Human Resource Essay

Question 1: How would you forecast the manpower needs of Ya Kun? Ya Kun can forecast their manpower by using trend analysis, ratio analysis, scatter plot and computerized system. The personnel can use either one of these method of finding new recruitment. Based on trend analysis, Ya Kun find new recruit by using their past experienced which means that they can provide an initial estimate of future staffing needs, but employment levels rarely depend just on the passage of time. They looked their past performance of sales, productivity and so on to estimate their employee also because if their performance goes beyond their expectation like Ya kun that have many outlets throughout the world, they may required more employee either full time or part-time. Other forecasting method that Ya Kun can use to forecast their manpower is ratio analysis. In this method, Ya Kun forecast based on the historical ratio between some causal factor (like sales volume) and the number of employee required such salespeople. In this case, Ya Kun need more employee because they need more salespeople to run the business in each of their outlets. The sales volume for Ya Kun also one of the factor that Ya Kun need to recruit employee. Compared to trend analysis, ratio analysis assumes that productivity remains about the same. Personnel also can use scatter plot to forecast their manpower. In this method, the personnel may use two related variables to indicate the relation between the two such as sales volume and number of employee. If these two factors are related, then the points will tend to fall along straight line then the personnel can forecast the need of new recruitment. Computerized forecasting also is one way that personnel can use to forecast their need of manpower. With programs like these, employers can more accurately estimate how many employee that they need to projected productivity and sales. Many firms use computerized employee forecasting system for particularly for estimating short-term needs. In Ya Kun case, their personnel may need this program because they have many outlets that need more part-time worker to replace fulltime worker if needed. Question 2: What are the advantages and disadvantages of Ya Kun’s hiring part-time workers? Part-time workers are those who whether by personal choice or due to employment conditions beyond their control work fewer hours than the regular, full-time staff of a business over the course of a year. There is no specific number of hours that makes someone full or part-time, but a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more a week. The advantages of Ya Kun’s hiring part-time workers are part-time workers are less expensive than full-time workers. This is because some of them are paid less than half of what full-time workers, who do the same work, are paid. In other hand, part-time workers will not get benefits same like full-time workers such as insurance or sick pay. So Ya Kun’s can save significant amount of money by hiring part-time workers. Most of the part-timers are student, since it allows them to balance their academic needs with their school needs and they are often willing to learn new tasks and responsibilities when doing their work. Therefore, they will do their job better than full-time workers and this will increase labour productivity of Ya Kun’s. Furthermore, Ya Kun’s only hiring part-time workers when the full-time workers go on vacation or become ill. Students are particularly useful in meeting these periods of high demand in order to ensure that the needs of Ya Kun ’s customers are met and will increase in Ya Kun’s output as well. The disadvantages of Ya Kun’s hiring part-time workers are Ya Kun’s need extra time to train part-time workers to get knowledge about their work and they also need to be guide by someone before they can do their work by their own. Besides that, it will increase training cost of Ya Kun’s. Part-time workers have to go for training before they can start their work in order to avoid from low skilled workers. This also will affect productivity of Ya Kun’s. Moreover, part-time workers have higher absenteeism rates. This is because most of the part-time workers are student and they only doing part-time work to get extra money or just for fun. Besides that, they do not think about their commitment so they keep absent to work. Question 3: A good attitude and commitment are two important attributes that Ya Kun looks for in its job applicant. Is a job interview an effective method to assess these two attributes? What else can Ya Kun do to get reliable information on these two attributes? It is good to have job interview, but conducting a case test and attitude test would help to assess the attribute. Recruiting via the internet: The recruiter should be given complete description about the job and who will be qualified to apply for the job. A simple test could be done to screen the applicants online. Afterwards, a job interview will be needed. Advertising: The employer should advertise their ads where they’ll reach your prospective employees. The recruiter should be given complete description about the job and who will be qualified to apply for the job. Afterwards, a job interview will be needed. Private employment agency: The recruiter should be given complete description about the job and who will be qualified to