HR Risks and Strategies in CERA Relocation

The CERA relocation has been met with anger and skepticism among staff, leading to a significant decrease in trust towards the senior team. The lack of applicant pools for vacancies and the need to rethink recruitment strategies have become major issues. Additionally, an internal Facebook page is spreading negative sentiment towards the relocation. In response, Mark French has changed his mind and agreed to keep up to 20 staff in Sydney for about a year, with conditions. This development poses new HR risks that require careful consideration.

Role play Part 2
Value: 15%
Due date: 28-01-2017
Return date: -
Length: Powerpoint presentation
Submission method options
Alternative submission method
Task
This role play will involve a second scenario provided to groups about a week before the due
date. The roles and process will essentially be the same as in Assessment item 4a. Group
members should change roles for this scenario.
Warning: This assessment activity is time-critical, and there are no extensions available. You
must be available to participate in this assessment, in class on the scheduled date. All other
details are as for Assessment 4a.
Rationale
This assessment task will enable you to demonstrate achievement of the following learning
outcomes in the subject:
• be able to apply specialised knowledge of the various roles and functions of human resource
management to resolve complex issues associated with an organisation's effective utilisation of
its human resources;
• be able to discuss, explain and analyse the relationship between organisational strategy and
human resource strategies.
Marking criteria
Criterion and
weighting
High distinction
(>=85)
Distinction (75 – 84) Credit (65 – 74) Pass (50 – 64) Fail (<50)
HR risk analysis that
demonstrates the
following:
risks are
expressed correctly;
subject
knowledge (not just
textbook);
grounded in the
CERA story;
specificity;
time-realistic;
critical analysis.
All risks are
clearly and
correctly
expressed and
explained, with
no ambiguities.
Each risk has
been mapped to
the scenario and
to the full CERA
story. There are
no ambiguities or
vague
Risks are expressed
correctly, and
appropriate metrics
are suggested to
explain why the risk
exists.
The risks are
appropriate to the
CERA scenario and
to the full CERA
story. Specific,
evidence-based
connections are
Risks are
expressed
correctly and it is
explained why the
risk exists.
The risks are
appropriate to the
CERA scenario,
but there may be
gaps in taking
into account the
whole CERA
story.
Risks are expressed correctly,
although some may be
expressed as issues rather than
as risks.
The risks identified are
appropriate to the CERA
scenario and to the full CERA
story. There may be some gaps
in alignment between the risk
and the CERA story and/or
CERA scenario.
Demonstrates correct
application of subject
Fails to meet
the pass
requirements.

