Report on Planning and Managing Flexible Workforce at Oakman Inn

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This assignment provides a detailed overview of Oakman Inn's approach to planning and managing a flexible workforce, particularly in the context of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program focused on tree plantation. It covers the scope of workforce requirements, including the need to reconfigure existing staff and hire additional personnel to meet program goals without disrupting daily operations. The report addresses key aspects such as strategic planning, flexible working arrangements, and labor engagement options (buy, build, or borrow). It identifies potential issues related to flexibility, such as fragmentation of teams and reduced customer service coverage, and outlines strategies to mitigate these challenges. Furthermore, the assignment emphasizes the importance of employee engagement through a participative approach, support, and coaching to ensure the successful integration of flexible working staff. It also highlights the use of technology, such as cloud-based applications, to track performance and compliance with flexible work arrangements.
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Plan and manage the flexible
workforce
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Task 1
...............................................................................................................................................1
Section 1: Scope of workforce requirements
...............................................................................1
Section 2:
..................................................................................................................................... 5
Section 3: Manage the flexible workforce
...................................................................................9
Task 2 Questionnaire
..................................................................................................................... 12
1- Discuss how you would plan for the workforce, in particular, mention what planning

methods you would use.
............................................................................................................ 12
2- Address how legislation, regulation and policy relate to the flexible work arrangements.
. .13
3- What typical challenges would you face when implementing flexible work arrangements
. 13
4- What strategies would you employ to address the challenges that you have identified
.......13
5- Discuss how you would support the flexible workforce to:
..................................................13
References
......................................................................................................................................15
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LIST OF TABLE
Table 1: Coaching session
...............................................................................................................9
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Performance matrix analysis
.......................................................................................... 12
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Task 1
Section 1: Scope of workforce requirements

Scoping workforce requirements

Oakman inn is an organisation in the UK that intends to provide good food, and drinks along

with positive ambience to its customers. The organisation is going to organize a new program of

5 days under its corporate social responsibility practices that focus on tree plantation in different

areas near the organisation. Following are the key goals of the program:

To contribute to the environmental conservation
To inculcate a sense of responsibility among the stakeholders towards the environment
To improve brand recognition
To create awareness among the people towards environment protection
To inspire other business organisation to contribute their efforts in similar programs
Scoping

The program of tree plantation requires Oakman inn to reconfigure its existing workforce and

hire some additional workforce as the goals of the program is to be attained with the set working

hours of employees without disturbing the daily targets (Camps et al., 2016). Hence, it is

essential to reallocate the work and manage the working schedule so that the organizational goals

can be attained along with the accomplishment of program goals. In addition, the organisation is

intending to provide appropriate flexibility to their employees so that they a spirit of willingness

and dedication towards the work can be improved. However, the major challenge faced by the

HR manager of Oakman inn in implanting the program is to manage the workforce and relevant

time schedule Therefore workforce planning is required to be developed that focuses on how

employees will manage their daily routine and program-related work.

Scope of the workforce requirements and planning:

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The HR manager of Oakman inn needs to develop a strategic plan that must encompass how
different department will manage various activities on different days of the program. According

to strategic planning, an action plan is developed for the workforce requirements that must focus

on flexible working arrangements for the employees in terms of working hours and time shifts

(Qin et al., 2015). For example, the flexibility to the workforce can be provided in choosing the

time shifts for their work and the availability of options in which they can change their start and

finish time. This helps the Oakman inn to improve employees’ productivity, performance, and

reduce employee’s turnover. In addition, to this, ten external workforce is hired to manage the

day to day operations of the restaurant along with the effective execution of program activities.

The HR manager of Oakman inn is responsible for considering various factors in reconfiguring

the existing workforce and appointment of additional employees to ensure smooth working of

organizational activities and better scope of attaining the organizational goals (Spaulding and

Martin-Caughey, 2015). Scoping the workforce requirements must consider the role of

leadership, employees’ capabilities and specialization so that work of the specified program and

other organizational activities can be attained efficiently. The workforce requirements can be

managed within the Oakman inn by identifying the availability of the internal and external

resources.

The scoping of the workforce requirements of Oakman inn includes the involvement of different

stakeholders that are required to participate in the planning and development of the new program

under CSR policy. CEO and senior management of Oakman inn are responsible for developing a

strategic plan for the program while the HR managers know what best practices, knowledge, and

talent which are required to implement the tasks of new programs and hence, they are

responsible to develop a specified schedule and work allocation for the workforce planning

(Allvin et al., 2013). The employees are the major participant in the program that shares their

creative, practice, and collaborative experience in the program to attain the specified goals. The

managers of Oakman inn are responsible for managing the entire work of employees so that their

daily work requirements can be managed along with the program execution.

