After reading the case study provided, it seems like this company needs to work on their management. Reading what’s going on with Harper, I can see that the most demotivating part of her job is that, she is doing more work than ever and doesn’t feel like she is being recognized for her contributions. The worst thing you can do as a company is to not recognize your employee, you gotta make them feel like you care and appreciate them for all their doing for your company. Not something then this can raise your employee retention and that’s not go for your company because, you will be losing a lot of money.

If I was a HR manager, meeting with Harper’s supervisor, David the first thing I would tell him before giving him advise on how to re- engage Harper is, to always make sure your employees feels welcome and appreciated. Some key exponents I would tell David to do is, make time for them, realign their goals, set short & long term expectations, recognize good performance and incentivize improvement. In this case Harper’s is not getting any communication from his supervisor David, making her feel like what she’s doing is worthless and is not recognition worthy. She feels like she’s doing all this extra work  and is not getting any help or credit for what she’s doing.

If this company’s were to lose a caliber such as Harper, they will be taking a big hit towards their company. The first thing that will happen is their employee retention will fly because, now they have to look for a replacement or try to retain them by giving or offering them something to stay. Harper is not someone they would want to lose as a company because it seems like he’s the glue that holds it down and without him that company will not excellent to new heights.

• What do you think is the most demotivating part of Harper’s job?

The most demotivating factor of Harper’s position is that her boss has left the organization. Harper works with Jose for the past four years. They had a good work relationship. He was guiding her since the time she has joined the organization. Jose leaving, she has lost the guidance and support provided by him. The communication level with David, her new boss, is limited, and though her work has increased, she does not feel involved or values. He has assigned her more duties overburdening her and left her with very little time to balance work and personal life. I could relate to Harper because I, too, feel overwhelmed in my job. I think that the simple problem that most businesses overlook they don’t check on their employee. They don’t ask what their workload is or how they are doing. The employees help run the business. Lack of communication means Lack of productiveness. Lack of productiveness means no raise and loss of revenue because of customer retention. The organization knows motivated, engaged employees are essential, but most fail to hold managers accountable for making it happen.

• If you were an HR manager meeting with Harper’s supervisor, David, what advice would you give to help them re-engage Harper?As the HR manager, I would advise Harper’s supervisor David to create communication channels and prioritize helping Harper feel valued. David should spare some time weekly to share with Jones by providing constructive feedback to prioritize work schedules and feel part of the team. He can also give feedback on the positives and negatives to acknowledge her contribution and make her feel that she an essential part of the team. David should review her workload and responsibilities and distribute some workload to other team members giving her time and space to manage her effectively. Additionally, he can offer her a revised pay package to compensate for the extra duties and reinforce her efforts in helping the company achieve its objectives. Lastly, he should positively support her role in the team by recognizing her contribution to the team. David should also give her a promotion and a raise for taking all that responsibilities. Human Resources is supposed to take care of the concerns of the employees. They have to provide them with necessary benefits and timely training and appraise them from time to time to keep them loyal to the company. So, it would appear to make sense that when companies recognize their workers with an award, they will likely to boost morale and maybe even inspire them to work harder. “Employee of the Month” awards given out to increase confidence and encourage them to work harder.

• What would be the downside of losing Harper as an employee?

 The downside of losing Harper as an employee would be that the company would have to find a new employee and train the employee to adapt to the company culture and work style. The activity of hiring a unique individual would consume time, effort mad resources. The company would have to invest time in finding appropriate aid and train them to perform their duties. She has to have a good understanding of the organization, and her work style is ideally suited to the organization. Harper joined the organization immediately after graduating and has been completing her role for the past four years. The new employee may not adapt quickly to the work culture the company may find it challenging to find a suitable resource with matching competence levels. I feel money may not be at the heart of an employee’s decision to leave, and it will cost the company money, resources, and skills when the top performers go. I think losing employees is expensive and can often be prevented. Understanding the cost of an employee’s departure to your company and the real reasons employees leave will help you prevent it.

The following from Eight Effective Retention Strategies would help Harper in this situation.

1. Create a culture of open communication
2. Make it a priority to help employees feel valued
3. Don’t overburden employees
4. Understand why employees stay

• What do you think is the most demotivating part of Harper’s job?