(10 marks) connections.
Demonstrates
depth in insight
and in critical
thought in the
way subject
knowledge has
been applied fully
to think through
the identification
of all risks.
Each risk is very
specific and
time-relevant.
made.
Demonstrates critica
l thought in
the application of
subject knowledge
in each area of HR
practice.
Few gaps, if any, in
completeness of
application of
subject knowledge.
The risks are
expressed in specific
terms, with
evidence, and they
are and time-
realistic. There may
be a few minor gaps.
Demonstrates
correct
application of
subject
knowledge in
each area of HR
practice. There
may be some
gaps in
completeness of
application of
subject
knowledge.
The risks are
expressed
in specific terms
and are and time-
realistic;
however, the
expression may
occasionally be
vague, ambiguous
and/or insensitive
to time.
knowledge in each area of HR
practice. There may be some
gaps in correct application of
subject knowledge.
The risks are expressed
in specific terms and are and
time-realistic. There may be
gaps in specificity and/or in
time-reality.
Recommendations (5
marks) demonstrate
the following
characteristics:
time-realistic
application of
subject knowledge
critical thought
grounded in the
realities of CERA’s
HR journey.
All
recommendations
are clearly and
correctly
expressed, with
no ambiguities.
Correct, clearly
measurable
metrics are
included for each
recommendation.
Each
recommendation
demonstrates
thoughtful
consideration of
the scenario and
the full CERA
story. There are
no ambiguities or
vague
connections.
Each
recommendation
demonstrates
depth in insight
and in critical
thought in the
way subject
knowledge has
been applied fully
to think through
the
recommendations
.
Each
recommendation
is very
All
recommendations
are expressed
correctly, and
appropriate metrics
are suggested to
evaluate the
recommendation.
There may be a few
minor gaps.
The
recommendations
are appropriate to
the CERA scenario
and to the full
CERA story.
Specific, evidence-
based connections
are made.
Demonstrates
critical thought in
the application of
subject knowledge
in each area of HR
practice.
Few gaps, if any, in
completeness of
application of
subject knowledge.
The
recommendations
are expressed in
specific terms, with
evidence, and they
are and time-
realistic. There may
be a few minor
gaps.
The
recommendations
are expressed
correctly and
clearly. There
may be some
gaps in clarity of
expression of
interpretation.
The
recommendations
are appropriate to
the CERA
scenario, but
there may be gaps
in taking into
account the whole
CERA story.
Demonstrates
correct
application of
subject
knowledge in
each area of HR
practice. There
may be some
gaps in critical
thought in the
way knowledge is
applied.
The
recommendations
are specific and
they are and time-
realistic.
However, the
recommendations
may occasionally
The recommendations are
expressed correctly, although
some may be too broad or may
appear vague.
The recommendations are
appropriate to the CERA
scenario and to the full CERA
story. There may be some gaps
in alignment between the
recommendation, the CERA
story and/or CERA scenario.
Recommendations demonstrate
s correct application of subject
knowledge. There may be some
gaps in correct application of
subject knowledge.
The recommendations are
specific and they are and time-
realistic. There may be gaps in
specificity and/or in time-
reality.
Fails to meet
the pass
requirements.

specific and time-
relevant.
be vague,
ambiguous and/or
insensitive to
time.
Presentation
The presentation format for your answer will be provided with the scenario for this group
activity.

Scenario 1
Mark French has called his senior management team to an important meeting early in the day.
He hands each of the managers a document titled, Future Directions. (This document is
available for you in the resources folder.)
CERA has been considering expanding its geographical footprint to regional NSW and Mark has
been thinking for some time about how best to do this. Following several productive meetings
with government Ministers and their agencies over the last six months, Mark has decided that
CERA will relocate fully to Bathurst in NSW over the next 12 months. This is a bid to capture a
share of the growing infrastructure market in central western NSW, and in other parts of regional
NSW. This move is designed to signal the company’s intention to be a serious player in
infrastructure development in regional NSW, coinciding with the government’s plans to invest
significant funds in regional infrastructure development. To make things more interesting,
Charles Sturt University has recently established an innovative national engineering school
headquartered in Bathurst. There are some potential synergies there. There are already several
engineering consultancies located in the region, but the size and experience of CERA will make
it a very competitive player. This move will also provide opportunities for CERA to establish its
credentials to move into other regions in Australia in the longer term.
Mark stressed that CERA will continue to source work in Sydney and surrounding areas.
He added: "I want to make it very clear that this will not be a half-a...d [expletive deleted] move,
with one office in Sydney and another one in Bathurst. We are in this for the long haul".
Bathurst is reasonably proximate to the Sydney basin. With the right communications
technology solutions and client relationship management strategies, it will be feasible for CERA
to operate in both the metropolitan and central west.
This is a bold strategic move. Mark French is taking personal responsibility. He has asked his
managers for their “full-throated support”. Mark had already visited several potential sites for the
CERA office, and he is finalising a lease for an office building in downtown Bathurst, fairly close
to the Bathurst Regional Council building. He announced that he’d had preliminary discussions
with the Mayor, several Councillors and staff in the Economic Development Unit, and there was
“absolutely unreserved enthusiasm” for the move by CERA.
That afternoon, the executive team met with all staff. Mark French led the meeting and did most
of the talking, supported by Israel Tobin and Kellie Lincoln. Predictably, staff were stunned at
the move, although they had known for some time that CERA was looking to expand its footprint
into regional NSW. But, no one had expected this. A few people had heard rumours, but no one
really took that seriously. There were several ‘dead spots’ in the meeting – periods of silence as
Mark and the others invited questions. People looked at each other, some shook their heads,
some wept quietly, struggling to take in the news.
Mark advised that the senior team would be issuing weekly bulletins to keep people informed of
progress. He made it clear that the relocation would go ahead. He said that he appreciated the
contribution that staff had made to the development of the company since its formation, and
understood that not everyone would welcome this news. He hoped that all staff would take
some time to consider the pros and cons of staying with the company, and choose to stay.
However, he was realistic and understood that some people would prefer to stay in Sydney and