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An estimated budget for scoping the flexible workforce requirements of Oakman inn and other
resources is taken as $ 25000 so that the program goals can be effectively attained. The timeline

is required to be developed to identify the requirements of workforce, employment, and

reconfiguration of the existing workforce.

Analysis and assessment of labour engagement options

The governance structure of the program is scheduled by the HR manager of Oakman inn in

which different activities are allocated to different departments on different days so that the

overall goals of the program can be successfully attained within five working days. The first day

of the program will be administered by ten employees from housekeeping and staff department,

five employees from the administration department, and three new recruited workforces. The

work of programme on the second day will be managed by five employees from housekeeping

and staff department, ten from the human resource department, and five from the marketing and

sales department (Liu et al., 2017). The third day will be administered by five employees from

the food and beverages department, three new hired employees, and five from the accounting

department. The duty of the fourth day will be assigned to the 20 employees from the

administration department, housekeeping department and food and beverages department. The

last day of the programme was the closure and therefore, requires 30 employees from all the

departments of Oakman inn.

The goal of the program is to plant trees in all the nearby areas of the Oakman inn, and hence to

manage different activities of the program, a range of 20 to 25 employees were required on each

day. Hence, the HR manager has appropriately managed to fulfil the supply and demand of

workforce requirements with appropriate allocation of work to different employees of different

departments along with the time flexibility (Ludwig and Frazier, 2013). The workforce was

readily available for the programs as appropriate flexibilities are provided to the workforce to

retain the talent within the organisation. For example, the working time of housekeeping

employees are 8 hours, in which 1 hour will be allotted to the program, and hence the remaining

work needs to be managed within a limited time period. However, the linear gap between the

supply and demand of the internal workforce was managed with the external workforce supply.

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Labour engagement options
To improve the labour engagement and to hire new candidates within the Oakman inn, there are

three options available to buy, build, or borrow. To buy the talent refers to the hiring of

employees, building involves provisions of appropriate training to the employees to improve

their capabilities, and borrow the use of external outsourcing services on a contract basis.

Oakman inn is needed to maintain a level of buying in its recruitment strategy as it helps to bring

creativity, knowledge and a good external experience within the organisation. The other option

of building talent requires more time and money; however, appropriate training to the employees

helps to build their internal strength and capability (Sharlyn Lauby, 2018). The external

assistance from borrow strategy is required for temporary basis and therefore does not require for

daily activities. The appropriate strategy for Oakman inn is to adopt the mixture of buying and

building to support the organizational goals and objectives.

Potential issues

Although the flexibility in working offers wide benefits to the Oakman inn, however, there are

some potential issues that may be faced in relation to it. For example, the organisation requires

team oriented people to deliver good food and drinks to the customers; however, more flexibility

in working leads to fragmentation of employees due to different time schedule and working

hours. Hence, the spirit of working in a team decreases among the employees of Oakman inn that

may impact their overall performance adversely (Michielsens et al.,2013). In addition, Oakman

inn is intending to deliver exemplary services to its customers; however, the flexible workforce

can reduce the coverage of customer services in the restaurant at different times. In addition, the

HR manager will face difficulty in implementing the discipline within the restaurant that also

affects the training and other program arranged by the organisation.

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Section 2: Engage the flexible workforce
Task 1 ENGAGE THE FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE

The CSR program of Oakman inn includes the activities pertaining to the plantation of trees. In

which an event and campaigns are arranged to promote the sense of responsibility among

employees towards the environment and their job. The HR manager of Oakman inn has

developed a flexible workforce schedule, so the requirements of the program can be fulfilled

along with the daily working hours of employees. There are two shifts available to the workforce

from which theory can choose a specific shift for their job performance. In addition, they are also

provided to choose their beginning and ending hours so that they can manage their personal and

professional lives effectively (Myerson and Bichard, 2016). To manage the flexibility of the

workforce, a computer device is required along with a specific team that keeps all the records of

chose time hours and shifts of the employees. In addition, the organisation requires an

application system through which the presence of employees and compliance of regulations

pertaining to working flexibility can be monitored and controlled.

Different departments perform different roles in the program; for example, the development

implementation of policies pertaining to flexible working arrangements is formed by CEO and

senior management of Oakman inn. The managers of each department are responsible for

identifying the potential employees that will be responsible for executing the programme

activities in a defined manner (Michielsens et al., 2013). The HR team is manager to allocate

different activities of program and associated events according to the chosen working hours by

employees. in addition, the integration of different departments is also essential for the HR

manager along with appropriate records of flexibility provisions so that the collaboration of

employees efforts for the specified program can bring fruitful outcome.

