American Plastics had fared rather worse than its competitors during the economic downturn. With revenue, quality, and productivity down, management set several goals to reverse the company’s fortune. One area in need of improvement was human resources and “Janet,” the newly appointed HR Director faced a daunting challenge: to quickly re-invent the Human Resources function, reposition it a strategic partner to the business, and improve employee perceptions of her department. Her predecessor retired after leading a major reduction in force causing a significant exodus of key talent, some unexpected. Janet was charged with finding a way to retain top talent and develop a steady but highly-qualified stream of candidates to fill regular as well as critical positions. The CEO agreed with her that differentiating the human resources function was essential for the company’s strategic plan to succeed.
In her first two weeks on the job Janet discovered:
The management of talent is one of a handful of strategic services human resources can offer. The decline of traditional HR functions through automation, self-service, and outsourcing demands a “culture change” within human resources: adopt a business focus by an organization still structured largely around benefits administration, time and attendance reporting, labor cost processing, and similar transactional operations.
Write a communications plan not to exceed 1,050 words to support the strategy of American Plastics.
Justify why they were important for your strategic HRM planning process.
Recommend how to address these considerations.
Cite all sources according to APA formatting guidelines.
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