I think what is making Harper want to leave the most, is the extra workload she is doing and the fact that she is not getting recognized for the extra work that she is doing.  When her old boss left and she took on the extra responsibilities, it seems they put those on her without any other incentives or bonuses for that work. What’s more is that her new boss doesn’t seem to meet with her or at least doesn’t seem to talk to her about her workload and what he can do to help.

• If you were an HR manager meeting with Harper’s supervisor, David, what advice would you give to help them re-engage Harper?

I would say that he should sit down with Harper and have a good and open discussion about Harpers workload and the responsibilities she has. She needs her work to be clear and defined. I think if they are going to give her more work, then they should either A) Promote her to Joses old job and hire someone for her position. That would get someone in the missing position and also decrease her workload and hopefully make her happy with where she is. Also she is somewhat familiar with the job, and is definitely familiar with her old job, so she would be able to be very helpful to the new employee that takes her old position. or B) Fill Joses job with another person, and get Harper back to the same workload she was happy doing, also should make sure that whoever fills Joses Job is a good communicator and will tell Harper what needs to be done clearly.

• What would be the downside of losing Harper as an employee?

Well according to the case study, Harper loves what she does at the company. So losing an employee at your company who loves what they do is always going to be a downside for the company since now you just lost an employee who probably does really good work since they love what they do. Not only that but now it will cost them money to find, hire, and train a new employee if Harper leaves, and they may not even get an employee that loves the work as much as Harper does.

Q. What do you think is the most demotivating part of Harper’s job?

A. Harper Jones started working as a Marketing Coordinator at Marketable, Inc since graduating college at the age of 22, the case study puts her at 26 meaning she has been in the role 4 years and is no newbie. She is well settled into the role’s responsibilities and workload. Since her prior boss Jose, left six months ago; there are two factors highlighted in the case study that contribute to Harper’s demotivation. The factors are the additional work impacting her work/life balance and the lack of communication/working relationship with her new boss David. I believe the most demotivating part of Harper’s job is the lack of communication/working relationship with David. She is used to forthcoming communication, awareness of what was going on, and development/management from her former boss who only managed two employees (including her). The new boss David has to manage the whole team and now Harper is one of many and is not receiving the attention or access she once had. She feels unrecognized for her efforts, not receiving help to manage her work/life balance stress and does not have a boss to turn to for advice. The absence of leadership for Harper is the most demotivating part of her job.

Q. If you were an HR manager meeting with Harper’s supervisor, David, what advice would you give to help them re-engage Harper?

A. In a meeting with Harper’s supervisor David, I would highlight Harper’s 4 years of service with the company, excellent track record of work (presumed due to lack of negative description in the case study), and describe the environment that Harper was successful in prior to David. I would explain that while people come and go in companies and the working environment/structure may change; company leadership has a responsibility to provide its employees the tools and conditions for success. Losing Harper would be a company failure to do so since the only implied reason she wants to leave now is because we are not providing her the proper leadership and engagement she needs. A meeting should be set with Harper, either formally or informally to allow her to voice her concerns, grievances, and recommendations for how to repair the situation and restore her morale. Harper has clearly shown dedication to her work and the company, she deserves an audience and input in her working conditions and future.

She is not asking for more money but may even be open to moving into Jose’s role since she thinks its been too long since Jose left that the company filled the role. This could provide an opportunity for the company to fill Jose’s position with an internal candidate, increase morale and motivation for Harper, and give her the recognition she deserves.

Q. What would be the downside of losing Harper as an employee?

A. The downside of losing Harper would have financial, productivity, and morale implications. Harper has been with the company 4 years, is well established and able to take on tasks her former boss Jose was responsible for. If Harper left the company, there would be financial costs to search, hire, retrain, and develop someone to that 4 year proficiency as a Marketing Coordinator. Productivity would suffer during that entire replacement process and would also be impacted on her co-workers that have to pick up her workload once she leaves. Creating a situation in which their workloads increase, morale decreases, causing a possible snowball effect where other employees may consider departing the company as well if they see a 4 year seasoned employee leave. Especially if that employee left because they needed help from leadership and leadership did not come through for her.

The following from Eight Effective Retention Strategies, would help Harper in this situation.

