Reference no: EM133094994

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Newbridge Limited is a Mississauga-based organization that manufactures medical devices and equipment for Canadian hospitals and private medical institutions. Newbridge specializes in making stretchers and transport chairs. They also make some patient room furniture including bed frames and overbed tables.

Newbridge employs approximately 300 employees. Some of the positions within the organization include Warehouse Managers, Production Supervisors, Production Workers, Sales Representatives, Equipment Service Technicians, Human Resources Administrators, and Marketing Associates.

The company has been in operation since 2017. For the first three years that the company was in operation, the production workers started at minimum wage. Today, the production workers earn $18 per hour with a shift bonus if they work the evening shift. However, there is still no formal wage structure. Currently, wage rates are mostly based on those prevailing rates in the surrounding area and are adjusted by the supervisors to maintain some semblance of equity between the workers. The Warehouse Manager, Bruno Iksil, noticed that some of the production supervisors follow a policy of paying their employees about 10 per cent above what others are paying, a policy that they believe reduces turnover while fostering employee loyalty. A greater concern to Bruno is his colleague, JP Hinkle, who believes in paying male workers about 20 per cent more than female workers. JP has been heard to say, "Men are stronger and can work harder for longer hours on the production line, and besides they have families to support." While the company offers all employees a dental plan, there are no further extended benefits.

While Newbridge advertises to be an "great place to work", many of the employees have expressed their concerns. Turnover has been a longstanding issue for the company. Employee exit interviews revealed that the three most significant sources of their dissatisfaction appear to be inadequate benefits, monotonous work, and poor recognition. The human resources department is faced with the continuing task of recruiting and hiring qualified production workers. The qualifications for these positions are a minimum of a high school diploma, excellent gross and fine motor coordination and teamwork skills. Yet, the department often struggles with attracting enough applicants for these positions.

Management has increased emphasis on productivity numbers and a heightened concern for quality. Consequently, workers are encouraged to put forth additional effort, and production standards have been raised to the point where many of the production workers, have complained of the faster work pace. One of the workers commented about the lack of concern management had over the workplace, "If you came in and took a look around, you would find guards off machinery, no written safety procedures and you wouldn't find any WHMIS data sheets on site." Just last month another employee was injured, this time by a filing cabinet falling over in a storage room. He had to be taken to the hospital. Recently, a group of employees got so ticked off about that and they walked off the job in protest. They sat outside for a couple of hours and then went home.

The employees receive an annual performance appraisal consisting of a completed checklist and a brief meeting with their supervisor. The employees are told verbally by the supervisor what is written in their performance review, but they do not see it. The supervisors are not diligent in recording incidences throughout the year. The supervisors complain that they have "hundred higher-priority things to attend to". When it was time to complete the performance appraisals, some supervisors will spot-check one or two things the employee was supposed to have done and tried to find fault with it. From the supervisor's point of view this would provide justification for a poor rating.

There are few complaints to management since employees have learned lessons from other employees who were fired for questioning the decisions made by supervisors. One employee, who was fired for refusing to follow the orders of a supervisor, launched a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the company. He felt he was asked to complete a task he wasn't trained to do.

Due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for medical equipment increased over 50%. Recently, the company announced that another production facility will be opened up in Moncton, New Brunswick. Due to some recent plant closures, the unemployment rate in Moncton is much higher than the national average. The decision to open the eastern plant had been made in hopes of cutting production costs, through lower wages, while increasing overall production to help meet the growing demands.

The company will be hiring approximately 200 employees with the majority being production workers. Most of the machinery in the new plant will be similar to that already being used in Mississauga. One machine, however, a robotic frame assembler, is new. Implementing this new assembler will result in a need to provide additional training to those employees who will operate the robotic frame assembler.

QUESTION

Identify and explain three solutions on how Newbridge should go about reducing the turnover in the production department. Ensure your explanation provides information about how employee engagement can be improved.