To review the work and ensure no employees takes advantage of flexibility, and it can be

integrated in the normal day to day activities, HR manager and its team has developed a

mandatory process and procedures that are circulated to employees for their compulsory follow

up. In addition, a cloud-based application solution helps the HR manager in tracking the

performance and flexibility of employees in Oakman inn efficiently.

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Task 2 SUPPORT THE FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE
The HR manager is required to adopt a participative approach to get the engagement of

employees in Oakman inn. The participatory approach emphasis on taking the input from

employees so that a better flexible working plan can be developed (Maxwell et al., 2007). In

addition, appropriate support and coaching are needed for the employees so that they can

understand the entire procedure required to be followed to avail the benefits of flexibility in their

working hours.

Following is the plan to integrate flexible working staff at Oakman inn:

Onboard well:
The HR manager of the organisation is required to provide adequate resources to
the flexible workforce, and a positive environment is required to be developed so that they can

better develop an understanding with the permanent employees of the Oakman inn.

Behaviour with the flexible staff:
The HR manager of Oakman inn is required to make feel their
flexible workers as an important part of the restaurant so that they can deliver a better outcome.

In addition, the permanent employees are also required to develop a positive relationship with

the flexible staff as treating them with exclusions or as a on demand staff can affect their

performance (Lewis, 2003).

Communications:
The flexible work staff works in different shifts, and therefore, they can miss
getting vital information within Oakman inn; hence, it is essential to develop strong

communication channels for the existing as well as the flexible workforce.

Feedback:
The HR management of Oakman inn is required to get feedback from their existing
as well as contingent staff on the ongoing management practices in relation to the blended staff

so that appropriate strategic policies can be developed and improved based on their suggestions.

The contingent workforce is added to the organisation to get the advantage of low labour costs,

and good talent. However, such benefits come with the risk of poor management, leaked

information and discrimination within Oakman inn. Hence, the management of the restaurant is

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required to standardize the contracts and policies pertaining to the hiring of a flexible workforce
(Dex and Scheibl, 2001). In addition, the HR manager is required to develop a background

screening policies for the contingent workers to limit the risk of poor management, employees

turnover, discrimination, etc. at the workplace.

TASK 3- ALIGN FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE ARRANGEMENTS WITH

ORGANISATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Within Oakman inn, productivity and employees performance is a major factor to satisfy the

needs of customers and enhance the customer base. Hence, the flexible workforce is responsible

for aligning their activities according to the organisational processes and innovation policies

(
Sprague, 2016). The Oakman inn has started a new service of online ordering, and therefore, it
is essential to deliver the food and drinks to the customers on right time along with the

management of all the work associated with the five days program. The HR manager of an

organisation is required to follow an appropriate plan that helps the flexible staff to well
acquaint
with the organisational requirements:

The plan encompasses identification of corporate and program knowledge, which is required to

be communicated to all the staff at Oakman inn
(Qin et al., 2018). The second step focuses on
the classification and allocation of work along with the time schedule to the employees. The next

phase is the development of a dedicated and qualified team that consists of a blend of the flexible

and permanent staff of Oakman inn. The team support the organisation in attaining the set goals

of the organisation as well as the program. In the next step, the HR manager is needed to

evaluate the requirements of technology and other resources for the employees, and accordingly,

prioritise them among different employees based on their flexibility hours and specialisation.

Appropriate training and coaching are required to provide to help flexible staff in understanding

the organisational needs and goals
(Halpin, 2015). The last step is to develop a monitoring
process that ensures actual outcome matches the specified standard work.

Some of the intellectual property rights that HR manager must consider while hiring flexible

workforce includes a database of Oakman inn, writing marketing content, the content of training

brochures, and dealing with sensitive information of the organisation. The rights associated with

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the intellectual properties must be communicated to the employees by stating a clause in the
employment contract.

The HR manager of Oakman inn is required to ensure appropriate onboarding of flexible

workforce to the permanent employees, through a positive organisation culture
(Hoque, 2013).
To ensure effective engagement of flexible workforce within the organisation culture, following

points are required to be considered:

The HR manager is required to understand the needs of existing employees and adopt a
participative strategy to engage them in developing flexibility policies to get their views

and ideas on it.

The HR manager of Oakman inn is required to prioritize their product quality over
quantity and develop strong communication among all the employees

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Section 3: Manage the flexible workforce
1. One of your employee, who is undertaking flexible work arrangements, is not performing.

