Letter to CEO & CDS Analysis Summary, Essay Example

After reviewing the CDS survey, I have formed an analysis of the company that provides some clear cut recommendations for improving operations. The survey has revealed some urgent areas that require attention. Some of the biggest issues that need improvement entail fair compensation and base pay, communication between departments, and a need for senior managers to place more value on employer work-life balance. According to the survey, areas that require immediate attention include more focus on keeping employees informed about matters affecting them, enabling promotion opportunities, providing employees with annual increases and total rewards packages, and creating an environment where employees receive more recognition from supervisors. Some other areas that could use attention include factors such as treating employees fairly, more frequent feedback from supervisors, employees receiving more support and guidance from supervisors, and recommending CDS to others. These are the primary issues which received the most negative feedback from survey respondents. It is my view that is these issues are addressed the company will significantly improve its performance. The following looks at these issues in greater detail.

Communication between Departments

Communication is one of the most essential aspects of business, as it entails maintaining clear understanding between clients, staff, management and all respective departments. When asked whether communication between departments was well coordinated the rating average trended in the red between 3)”neither agree nor disagree” and 2) “somewhat disagree” with a rating of 2.87. This is a clear indication that employees are unhappy with how information is disseminated across departments. One key way to incorporate enhanced communication methods across departments and within the company’s workforce is to provide better training in regards to using technical tools for communication. Guffey and Loewy (2012), make reference to this factor as an essential aspect of business communication. They note that, “ever more data are stored on and accessed from remote networks, not just individual computers. This storing and accessing of data along with software applications in remote network clusters, or “clouds,” is called cloud computing” Guffey and Loewy, 2012). This applies to mobile communication and cloud computing, e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, and all other forms of web-based communication. The authors also make a point to note that security of these systems is a vital aspect of operations as well and maintaining safe and secure communication across departments.

Compensation and Benefits

Another issue that the company needs to address entails problems related to compensation. When asked whether they were fairly compensated, twenty one out of sixty respondents indicated that they somewhat disagreed with the statement, six respondents strongly agreed, while six strongly disagreed, twenty somewhat agreed and seven respondents neither agreed nor disagreed. This clearly demonstrates that overall, employees do not think the compensation packages offered by the company are justifiable for the amount of work expected for their respective positions. Furthermore, employee satisfactions with these compensation packages were also assessed. When asked whether they were satisfied with their base pay, seventeen out of sixty respondents indicated that they somewhat disagreed with the statement, while eleven stated they strongly disagreed and eleven were neutral. With only twenty respondents indicating that they somewhat agreed, and one indicating that they strongly agreed the average rating  trended below a neutral point of 3 and came out to be 2.72. This data reveals that in addition to employees predominantly not being satisfied with their base pay, they also feel they are not fairly compensated for their work. This attributes to negative employee morale and an urgent need for senior managers to reevaluate how employees are paid within the company.

Edmans (2012) assesses the correlation between employee satisfaction and firm value as it relates to social responsibility and ethical practices within corporations. The author notes that, “companies listed in the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For in America’ generated 2.3% to 3.8% higher stock returns per year than their peers from 1984 through 2011” (Edmond, 2012). The authors identify three main factors, specifically that These results have three main implications. First, consistent with human resource management theories, job satisfaction is beneficial for firm value. Second, corporate social responsibility can improve stock returns. Third, the stock market does not fully value intangible assets, and so it may be necessary to shield managers from short-term stock prices to encourage long-run growth.

What need to be improved most at CDS?        

In regards to upper management, Adam, Tony and Jeff noted that the primary issues that need to be improved at CDS entail a need for more recognition to the units and managers, comments which support more positive point of view instead of negative ones, and managers need to come see daily unit operations more instead of in the office. It was further noted that the IT Department is disrespectful. This could point to a need to enhance their customer services relations as well as improving how they interact with staff. While male and female equality was only mentioned three times within the survey, it seems to be an issue which staff identify as a problem. Rudeness in the workplace can contribute significantly to the inability of a business to operate effectively. As Johnson and Indvik (2001) note, “rudeness is at the low end of the continuum of workplace abuse; workplace rudeness isn’t violence or harassment or even open conflict, although it can build up to any of those things” (Johnson & Indvik, 2001). CDS’s IT department can learn from the argument made by the authors here in that stopping rudeness when it first emerges within the workplace can prevent a wide range of other issues from sparking. The specific factor noted within the survey was that the IT Department “disrespects people”. This is not an optimal environment for workers because it means that the employees are subject to working with in hostile environments that can potentially develop worse issues. The authors support this argument when they state that, “links between the work environment and indicators of employee loyalty, commitment, and productivity show this is not a “fluff” issue. In addition, a recent study on workplace incivility reveals that rude employees and managers can cost a company millions of dollars a year” (Johnson & Indvik, 2001).

Within the survey, Chuck, the Corporate Trainer, was criticized for not being professional, not doing enough training, and not doing an effective job of keeping confidentiality. More than just revealing a problem within training, this could point to some fundamental problems that arise from the policies affiliated with corporate training. For example, Keep (1989) notes that, “there is a solid economic rationale that is likely to bind the incidence of training to the development of wider human resource management policies. If a company has invested in training its workforce, it then makes sense to develop policies that will help to retain these employees and to motivate and develop them in such a way as to put to best use their skills…” (Keep, 1989). The best way to implement effective corporate training is to incorporate policies that support the time invested in training a workforce. This is something that Chuck could potentially utilize to improve his interactions with staff in his training process.

