Pumpbie Company Case Study

The Bumpbie Company is a small company that manufactures plastic parts. Founded by two brothers 15 years ago, the plastics company operates out of a single location in an industrial park outside of a major metropolitan area. The majority of the company's workers are Caucasian, with approximately 20 percent African Americans. However, the labor market has changed over the years with multiple different ethnicities moving into the surrounding area. Increased demand in small plastic parts fueled growth in the company in recent years. About 18 months ago, the owners hired Paul, the company's first human resources professional. The owners instructed him to, "use human resources to keep us staffed so we can grow," and to, "keep us out of court." Paul

Upon further discussion, they determined the cause was likely due to the high turnover of quality employees. Exit interview notes indicate the majority of the people who voluntarily left the company for better opportunities were women or minorities. Most of the women expressed their displeasure with inappropriate behavior of men on the shop floor, citing instances of "off-color jokes and innuendos." Further discussions among human resources professionals and company management indicate managers and supervisors are uneducated on issues of diversity, respect and equal opportunity. The company's human resources department must focus on specific employment laws and regulations to meet the owner’s specified tasks of keeping them staffed up and out of

When Paul attempted to retrieve HR metrics, he found the data was either not available, or difficult to retrieve and analyze. The company’s main problem that is causing a lack in production is retention and turnover. In addition to causing a lack in production, turnover is a very costly problem. HR must focus on employee turnover and retention to gain an understanding of problem areas that are causing talented employees to leave. Sharlyn Lauby, president of the consulting firm ITM Group Inc., stated, “With unemployment continuing to drop, recruiting is getting tougher and organizations cannot afford to just go hire someone else—companies need to understand why employees stay and what causes them to leave” (Maurer, 2017). Management also needs to address job satisfaction and commitment, which is likely the main reason for poor retention and low work performance. The human resources department can assist management with job satisfaction and commitment by evaluating and tracking employee work attitudes. Paul should know the importance of establishing clear and concise job descriptions for employees both in the managerial and workers level positions. The book states, "To avoid potential lawsuits, it is important that organizations support lists of essential job functions with hard evidence based on the information found in job descriptions and assessments of typical work duties" (Mathis, 2015,