One of the employees from the service department has chosen to adopt flexible working

arrangements is taking advantage of the flexibility and not performing well. The customers are

complaining about the services, and this impacts the brand image and overall performance of the

Oakman inn. In addition, it disturbs the discipline within the organisation that may impact the

performance of other workers. He is provided with the flexibility to choose its working hours by

defining the beginning and ending working hours. However, he does not follow fixed working

hours and does not follow the defined procedures of providing details of arrival and going time

as he always comes late (Allen et al., 2013). Hence, the HR manager is required to take strict

disciplinary actions that may include salary deduction due to non-compliance of organizational

policies. Further, the HR manager can provide guidance to the employee to identify the issues of

late arrival and to improve its performance.

Table
1: Coaching session
Session component
Unit details Coaching points Goal
Introduction

(10 minutes)

Introduction about

flexibility in working

hours and the work

shifts available to

choose

Better understanding

of available flexibility

in the organisation

To enhance

enthusiasm towards

work with flexibility

and support

employees in meeting

their personal needs.

Main session

(30 minutes)

Discussion about the

entire procedure of

choosing and

reporting about the

flexibility options

Understanding of

reporting procedure

and familiarity with

the organisational

Improve

organisational

productivity and

customer satisfaction

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chosen by employees. requirements. with timely services.
Closing session
Discussion on non-
compliance of

prescribed reporting

procedure and

disciplinary actions

that can be taken

against employees.

Understanding of

preventive actions if

employees misuse the

advantages of

flexibility.

To improve awareness

among employees in

relation to their

responsibilities and

duties towards

organisation.

2. You have been requested to increase the workload of your team. Describe the consultative

approach that you would apply to address the needs of the flexible workforce when

implementing the additional workload.

The management of Oakman inn is required to increase the workload and hence, they require to

adopt a consultative approach in relation to it. The consultative approach focuses on the needs of

a flexible workforce, and accordingly, workload will be increased to ensure increased employees

performance, timeliness and productivity. The management is required to develop questioning

skills to identify what the flexible working team requires so that the issues they are facing can be

resolved efficiently with active listening. Hence, it supports the management in making decisions

pertaining to the distribution of increased workload (Dex and Scheibl, 2002).

3. Review your strategies to promote flexible work arrangements as part of the organizational

culture; and how to ensure the flexible workforce engages with the organizational culture.

Provide a sample of one of the activities and/or processes that have been implemented.

The significance of strategic decisions of integrating flexible work arrangements with the

organizational culture of Oakman inn can be identified in the form of improved organisational

productivity, performance, and customer satisfaction. The participative approach and

communication improvement strategy helps the management of Oakman inn in developing

mutual trust and respect among all the staff members. Organisation environment is changed to

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develop mutual trusts among employees that help to manage the conflicts and relationship
among the contingent and permanent employees (
Christensen and Schneider, 2015). For
example, the manager of Oakman inn conducted a meeting in which contingent and the

permanent staffs were invited to discuss the improvement of organisational productivity. Such

meetings support the organisation in developing a better and flexible organisation culture.

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Task 2 Questionnaire
1- Discuss how you would plan for the workforce, in particular, mention what planning methods

you would use.

Workforce management can deliver quality and outcome if effective strategic planning is made.

Oakman inn is a growing organisation and wants to open a new restaurant in another city in the

UK. Hence, the HR manager needs to focus on different planning methods to identify

performance shortage, build an agile workforce, and make smart and effective strategic decisions

to attain the organisational goals (
Qin et al., 2015). One of the planning methods is the creation
of performance assessment matrix in which different categories are included to determine the

performance of existing and new employees in the newly opened restaurant. Another method is

the development of effective leadership so that appropriate guidance and supervision can be

provided to execute all the activities of employees within the new restaurant.

Figure
1: Performance matrix analysis
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2- Address how legislation, regulation and policy relate to the flexible work arrangements.
The employment of flexible workforce requires Oakman inn to comply with various regulatory

and legislative provisions to ensure long term retention of employees within the organisation.

The Fair work act of 2009 provides the rights to the employees in requesting flexibility and part-

time work in the new restaurant of Oakman inn. Equal Opportunity Act 2010 and Anti-

Discrimination Act 1991 ensures that equal opportunities must be provided to all the contingent

employees to ensure no discrimination is made at the workplace.

3- What typical challenges would you face when implementing flexible work arrangements

The implementation of flexible work arrangements is beneficial for the Oakman inn; however, it

also leads to different barriers that HR manager of the new restaurant may face in terms of high

training, coaching and administration costs to manage the flexible staff (
Michielsens et al.,
2013
). In addition, employees may misuse the benefits of flexibility and may lead to low
organisational productivity and performance. The organisational success is generally based on

dedication and team efforts; however, flexibility in working hours and other aspects may lead to

lack of team spirit among the employees as there is lack of interaction among them. the wide

communication gap may also be a big challenge for the Oakman inn to manage its workforce.

