Case study
As a result of you recently joining the People Practice outplacement company, you now have access to outplacement services. Your first assignment will be to support a company called Technow, a rapidly growing technology company founded four years ago by a sister-brother partnership.
As soon as you meet with the partners, you learn that they will be recruiting a new management team which will include 5 section heads and 10 line managers, most of whom will be new employees. One of the partners’ main concerns is that as the business evolves, they may not have personal control over people matters. As the new manager, you are responsible for educating the new team about people practices such as recruitment, work-life balance, engagement, key legislation, diversity, performance management, rewards, and learning and development. This expansion is designed to ensure that the values and practices that the partners hold dear will not be lost.
Task preparation:
- As you begin your work on your assignment, you are encouraged to discuss your assessment plans with your Assessor and, where appropriate, agree on milestones so that they can assist with your progress monitoring.
- To guide and support your evidence, refer to the indicative content in the unit.
- Remember, you are a member of the People Practice team for this task
- , so pay attention to the way your evidence is presented.
- The evidence you collect for this assessment must remain your own.
You will also benefit from:
- Take action on the formative feedback you receive from your Assessor.
- Describe how you have benefited from learning opportunities and continued professional development.
- Studying the Insight and Fact Sheets produced by the CIPD and other related online resources.
Guide to the Task One-Standard operations for Technow recruitment.
A standard operations guide provides partners and their organisations with easy-to-understand instructions that they can follow to formalise the recruitment process. This guide must include and consider:
- This assessment will provide you with information about each of the stages of the employee lifecycle and your role as an outsourced people practice professionally. (AC 1.1)
- Explains the stages of recruitment and the different methods available, and when each of them is appropriate to use. (AC 1.2)
- The preparation and provision of information for the various parts of the recruitment process for specific roles can be accomplished via different methods and techniques. (AC 1.3)
- Assessment of the different materials and methods that can recruit talented individuals both internally and externally for a range of roles. (AC 1.4)
Preparation pack for Task Two-Interview.
When preparing technow for interviews, create an interview preparation pack that explains the types of selection methods that can be used and when to use each of them.
To be effective, the pack must:
- Comparing and contrasting different selection methods for assessing a candidate’s suitability, and when each method is appropriate (AC 2.1)
- Assess which records must be retained after a selection process (contributes to AC 2.4).
Simulated interview with peers on Task Three
Technow’s owners have asked you to serve on the interview panel to select the first-line managers.
You should actively participate in creating the criteria, shortlisting, interviews, decision-making, and follow-up processes for the role and ensure that your Assessor identifies your contributions through their comments on your Assessor Observation Feedback Form. In addition, the CIPD STARR Model Interview Questions Appendix A has been included for reference.
The following will need to be demonstrated:
- Establishing selection criteria for the appointment of line managers based on personal specifications. This contributes to AC 2.2.
- Identifying candidates for interviews by shortlisting applications according to the selection criteria. A contribution to AC 2.2.
- Participating in a face-to-face, telephone, or web conferencing interview using an appropriate interview structure as part of a panel. (AC 2.3)
- Making justified selection decisions using interviewing techniques and skills (AC2.3)
- Writing a letter of appointment and a letter of non-appointment for candidates (Contributes to AC 2.4)
In task four, describe the legislative and organisational practices concerning narrative.
If you wish, include illustrations, images, diagrams and flow charts in your narrative so that Technow’s managers can gain a fundamental understanding of employment law and organisational practices.
Owners requested that during the initial meeting, an emphasis be placed on explaining the importance of work-life balance, engagement, diversity, and inclusion and how legislation influences all of these elements. Moreover, they wanted you to identify the main points regarding employment discrimination and fair and unfair dismissal law since fairness was critical.
Include the following in your narrative:
- Overview of the regulations related to work-life balance to explain why it is essential for employers and employees to achieve work-life balance. (AC 3.1)
- An explanation of what wellbeing in the workplace means and its significance (AC 3.2)
- A description of how employee engagement’s positive and negative aspects can influence how people feel at work and the likely results. (AC 3.3)
- An overview of the critical points of discrimination legislation and how discrimination affects the employment relationship (AC.3.4)
- The definition of diversity and inclusion, how it differs from equal opportunity, and the importance for business and social justice (AC 3.5)
- A discussion of the difference between fair and unfair dismissal as defined in legislation and perceived by both parties. (AC 3.6)
Task five-performance management and reward system
Prepare a presentation that incorporates a slide deck and provides the new management team with essential knowledge and understanding of performance management and reward. You need to ensure that you explain:
- An analysis of the purpose of performance management and the factors, information, and components that affect performance management systems. (AC 4.1)
- It is essential to focus on the following factors when managing teams and individuals. (AC 4.2)
- How performance appraisals are used in performance management. Mention the skills employees need to be able to hold the appraisal. (AC 4.3)
If you’re concerned about employee reward, you should emphasise how different approaches to reward can be used to attract, motivate, and retain employees.
Don’t forget to include:
- An explanation of the elements (financial and non-financial) necessary for an effective total reward system. (AC 5.1)
- Research on the relationship between reward and performance and its impact on motivation. (AC 5.2)
- Two reasons why employees should be treated fairly regarding wages. (AC 5.3)
Task Six-Supporting skills and knowledge development in the workplace.
Technow does not currently offer employee development. However, one of Technow’s two owners is eager to focus on this area of people practice. In this regard, they have asked you to develop a factsheet to guide the new managers as they get started in supporting others in developing skills and knowledge to meet both individual and organisation objectives.
You should include the following information in your factsheet:
- Here are examples of different learning needs that might arise for individuals and organisations and explanations of how they may occur. (AC 6.1)
- An overview of learning approaches, including at least: facilitation, consulting, training, coaching, and mentoring. (AC 6.2)
- A description of how individual requirements and preferences must be accommodated in the design and delivery of learning and development initiatives. (AC 6.3)
- At least two methods of evaluating learning and development, its impact, and how evaluation benefits individuals and organisations (AC 6.4).
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