3CO04: You have recently been appointed as a member of a People Practice outplacement company: Essentials of people practice Assignment, UoWL, UK

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 partner’s main concern is that as the company evolves, they can no longer have personal control over people’s matters. They request that you take responsibility for raising awareness of people practices to the new management team such as recruitment, work/life balance, 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.

 Preparation for the Tasks: 

• At the start of your assignment, you are encouraged to plan your assessment work with your Assessor and where appropriate agree on milestones so that they can help you monitor your progress.
• Refer to the indicative content in the unit to guide and support your evidence.
• Pay attention to how your evidence is presented, remember you are a member of the People Practice team for this task.
• Ensure that the evidence generated for this assessment remains your own work.Task One – Standard operations guide for Technow recruitment.In preparation for the recruitment of Technow’s new management team, you are required to produce a standard operations guide to provide the partners and their organization with a step-by-step, easy-to-understand set of instructions so they can achieve formalization of the recruitment practice. It must include and consider:
  • An assessment of each of the different stages of the employee lifecycle, illustrated where appropriate by your role as an outsourced people practice professionally within the lifecycle. (AC 1.1)
  • An explanation of the stages and different methods available within the recruitment process and when it is appropriate to use each of them. (AC 1.2)
  • An explanation of the different methods and techniques that can be used to prepare and provide information for the various parts of the recruitment process for specific roles. (AC 1.3)
  • An assessment of the different materials and methods that can be used to attract talented individuals internally and externally for a range of roles. (AC 1.4)

Task Two – 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.

The pack must:

• Compare and contrast different selection methods that are used to assess the suitability of candidates and when it is most appropriate to use each method (AC 2.1)
• Discuss the records that need to be retained following a selection process (contributes to AC 2.4).

Task Three – 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.

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. A CIPD STARR Model Interview Questions – Appendix A has been included for reference.

You will need to demonstrate:

• Devising selection criterion from the personal specification for the appointment of a line manager. (contributes to AC 2.2)
• Shortlisting applications against the selection criteria to determine candidates to be interviewed. (contributes to AC 2.2)
• Contributing to a face-to-face, telephone or web conferencing interview as part of a panel using an appropriate interview structure. (AC 2.3)
• Using interviewing skills and techniques effectively, making justified selection decisions (AC2.3)
• Writing a letter of appointment, and a letter of non-appointment to candidates (Contributes to AC 2.4)

Task four – 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.

The narrative must include an:

• explanation on the importance of achieving work-life balance within the employment relationship with an overview of the regulations relevant to work-life balance. (AC 3.1)
• explanation of what is meant by, and the importance of, wellbeing in the workplace (AC 3.2)
• assessment of how the positive and negative aspects of employee engagement can impact the way people feel at work, and the likely results. (AC 3.3)
• summary of the main points of discrimination legislation and the impact that discrimination can have throughout the employment relationship (AC.3.4)
• explanation of what diversity and inclusion means, how it differs from equal opportunities, and the importance for business and for social justice (AC 3.5)
• explanation of the difference between fair and unfair dismissal as defined in legislation, and as perceived by those involved and not involved. (AC 3.6)

Task Five – 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:

• the purpose of performance management, and the factors, information and components that influence and affect performance management systems. (AC 4.1)
• the main factors that need to be considered when managing the performance of teams and individuals. (AC 4.2)
• 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. (AC 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.

Be sure to provide an:

• explanation of the key components (financial and non-financial) that are required to achieve an effective total reward system. (AC 5.1)
• exploration of the relationship between reward and performance, and the links to motivation. (AC 5.2)
• explanation of at least two reasons for treating employees fairly in relation to pay. (AC 5.3)

Task Six – 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. (AC 6.1)
• a summary that briefly explains different approaches learning, which must include at least: facilitation, consulting, training, coaching, and mentoring. (AC 6.2)
• an explanation of how, in the design and delivery of learning and development initiatives, individual requirements and preferences must be accommodated. (AC 6.3)
• examples of at least two methods of evaluating learning and development and its impact, and how evaluation benefits both individuals and organizations, (AC 6.4).

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