apply for the job. Afterwards, a job interview will be needed. Walk-ins: This involves direct interview, which is the effective way to measure good attitude and commitment rather than just simply looking at the resume. Question 4: What suggestion would you make to Ya Kun to improve its recruiting processes? From the case Ya Kun Kaya Toasts, we can see that Ya Kun used the recruitment and selection process through advertised in Chinese and English newspapers as well as trough recruitment notice at their outlets. There are few steps to applicants should be undergo before they can be select and recruit by Ya Kun Kaya Toasts. It start from the interview by two manager, screened primarily for their level of commitment and willingness to work shifts, screened for other desirable qualities, until when they successful then they need to go through 2 week training and remain on probation for 3 months. However, Ya Kun still thinking the way how to improve its recruiting process. The reasons why is because the main challenge Ya Kun face in its recruitment efforts is finding employees with the right attitude, because the technical skill required are relatively easy to learn. Other than that, there are some applicants were unwilling to work shifts, making it difficult for Ya Kun to hire them because shift work is inevitable in the food and beverage retail industry. Look at the case, challenge economic times are prompting employers especially Ya Kun manager to rethink how they go about recruiting process. So, there are several suggestions would we make thinks to Ya Kun can do to improve its recruiting processes. Firstly, from job opening for the outlet staff the point in your advertisement should reach your target prospective employees. Use the guide AIDA (attention, interest, desire, and action) to construct advertisements. You must attract attention to the advertisement. From that case, Ya Kun should state in the ad that all the responsibilities and qualifications required for work at Ya Kun. For example, under the responsibilities and qualifications required the applicants should be education because we know that the person who educated has the right attitude toward the job. Moreover, don’t forget to include the required for â€Å"work shifts interested only† in the advertisement. So that, during the interview period manager not wastes their time recruit the applicants. Secondly, recruitment materials have a more positive impact if they contain more specific information. That means, at the application form the manager should provide applicants with information on aspects of the job that are important to them, such as salary, location, and diversity. For example, pay the salary base on their schedule of shift work. As we look at the case, some applicants were unwilling to work shifts because they not satisfy about the salary especially when they work at second shift period from 3 P.M to 11 P.M. The reason because at that time, number of customer may be increase because that time are pass the work time and they may like to hang up at Ya Kun coffee shop with their friend and family. Moreover, the manager of Ya Kun also can do the job rotation which is the periodic shifting of a worker from one task to another. That means, results depend on how job satisfaction is measured. Thirdly, using application forms to predict job performance. In this stage, manager should already get all the application forms from the applicants who apply for that job after the certain period of job opening for the outlet staff or recruitment notice at their outlets. It is possible for the Ya Kun manager to use application form information to predict which candidates will be successful and which won’t, in much the same way that one might use test for screening. The basic process involves conducting statistical studies to analyze the relationship between biodata responses on the application form and measure of success on the job. It is important to choose the biodata items in order to look at their life style as well as other criteria such as their background, education, and others. So, we can evaluate the candidates during the interview session whether they pass or not. Conclusion It is important to understand the nature of the business that we are in before doing the recruitment and selection process. Different nature will result different way or step to look at the employees which is really suitable to apply as well as to be accept to work at that company or industry. From the case it start with personnel planning and forecasting where it is the process of deciding what position the Ya Kun industry will have to fill, and how to fill them. Filling open position with their internal sources of candidate make Ya Kun has several advantages. For example, Ya Kun has a family –style environment and established â€Å"promotion-from-within† policy and many more. Then as result, not only the organization build the good structure and enhance performance, but the emphasis on good attitude and character in the selection of outlet staff has help Ya Kun build a pool of hardworking and committed workers. Ultimately, the main goal that the Ya Kun will achieve is make it big through the improvement its recruiting process in the future. That all the improvement for Ya Kun has to face in order to take the challenge by increasing the commitment of all staff toward the company.