will be looking for new opportunities. He knew it was going to be a difficult time for everyone, but
it was time to make the bold, but difficult decision to move CERA to a new level.
Israel Tobin announced that staff would be provided with assistance to relocate and that his
team would be meeting with each section to talk over the implications of the move and needs for
support. It was likely, he announced, that CERA would retain the services of an outplacement
company to assist those who felt that they couldn’t continue with the company.
Almost immediately, Israel and his team got to work to identify the key HR risks that they would
need to manage, from a business continuity perspective. They determined that the benchmark
was service delivery to the customers. Everything would flow from this risk focus. They
brainstormed probable risks (as best as they could aniticipate these) that would arise in the
following 12 months. Next, they discussed their list with the CERA executives. Now, they are
seeking external advice on the top two HR risks in the following topic areas that must be
addressed immediately together with "immediately doable" strategies:
- workplace health and safety;
- recruitment;
- selection;
- reward;
- employee training.
Miriam made it clear that: "There isn't time to engage in naval gazing, analysis paralysis or
ambitious exercises that will take months to complete. Our people need support now and we
need to safeguard the business strategy of CERA. Customers would not take lightly any project
delays or underperformance, so the right HR strategy must be put in place to manage the top
priority risks. Israel agreed.
Your task is to produce a powerpoint presentation of no more than 6 slides to address the request
from the HR team in CERA.
Slide 1 is a title slide. This slide will show the group names, the assessment number and the subject code.
Slide 2 will set out the top two workplace health and safety risks and accompanying strategies to manage
these risks.
Slide 3 will deal with recruitment.
Slide 4 will deal with selection.
Slide 5 will deal with reward.
Slide 6 will deal with employee training.
It is very important that your work demonstrates knowledge of relevant topics covered in the subject
AND an understanding of the CERA story. It is not necessary to provide citations and references. There
is no standard template for the format. You can be creative. Balance busyness with detail. This is a formal
presentation, so avoid slides that are full of writing - communicate clearly and succinctly.
Students taking this subject in face-to-face mode will be given further instructions in class.

Scenario 2
It is now five months since the relocation of CERA to Bathurst was announced. A lot has been
happening. A new headquarters in Bathurst has been leased and it is being fitted out now. Mark
French and Kellie Lincoln are leading the planning for the relocation, with support from Israel
Tobin and the other managers. An outplacement firm, Taylor Cox, was retained soon after the
relocation announcement to assist staff with finding alternative employment. They are providing
support with career counselling, resume preparation, interview preparation and sourcing
suitable opportunities. Assistance from relevant government agencies and from the
superannuation fund to which most staff belong has been obtained for those who are looking to
retire or seek government assistance with job searching if they become unemployed.
Competitors of CERA have heard about the announcement and are actively recruiting staff. To
balance this, staff from competitors who are interested in moving to the country have been in
contact with Israel's team: CERA has done its own soft and hard marketing to professionals in
competitor firms and in government infrastructure delivery agencies! Fortunately, the senior
team is still intact; however, at least one is known to be exploring her options elsewhere. At the
moment, the staffing position falls into three categories: those who will relocate, those who
definitely won’t relocate, and those who are undecided.
Following the announcement that the company was relocating to Bathurst in 12 months, Israel
Tobin and the senior managers held a workshop on HR risks and policies required to control
these risks. The following were among the risks that received active attention at the workshop.
HR risk identified by CERA
senior managers HR Strategy
Personal trauma endagers
health
 Counselling program for staff and families.
 Workshops on self-maagement, including coping skills.
 Assistance with job hunting.
Loss of staff  Offering a 30% salary top-up, indefinitely, for current staff who
move to Bathurst.
 Offering a 30% salary top-up for new staff from Sydney or interstate
to move to Bathurst.
 Promoting the lifestyle benefits of working in Bathurst, as well as
relative proximity to Sydney.
 Encourage applicants from non-traditional backgrounds.
 Targetting universities for graduate positions.
 Advertising interstate and overseas.
 Felxible working conditions for staff, new or current, who would like
to commute from Sydney.
 Generous relocation package (assistance with conveyancing costs,
removal cost; allowance for school uniforms; allowance for putting a

