3CO04: You have recently been appointed as a member of a People Practice outplacement company: Essentials of People Practice Case Study, Ireland

Case study

You have recently been appointed as a member of a People Practice outplacement company. One of your first assignments is to support a client called Technow, a rapidly growing technology company started four years ago by a brother and sister partnership.

In your first meeting with the partners, they inform you that they are planning to recruit a new management team which will consist of 5 section heads and 10-line managers, many of whom will be new to the company. The partners main concern is that as the company evolves, they can no longer have personal control over people matters.

They request that you take responsibility for raising awareness of people practices to the new management team such as recruitment, work/life balance and engagement, key legislation, diversity, performance management, reward and learning and development. The intention is that the values and practices that the partners hold dear will not be lost in the expansion.

TASK 1- Standard Operations Guide for Technow Recruitment

An assessment of each of the different stages of the employee lifecycle, illustrated where appropriate by your role as an outsourced people practice professional within the lifecycle.

The employee lifecycle consists of seven stages, as shown in figure 1 below. The lifecycle begins with brand attraction and finishes with advocacy.

An assessment of each of the stages include;

Brand Attraction: This stage involves bringing positive awareness to the organisation through strong employer-brand image and marketing. The goal is to spark potential employee interest and desire to work for the organisation.

Recruitment: This involves all the steps involved in hiring a new employee, from the advertisement of the role to the acceptance. It is the initial interaction and an opportunity to inform the prospective employees about the organisations culture, as well as the responsibilities of the role.

Onboarding: This involves the provision of a smooth transition for the employee in their new role at the organisation. It ensures the employee understands the cultures while forming new relationships and should involve sufficient training.

Development: This stage involves continuous professional development to ensure the employee is experiencing job satisfaction and is confident in their role. This stage may also involve rewards and promotion.
Retention: This stage involves employee engagement and job satisfaction checks to keep employees at the company. Regular engagement surveys are essential to for this stage retention.

Exit: This involves the termination of the relationship between the employee and the organisation. It may involve dismissal, retirement, redundancy or a new position. A well-structured exit interview is vital for honest employee feedback.

Advocacy: This stage is about encouraging past employees to remain a loyal brand ambassador for the organisation. A positive exit stage will help with referral opportunities from organisational alumni.

There are responsibilities that an outsourced people practice professional can contribute to each stage of the lifecycle, some of which include;

1. Develop an effective selection process in the recruitment approach, ensuring there is a clear consistent link with the structure, values and culture of the organisation.
2. Ensure the selected employee has similar values to the organisation.
3. Develop engagement strategies to identify employee needs and encourage long term retention.
4. Ensure all employees have support and development resources throughout their employment cycle.
5. Develop strong exit interview strategy to determine reasons for attrition.

TASK 2 – Interview Preparation Pack

In readying Technow for interviews, create an interview preparation pack to advise on different types of selection methods that can be used and when it is appropriate to use each of these.

TASK 3 – Simulated interview with peers

The owners of Technow have asked that you are part of the interview panel to select the first of the line managers (*see Case Study details above, to guide for this task).

It is essential that you actively take part in devising the criteria, shortlisting, interviews, decision-making, and follow-up processes for the role and that your contributions are clearly and uniquely identified through comments from your assessor on the Assessor Observation Feedback Form

• Please see Appendix A of assessment brief for guidance on STARR model interview questions.

Devising selection criterion from the personal specification for the appointment of a line manager (2.2) – please provide details of person specification and related selection criteria

Shortlisting applications against the selection criteria to determine candidates to be interviewed (2.2) – please provide details of shortlisting process.

Shortlisting applications against the selection criteria to determine candidates to be interviewed (2.2) – please provide details of shortlisting process (150 words)

Contributing to a face-to-face, telephone or web conferencing interview as part of a panel using an appropriate interview structure (2.3) – Please input details of interview structure (150 words)

Using interviewing skills and techniques effectively, making justified selection decisions (2.3) – please provide details of selected interview techniques (250 words)

Writing a letter of appointment, and a letter of non-appointment to candidates (2.4) – please include copies of both letters

TASK 4 – Narrative legislation and organisational practices

Produce a narrative which can, if you wish, include illustrations, images, diagrams and flow charts, in order to provide the managers at Technow with a fundamental understanding of employment legislation and organisational practices.
During the initial meeting, the owners wanted an emphasis to be placed on clear explanation that highlights the importance of work-life balance, engagement, diversity and inclusion and how these are influenced by legislation. In addition, they wanted you to identify the main points relating to employee discrimination, fair and unfair dismissal law, since fairness was explained to be critical in driving Technow’s business values.

Explanation on the importance of achieving work-life balance within the employment relationship with an overview of the regulations relevant to work-life balance (3.1 – 250 words)

Explanation of what is meant by, and the importance of, wellbeing in the workplace (3.2 – 250 words)

Assessment of how the positive and negative aspects of employee engagement can impact the way people feel at work, and the likely results (3.3 – 250 words)

Summary of the main points of discrimination legislation and the impact that discrimination can have throughout the employment relationship (3.4 – 250 words)

Explanation of what diversity and inclusion means, how it differs from equal opportunities, and the importance for business and for social justice

Explanation of the difference between fair and unfair dismissal as defined in legislation, and as perceived by those involved and not involved

TASK 5 – Performance management and reward

Prepare a presentation, to include slide deck and supportive notes, aimed at providing Technow’s new management team with essential knowledge and understanding of performance management and reward. You need to ensure that you explain:

•Please insert screenshots of your slide presentation.
The purpose of performance management, and the factors, information and components that influence and affect performance management systems
The main factors that need to be considered when managing the performance of teams and individuals (4.2 – 160 words)

The key types of appraisal and how they are used in performance management. Include reference to the key skills needed by those holding the appraisal (4.3 –

With regard to employee reward, your presentation must clarify the importance of different approaches to reward that can be used for attracting, motivating and retaining individuals.

Explanation of the key components (financial and non-financial) that are required to achieve an effective total reward system (5.1 – 160 words)

Exploration of the relationship between reward and performance, and the links to motivation (5.2 – 160 words)

Explanation of at least two reasons for treating employees fairly in relation to pay (5.3 – 160 words)

TASK 6 – Supporting skills and knowledge development in the workplace

Currently employee development at Technow is non-existent. This is an area of people practice that the two owners of Technow are keen to address. To this end they have asked you to develop a factsheet to guide the new managers as they start to support others to develop the skills and knowledge to meet both individual and organisational objectives.
Your factsheet should include:

Examples of different learning needs that might arise for individuals and organisations, explaining how they might arise (6.1 – 250 words)

A summary that briefly explains different approaches learning, which must include at least: facilitation, consulting, training, coaching, and mentoring

An explanation of how, in the design and delivery of learning and development initiatives, individual requirements and preferences must be accommodated (6.3)
Examples of at least two methods of evaluating learning and development and its impact, and how evaluation benefits both individuals and organisations

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