Consultancy Report on Selection and Retention of Staff for Sammie Services

What will this assignment assess?

1. Critically evaluate current theory and practice in assessing people at work
2. Critically evaluate problems and issues that arise in assessing people at work
3. Critically evaluate and employ practical methods in assessing people at work 4. Critically evaluate and apply ethical and legal guidelines with sensitivity and integrity

What do you have to produce?

Your task is to review the below case study and write a consultancy report (3000 words) providing an analysis of the issues facing the organisation on selection and retention of staff.

The company: Sammie Services is a national supplier of CCTV and security equipment, located in Birmingham city centre. The company provides products and services to both the domestic and commercial market. It holds contracts with both electrical suppliers and national house builders. The company was established in 1999 as a family business and is managed jointly by the chief executive officer and the managing director. Both still maintain active involvement in the company and have ensured that it has prospered in times of economic downturn. The chief executive officer is an entrepreneur who has developed creative ways to secure business contracts. The managing director is a hard-nosed businessman who likes to maintain control of activities within the organisation and be involved in the recruitment and selection of individuals into vacant roles. At an interview for a local newspaper, on the success of the organisation, the managing director stated: ‘The success is due to hard work, long hours, a tightly controlled workforce and financial acumen’.

The company has grown from two senior managers, two engineers and two sales executives in 1999 to two senior managers, five middle managers, 10 sales executives and 30 engineers. However, the company has gone through a 24-month period of losing sales executives to competitor companies. This is problematic as these sales executives are also taking their network of customers to competitors, which is having a negative impact on sales within Sammie Services.

The sales executive is responsible for securing sales in CCTV, security products and maintenance throughout the UK. The sales staff are known within the organisation as ‘baggers’ as their aim is to ‘bag’ business for the company. Of the 10 staff, two cover the south of the UK, two the north of the UK, two the east of the UK, two the west of the UK and two central UK. The baggers have a basic pay of £15,000 and a commission rate of 5% for the first £50,000 and 10% for sales over £50,000. In order for commission to be paid, a target of £20,000 sales per month has to be met. Staff turnover has been excessive for sales executives within the last 24 months. A total of six of the 10 sales executives have left for competitor companies. On an exit interview carried out by their direct line manager, reasons for leaving included unrealistic performance targets, a low basic salary, the job not being what they thought it would be, as well as confusion over their terms and conditions (such as the use of the company car for personal mileage).

These problems have prompted the chief executive officer to employ an occupational psychologist to evaluate the issues that exist in the recruitment and retention of staff, and make recommendations to rectify those problems. Basic information provided by the chief executive officer includes:

• Six of the 10 sales executives have left to work for competitor companies. Five out of these six have gone to Stronghold Security Systems who pay a good basic salary, although the commission basis is similar to Sammie Services.
• The highest earning bagger has been with the company since 1999 and earns approximately £85,000 per year. For new sales executives, undertaking the company's six-month on-the-road training has averaged about 1,000 commission per month.
• The managing director selects all staff members through interviewing and verbal references from the candidate’s previous employer. The chief executive officer has suggested using a situational judgment test to assess sales competencies but the managing director has made it clear that he does not believe in such ‘rubbish’ as he can identify a good sales person as soon as they walk through the door.
• The company advertisement states that the salary is £15,000 per annum with an opportunity to earn unlimited commission. The advertisement also states that the company has other benefits such as a company car. While employment contracts state the rates of pay, they do not state the benefits that employees receive.