Work Life Balance

Work life balance also emerged as primary issue that requires attention. While the survey revealed respondents provided an average rating of 3.25 when asked whether senior managers demonstrate an understanding of the importance in assuring employees have a good work life balance, the rating shows that there is a need for more effective policies regarding work life balance and the management of employee hours. Work life balance influences how employees feel about work, specifically in regards to how efficient and enthusiastic they are in the field. There is a direct correlation with employee morale towards their work and level of performance and presidency with which they operate. As Gangwisch (2014) notes, “there are a number of potential explanations for the association between lack of control over work time and sleep disturbances. Control over work time could allow individuals to better balance their work responsibilities with their private obligations, social lives, and leisure activities” (Gangwisch, 2014). CDS can benefit from this knowledge as it shows social life plays an important role in how employees function within their work life. It’s recommended that CDS provide adequate support for their employees outside of the workplace in the form of collective scheduled events where attendance is optional. Work life balance can also be implemented in the form of telecommute days where employees are permitted to work from home of special days. Increasing days off, increasing compensation for overtime hours, and providing employees with resources to support their personal wellbeing, are other ways through which CDS and support and maintain a respectable work life balance.

Gangwisch (2014) makes the argument that obtaining necessary social support outside of work could decrease the impact of work related stress on sleep. It’s also suggested that if CDS can assist with ensuring employees have adequate social support outside of the workplace, they will be more likely to endure high levels of stress and longer hours in the workplace. Gangwisch (2014), states that, “employees are getting quality social support at work, then perhaps they would be able to tolerate longer work hours. Time for leisure activities can help with unwinding from a difficult day, and thereby facilitate sleep onset and sleep maintenance” (Gangwisch, 2014). The solution to issues with work balance, for CDS, is to implement more measures to control actual work hours so that employees will be less likely to become physically or mentally exhausted during work hours. This further enforces the idea that sleep management outside of the workplace, within the employees social life, is as much a concern for the employee as it is for the company in supporting the quality of their work balance. This concept is referred to as “work time control” which is an aspect of the employee’s day that allows them to regulate “their circadian rhythms and practice the commonly recommended sleep hygiene technique of maintaining a regular sleep-wake schedule” (Gangwisch, 2014). The author further notes, that, “high employee control over work time can also have negative unintended consequences. To accommodate other concerns, employees could choose to accumulate working hours into periods of increasing length without adequate intermediate rest periods” (Gangwisch, 2014). The primary argument Gangwisch makes is that when employees place emphasis on their short-term social obligations, it’s usually due to the fact that they are not provided with enough free time to be allocated to their social needs, which in turn leaks over into their work environment, causing irregular work schedules and then disturbing their sleep. They state that, “the present study by Salo found very high work time control to be associated with disturbed sleep in individuals who worked long hours, defined as working more than 40 hours per week.6 The authors theorized that those with very high work time control may have chosen to work longer hours and therefore allocate inadequate time to recuperate and unwind before going to sleep” (Ganwisch, 2014). The main benefit this study offers CDS is that it shows that work time has a direct impact on sleep quality, fatigue and ultimately work life balance. It is recommended for CDS to improve work life balance that the company intuitively focuses on their scheduling processes and the actual hours employees are working.

Conclusion

In sum, CDS can benefit from making some vital changes to company operations, specifically as it relates to focusing on keeping employees informed about matters affecting them, enabling promotion opportunities, providing employees with annual increases and total rewards packages, and creating an environment where employees receive more recognition from supervisors. Some other areas that could use attention include factors such as treating employees fairly, more frequent feedback from supervisors, employees receiving more support and guidance from supervisors, and recommending CDS to others. These are the primary issues which received the most negative feedback from survey respondents. Through focusing on improving these issues, the company can increase employee morale, ultimately enhancing the quality of the work life balance environment the company provides its employees. It should also be noted that when asked whether their jobs made good use of their abilities, whether employees felt they were encouraged to come up with new and better ways for them to do their jobs, and when asked whether their jobs gave them a good feeling of personal accomplishment, the company averaged an above 4.0 rating from respondents. The company also averaged an above 4 rating when respondents were asked whether they were satisfied with their jobs overall, whether they enjoyed the work environment, whether they thought the senior management was leading the company in the right direction and whether they thought collogues worked well together. This shows that while the company has much room for improvement, there are still some aspects of operation that are above average for its field, and employees overall are satisfied with their positions.

References

Edmans, A. (2012). The link between employee satisfaction and firm value, with implications for corporate social responsibility. The Academy of Management Perspectives, amp-2012.

Gangwisch, J. E. (2014). Work-life Balance. Sleep, 37(7), 1159.

Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2012). Essentials of business communication. Cengage Learning.

Keep, E. (1989). Corporate training strategies: the vital component?. New Perspectives, 109-125.

Johnson, P. R., & Indvik, J. (2001). Rudeness at work: Impulse over restraint. Public personnel management, 30(4), 457-465.