Questions Section 1 –
Case Study (It is recommended that you spend approximately one hour of your time on section 1) Note: In your responses, you are allowed to improvise or add to the case study details provided below. However, the case study should not be changed or compromised in any way. Super Snacks is a quick service restaurant chain which employs 1,000 people across 120 restaurants in the UK. Tom Maguire, the Compensation and Benefits Manager characterises the management approach there as ‘if it moves, we measure it’, and a variety of metrics are used to assess the reward practices he designs. The investments in staff incentives, training and benefits are perhaps surprisingly extensive in a sector with something of a low skill/low pay reputation, and the company’s recruitment advertising campaigns have been aggressively working to shift that image. The firm commissioned Professor Jack Smith to investigate the employment experience and he found that working at the company had a generally positive impact on young peoples’ skills and employability. The engagement of Super Snacks employees is measured using the firm’s annual ‘Your Thoughts’ survey, a long‐term tracking study of employee opinions, and it had an 85 per cent response rate in 2017 in the UK. The survey covers views on reward and employment practices and amongst hourly paid staff, 77 per cent agreed that their pay and benefits are competitive, 80 per cent that they are respected and recognised for their work, 84 per cent that leaders behave consistently with the company’s values, and 85 per cent are satisfied with their personal development and growth opportunities. The proportion of engaged staff has grown from 77 per cent in 2017 to 82 per cent in 2022. The Super Snacks engagement model breaks the contribution of employees into two components: competence and confidence. The confidence index is an amalgamation of the responses to questions such as people looking forward to coming to work, feeling motivated in their job, and feeling proud to work in the company. The aggregate index has increased from 69 per cent in 2018 to 81 per cent four years later. All of their training and skills initiatives have been targeted on building staff competence, picked up in the survey with questions about staff feeling they have received the training they need, are able to satisfy customers and have effective performance reviews.. This index has also increased, from 86 per cent to 92 per cent, over the last four years. But the performance impact is most evident when the variations between outlets are considered. Comparing the outlets with the most positive employee attitudes (where more than 50 per cent of employees are ‘positive’) with those displaying the lowest levels of engagement closely mirror the sales counts of those stores. Sales are an average 28 per cent higher in the high engagement stores. This is why the need for engaged and committed people in the company is taken, and invested in, so seriously. Essentially, the company needs to deliver quality food, a clean environment and a speedy service that drives up customer visits that boosts sales and profits
. In your role as an External Business Consultant, Super Snacks have commissioned you to write a report drawing on research and current practice, covering the following issues: 375 words each question
1. Critically analyse the effect of the employee engagement strategies employed in Super Snacks (10 marks)
2. How has the use of metrics enabled Super Snacks to engage employees? What other strategies could they have used? (10 marks)
3. With reference to Super Snacks and other organisations, critically evaluate the importance of legal compliance within the HR function and in what way this impacts on HR strategies and HR practices
(10 marks)
4. Critically evaluate the importance of HRD to Super Snacks. Please provide examples in your answer. (10 marks)