4- What strategies would you employ to address the challenges that you have identified

To address the above-stated challenges, result oriented work environment can be developed

along with the flexibility in which the contribution of the employees is measured on the basis of

their performance outcome. The misuse of flexibility advantages can be minimized with the

development of strict disciplinary policies, which can include salary deduction on non-

compliance (
Maxwell et al., 2007). Development of strong communication among the employees
can be developed through periodical meetings, seminars, and group discussions within the

restaurant.

5- Discuss how you would support the flexible workforce to:

The flexible workforce may lead to dissatisfaction among existing employees and high conflicts

within an organisation. Hence, to resolve such issues, management of Oakman inn is required to

understand the needs and requirements of employees and accordingly develop flexible plans for

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them. The flexible employees need appropriate guidance and supervision from their leaders so
that they can well familiar with the new organisational requirements. In addition, the HR

manager is required to develop a positive organisation culture with the engaged team so that

overall organisational performance can be improved (
Lewis, 2003). In addition, the organisation
is needed to provide appropriate training and induction program for the flexible work staff to

integrate them with organisational culture.

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References
Books & Journals

Allen, T.D., Johnson, R.C., Kiburz, K.M. and Shockley, K.M., 2013. Work–family
conflict and flexible work arrangements: Deconstructing flexibility.
Personnel
psychology
, 66(2), pp.345-376.
Allvin, M., Mellner, C., Movitz, F. and Aronsson, G., 2013. The diffusion of flexibility:
Estimating the incidence of low-regulated working conditions.
Nordic journal of working
life studies
, 3(3), p.99.
Camps, J., Oltra, V., AldásManzano, J., BuenaventuraVera, G. and TorresCarballo, F.,
2016. Individual performance in turbulent environments: The role of organizational

learning capability and employee flexibility.
Human resource management, 55(3),
pp.363-383.

Christensen, K. and Schneider, B. eds., 2015. Workplace flexibility: Realigning 20th-
century jobs for a 21st-century workforce
. Cornell University Press.
Dex, S. and Scheibl, F., 2001. Flexible and familyfriendly working arrangements in UK
based SMEs: business cases.
British Journal of Industrial Relations, 39(3), pp.411-431.
Dex, S. and Scheibl, F., 2002. SMEs and flexible working arrangements. Bristol: Policy
Press.

Halpin, B.W., 2015. Subject to change without notice: Mock schedules and flexible
employment in the United States.
Social Problems, 62(3), pp.419-438.
Hoque, K., 2013. Human resource management in the hotel industry: Strategy,
innovation and performance
. Routledge.
Lewis, S., 2003. Flexible working arrangements: Implementation, outcomes, and
management.
International review of industrial and organizational psychology, 18, pp.1-
28.

Liu, J., Cho, S. and Putra, E.D., 2017. The moderating effect of self-efficacy and gender
on work engagement for restaurant employees in the United States.
International Journal
of Contemporary Hospitality Management
, 29(1), pp.624-642.
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Ludwig, T.D. and Frazier, C.B., 2013. Employee engagement and organizational
behavior management. In
Integrating Organizational Behavior Management with
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
(pp. 143-150). Routledge.
Maxwell, G., Rankine, L., Bell, S. and MacVicar, A., 2007. The incidence and impact of
flexible working arrangements in smaller businesses.
Employee Relations, 29(2), pp.138-
161.

Michielsens, E., Bingham, C. and Clarke, L., 2013. Managing diversity through flexible
work arrangements: Management perspectives.
Employee Relations, 36(1), pp.49-69.
Myerson, J. and Bichard, J.A., 2016. New demographics new workspace: Office design
for the changing workforce
. Routledge.
Qin, R., Nembhard, D.A. and Barnes II, W.L., 2015. Workforce flexibility in operations
management.
Surveys in Operations Research and Management Science, 20(1), pp.19-33.
Spaulding, S. and Martin-Caughey, A., 2015. The goals and dimensions of employer
engagement in workforce development programs.
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Sprague, R., 2016. Redefining'Employee'to Provide Worker Protections within a Flexible
Workforce.
Available at SSRN 2801079.
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Online
Sharlyn Lauby, 2018 [Online] [Assessed through]
<
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/how-to-
create-a-recruiting-strategy.aspx
>, [Assessed on 5th June, 2019]
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