1. Invest in employees professional development
2. Create a culture of open communication
3. Make it a priority to help employees feel valued
4. Don’t overburden employees
5. Understand why employees stay.

Harper is demotivated because she is stressed about not keeping up with her workload. She feels under appreciated because she has taken on more responsibility and has not received recognition for her hard work. Most importantly, she is not receiving the support she needs to succeed at work. If I were an HR manager meeting with Harper’s supervisor, David, I would give him this advice to help him re-engage Harper.

1. Invest in her professional development.

Harper has been employed at Marketable Inc for the past four years. There is also an open position left behind by her prior boss, Jose. Why not train her for this new position? She has already proved she has initiative to take on more responsibility and has prior experience in the company.

2. Make it a priority to help employees feel valued.

Promoting Harper will show we value her contributions to our company and in turn, a promotion and a raise will add value to her life. I would also advise David to schedule weekly meetings with her to share progress and updates.

3. Don’t overburden employees.

Harper feels that David is unavailable to help when she needs advice. Perhaps David is overburdened as well. Promoting Harper will help David share his duties with her. Harper will distribute the workload she is not responsible for, since her promotion, to the other five members on the team. It is a win-win situation for all involved.

4. Provide employees with meaningful work.

With Harper feeling demotivated at work, I think this is the perfect time for David and Harper to have an important conversation. Sometimes with all the stress of work and life, we forget why we do what we do. They should talk about their why.  They should take this time to sit down together and share their goals and aspirations in the company and why they love what they do. Such a talk could help improve work relations between them and most importantly, leave them both feeling motivated and ready to work together. This will also lead to them both having a forthright relationship.

The downside of losing Harper, besides the financial losses the company would incur to rehire and train a new person, would be the company losing a valuable asset. An invaluable asset who loves what she does in the marketing industry and a remarkable team player who goes above and beyond.

The demotivating part of Harper’s job comes from a cocktail of elements. She has spent four years since she graduated, she still in the same post without any advancement. Even after the departure of her mentor (Jose), the company left his role empty when she could replace him. By replacing him, she would feel a big development in her career which had remained static for many years. Next, there is miscommunication or total lack of communication between her and David, the new boss. Even with the fact that she was overloaded, David didn’t take the time to listen to her and to determine whether she was satisfied or was happy with her tasks. If there is a lack of communication, problems cannot be diagnosed and solved. She felt helpless where she had a mentor at the beginning. Furthermore, Thus, she developed morale and psychological dissatisfaction with her job. She lost interest in staying in a company where there is no reward or recognition of their worker dedications and sacrifices.

Re-engaging Harper will ask a lot of tact. Her discomfort has reached an alarming level. However, David should try to reduce her work volume to help her recover the right scale between the work and real life. David should also allow her to get a new position for justifying her development in the hierarchy of the company. This promotion will become an opportunity for growth and new skills gaining. Harper deserves it, for her dedication and her work ethic. The company could also congratulate her officially through written feedback. All these things could help in addition to raising her wage. Besides, David should change his behavior within the company by listening more carefully to the workers and making the work environment more joyful.

By losing Harper, Marketable Inc. will lose a skilled worker, capable of being overloaded but still achieves the objectives set for him. The company can also lose money, because the one that will be recruited for replacing her, could need training and may not fulfill his job requirement. They can also lose reputation because this kind of situation is an example of weakness in their management of the workforce. Zappos example is to cheer in this case, they have shown strength by giving both, the workers and the customers, the same treatments.

I believe the most demotivating part of Harper’s job is the fact that Harper is feeling lost and under appreciated. She loves the company she works at but her fall out with her old boss, the overload of work, and the feeling that she is the only one who is trying is making her fall out of love. If I was a HR manager meeting with David, the advice I would give him to reengage harper is, simply make her feel appreciated and let her know that all the work she is doing is being noticed. Not only that but I would also tell David to fill Jose’s old role so she can have less work to do, and  give her a raise for everything she has done for the company. The downside of loosing harper as an employee is that the company would be loosing not only a hard hard worker, but someone who genuinely loves the company and the work done there. It’s hard to come across an employee who is in it for more than money. Not only that but the company would have to find someone new and just as hardworking as harper which in the end will be a waste of time, money, and resources.

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