deposit on a house in Bathurst.)
 Changing selection criteria to focus on attutides and behaviours,
rather than proven track record, i.e., selecting on potential as well as
on performance.
 Increased use of contractors and temporary workers.
 Informal learning, online training, job protocols, job manuals and
recorded, self-paced training.
Loss of productivity,
mistakes, customer
dissatisfaction
 Renegotiate deadlines.
 Appeal to customers to 'ride this out'.
 Senior managers to assist with training.
 Senior managers to meet regularly with customers.
 Promote informal learning.
 Reinforce the importance of maintaining performance levels,
underpinned by the bonus scheme.
 Experienced staff to pay closer attention to performance levels of
new staff and existing, less experienced staff.
Taylor Cox has a counselling arm that is staffed by clinical psychologists. CERA staff and their
families have been encouraged to use this confidential service to talk over their options in
deciding whether to relocate to Bathurst. The biggest problem facing many of the staff is that
they see their future in Sydney as attractive, and they worried that going to Bathurst would take
them out of the loop in terms of professional networks and professional development. Several
staff own property in Sydney and they are extremely nervous about selling up and moving to
Bathurst, even though there may be clear affordability and lifestyle benefits. The reality for these
people is that they would probably never be able to return to the Sydney property market. A few
have decided to commute to Bathurst, but Kellie Lincoln is sceptical about whether this would
be realistic or advisable in the longer term, especially in the cold winters when tempoeratrues
drop to 0 or less, and roads are icy and sometimes closed for hours because of snow falls.
Israel’s group has been working with Bathurst Regional Council’s economic development
people to put on bus trips to Bathurst for staff who want to visit the city, as well as offering a
travel allowance for those who want to take their families to visit the city on weekends. Those
who have been on these trips have done a tour of the city and surrounds, heard presentations
from local real estate agents, schools and other community leaders, and received welcome
packs containing information about the city and a small gift. Reactions have been mixed - some
are cynical about "this obvious window dressing propoganda"; but others are more favourable
towards this initiative. A small number of hitherto undecided people have made the decision to
relocate after visting Bathurst a few times.
Reports getting back to Israel indicate a growing amount of relationship difficulties, at least one
marriage break-up, as well as several cases of acute depression and one known attempt to
commit suicide. From what he heard, Israel believed that a predominant cause was that
partners and/or adult children were reluctant or simply unwilling to give promising jobs in

