Author Archives: Muhammed

Retention Assignment – Retain Harper

The most demotivating part of Harer’s job is that she has been in the same role for 4 years and never was promoted. Since her previous boss, Jose, left the company, she has been taking on additional work to cover some of his late responsibilities. Along with all of that, she feels like there is a lack of communication. If I was an HR manager meeting with Harper’s supervisor, David, I would advise him to incorporate some of the 9 effective employee retention strategies to help keep valuable employees like Harper. 

The first strategy that I would advise David to take is number 4 in the 9 effective strategies which is to communicate. Creating a culture of open communication is very important to cultivating a good relationship with colleagues. Doing so will allow Harper the space to address any grievances and any other problems she may be facing. This strategy will allow everyone on the team to have a sense of collaboration and will also build trust in senior management. 

Secondly, I would encourage David to train and mentor Harper to be able to take her former boss’s role. She would be an excellent candidate for the role since she is familiar with the job duties and has already taken up some of its responsibilities. Doing so would be a flawless execution of effective employee retention strategy number 1 which is having advancement opportunities for employees.

If the company were to lose Harper and the likes of Harper, it would take a big blow to the overall health of the company. It would have lost a talent that would most likely take a long time to replace and train. The outcome is a loss of productivity and resources. And if it becomes a habit it will be bad for the company’s culture and would damage morale among the staff.

The Founder

  1. What makes Ray Kroc and the brothers different from each other?

Ray is a real wolf and is as persistent as they come. He has high ambitions and isn’t afraid to take risks. On the other hand, the McDonald brothers are constantly analyzing risks and err on the side of caution. 

  1. Do you think the McDonald’s brothers did the right thing by selling out to Ray Kroc? Did Ray Kroc give the brothers a good deal?

No, the McDonald brothers should not have sold the brand. I believe they should have put up a better fight and even if they had lost the fight concerning Ray controlling the real estate they would have still earned much more profit than 2.7 Million had they stayed. No, it wasn’t a fair exchange, but Ray was the only one who saw the real potential in the McDonald’s brand so to the two brothers they saw it as a good enough deal to go through with it.

  1. How did the local store franchisees make money?

They made their money by operating their restaurant.

  1. How did Kroc make money? How was that different than the franchisees, running the local stores?

Ray profited from the collection of all the McDonald’s branches and also the real estate. The individual franchisees only made what their restaurant brought in. 

  1. Does this film change your view of McDonald’s?

Yes, it has. I did not know that McDonalds had such a story behind it. I’m shocked thinking that it could have gone down a different path entirely and had it not been for Ray it probably would never have been as big as it is today. I’m surprised at how it was essentially stolen from the founders. From how I see it, Ray had his eyes on taking the brand from the start.

Ethics Assignment Paychex

I chose Paychex, a leading payroll software provider because I have interacted with and benefited from its services for years. I was very proud to see it listed on the World’s Most Ethical Companies Ethisphere website and it has been awarded Honorees 15 times. I started to research deeply into the company’s efforts concerning Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainable business practices. Paychex invests a lot into their efforts to commit to Corporate Social Responsibility and many of their projects point to it. You can find a page on their website for every campaign that is dedicated to the many programs around CSR like philanthropy, energy conservation, sustainable supply chains, reducing carbon footprint, fair trade, community service, volunteerism, etc.

PayChex believes that charitable giving is engrained in its culture and is central to its corporate identity. Paychex Charitable Foundation was founded in 2014 and by this, they actively engage in providing support to the community. Just recently on November 11th, they posted on social media about their efforts to support the @GarySiniseFound’s mission of creating and supporting unique programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, strengthen, and build communities. Paychex is committed to reducing the environmental impact that’s caused by its operations and they are constantly revising their Environmental Policy to align with their goal of achieving Net Zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Paychex is a supporter of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). 

Paychex has a record that speaks for itself when it comes to its accomplishments in Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainable business practices but if there’s something I would recommend it would be to partner with other companies who are also just as invested in the health and well-being of society and the environment and to create educational campaigns that would urge other companies, FANG and start-ups alike, and educate them on the benefits it will hold for the community at large. Also after looking through Glassdoor and reading some of the reviews left by employees who work at Paychex, it is clear that there is a  disconnect between the upper management and those who work under them, especially those in payroll reps. This is made clear from the many reviews that expressed this dissatisfaction as a con of working in the company. Taking time to foster and grow the relationship between colleagues is very important to cultivating a healthy work environment and building trust.

Paychex is an extraordinary company and it has proved itself to be a strong advocate of Corporate Social Responsibility and being a business that adopts sustainable practices. I hope that they will continue these virtuous pursuits and be an example to other businesses.