option in which two part- time employees carry out the tasks

associated with a single job. Such arrangements can enable an organization to attract or

retain valued employees who want more time to attend school or to care for family

members. The job requirements in such an arrangement include the ability to work

cooperatively and coordinate the details of ones job with another person. (Steen 76)

By partnering with universities and colleges and creating employee development

practices this entry level position will also be more attractive to males in universities

and colleges looking for growth opportunities and work experience in programs such

as co-op and internships. By allowing the entry level positions to be a shared job, more

college university as well as older individuals who are looking to slowly phase into

retirement will be interested in the part time benefits of the job.

With job redesign, job rotation and job sharing the company can re-evaluate the skills,

abilities and knowledge requirements for the entry-level position. In this way

recruitment and selection practices will require HR to target a more diverse employees

in the market. Referrals from senior positions will also provide sources of new talent

from their social communities such as friends, relatives, and acquaintances who would

be more likely to provide similar levels of effective and efficient output.

References

Steen. Human Resource Management, 3rd Edition. B&E, 02/2013. VitalBook file.