Problem
Renwick Case
Renwick Inc. distributes environmentally-friendly household products to large and small retail stores across Canada. Their products are sourced from around the world, which they import in bulk then package and distribute from a large warehouse located in Oshawa, Ontario. They also pay fair prices for their products. They opened for business four years ago and have been rapidly growing ever since as more consumers seek out sustainable and fair-trade products. As with all other businesses, they have been struggling with finding and retaining employees given the big resignation and projected shortages of labour. They also realize that their current workforce is not diverse as it should be, and would like to attract more people from the four designated groups outlined in employment equity legislation. They have run into situations where employees have requested flexibility for family reasons (such as taking care of young children or elder family members) and for religious worship. Thus far, given how busy they have been, they have not supported these requests. They do pay above market wages however have not had time to implement a proper benefits package. Another concern is productivity, whereby the warehouse workers have been taking longer than they should to fill the orders coming in from retailers. There has also been an increase in errors made in packing the items requested. Fortunately, the supervisors have been able to catch the mistakes before the packages were shipped. Supervisors feel that this may be happening because the work is very monotonous and repetitive. Another possibility is that warehouse workers are often put on the job right away upon being hired, with very little onboarding and orientation. All of these issues are weighing heavily on the mind of Renwick's VP of HR, Harriet Robertson. She is looking to put a comprehensive set of new HR policies in place but would first like to know what the experts are saying and what other organizations are doing. Harriet has asked your team of HR consultants (i) for your expertise and (ii) to scan current HR literature/publications and provide your findings to her.
Task
1. Describe and comment on the HR issue from the case and
2. Analyze the relevant HR sub-topic or concept covered in the textbook/course material and suggest what should be done to address the HR issue you have selected from the case.
3. Look for TWO articles containing Canadian content that help to provide useful ideas on the sub-topic/HR concept you selected. The articles should be published after July 1, 2020 - the more recent, the better. Articles must be from an HR-related trade journal.