Sydney. Some partners were also unconvinced about giving up their homes in Sydney for better
lifestyle that may quite easily turn into a dead end.
Many people were working extra hard to cope with the loss of staff across the board, even
though they may have decided not to move to Bathurst. This was leading to an increase in
conflict, frayed tempers and some unfortunate leaks to local newspapers about "chaos in a
leading Sydney consultancy" that had seen Mark French and Israel in damage control mode.
Pulse surveys of staff attitudes to the relocation were conducted by a consulting firm. While
some staff had responded positively to the relocation, many were angry or sceptical about the
rationale and the promised benefits in liveability and access to their networks in Sydney. Some
were worried that this would be just the beginning of further relocations. There was now
considerably less trust in the senior team.
Two senior representatives from big four management consultancy Walter Pursehouse met with
Mark recently to talk about their relocation management services. They offered assistance in
developing a sophisticated HR planning model that would help CERA to predict departures,
whether or not staff were 'willing to give anything away'. This sounded very attractive to Mark.
They also mentioned that Walter Pursehouse had had recent experience with job analysis and
redesign, which could come in handy at this point; as well as developing job specific training
programs offline and online to assist new staff to learn their jobs quickly. Mark wasn't so sure
about these initiatives, and he resolved to talk these over with Israel in the next day or so.
A big problem was that applicant pools for vacancies had dried up. It was very difficult to fill
positions using the existing job descriptions and selection methods. Israel was urging managers
to reconsider what they were expecting and he suggested to them that the recruitment
strategies that had worked previously would need to be reviewed. The icing on the cake was
when we suggested that managers might need to think about selection quite differently.This
didn't go down well at all; but the reality was that projects were starting to suffer due to the
volume of turnover.
Regular newsletters were being produced to inform staff of progress and the range of support
services available, including financial assistance to relocate and to re-settle families. Two staff
members had started up an underground "CERA sham(e) relocation" private facebook page
where they were openly critical of what Mark and the team were doing. This page was also
being used to encourage staff thinking of relocating to "take them to the cleaners for what
they've done to your lives". This was making it very, very difficult for Israel and others to work
through a reasonable set of arrangements to encourage people to stay with CERA. They had
had to deal with hostile unions in past jobs, but this internally-generated open hostility was much
more corrosive.
Under growing pressure to do something to arrest the haemorraging staffing levels, Kellie
Lincoln and Jonathon Simon decided to bite the bullet and confront Mark. There was no other
choice, it seemed. So, almost seven months after the original decision was announced, Mark
French did something he'd rarely ever done in his professional life - he changed his mind! Mark
called his executives together, announcing that he would be willing to consider keeping "a small
number of people" in Sydney for "about a year" to relieve some of the pressure. When pressed

to put a figure on this, he reluctantly agreed to keeping up to 20 staff in Sydney for about 12
months. But, there was one condition:
"I'd want you, Israel, with the support of the other executives, to make very sure that we have
robust back up plans in place from day one, so that those who are allowed to stay in Sydney are
either in Bathurst within 12 months of when the rest of us start work there, or they are effectively
replaced as soon as the 12 months expires, or sooner if they decide to jump ship."
"Take it from me, people, I don't like this, not one bit. [Pause.] I'm willing to do this only on the
condition that it doesn't expose us when the 12 months is done."
Lowering his voice, and staring at a spot towards the middle of the boardroom table, Mark
spoke slowly and deliberately: "And you can assume that your job is on the line if this fails,
Israel."
Kellie was aghast; so was Rachel. This was one of very few occasions when Mark had changed
his mind mid-stream in a major strategy execution. Israel was nervous, predictably. He knew
that Mark would be announcing this in the next few hours. From then, the clock was ticking on
his future. (What else could go wrong!)
This is the current staffing picture in CERA, prior to the change of plan.
Unit Will relocate to
Bathurst
Vacancies At-risk staff
Civil Engineering
Division
3 4 6
Drafting Office 1 2 3
Planning Division 1 2 1
Smart Structures 2 4 0
Finance, Legal &
Admin
2 2 7
HR Office 1 1 2
Your task is to review and update your powerpoint presentation from scenario 1, having regard to all
of the developments described above. You are to identify the top two HR risks in each topic area, plus
strategies to manage these risks. There have been many important developments in CERA since scenario
1. You need to think on these carefully before answering the questions. One thing to take into account tis
hat there are only about five months to go before the relocation is due to be completed.
There is no standard format for these slides. You must keep to the same number of slides as for scenario
1, with the same roles. However, each group is encouraged to change the allocation of roles within the

group.