Sign In
Not register? Register Now!
Essay Available:
Pages:
3 pages/≈825 words
Sources:
1 Source
Style:
APA
Subject:
Management
Type:
Case Study
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 12.96
Topic:

Pension Benefits and Plans

Case Study Instructions:

Guidelines:

The answers must address, with in-depth analyses, all the relevant issues pertaining to the assignment. Spell check to remove spelling, linguistic and grammatical errors. Ensure your report is well organised and clear and adheres to the described format. Do not type the given case again as it will lead to plagiarism issues.

Total word limit: 800-1000 words

Font: 12-point Times New Roman; 1.5 line spacing; 1” margin on all sides

Case Study:

Makers Crafts is facing strong competition in the retail craft chain-store market. Easy Crafts, a new discount craft-store chain, is opening stores in many of Makers Crafts’ market areas. Makers Crafts has been a leader in the craft supply marketplace due to the company’s superior customer service provided by a well-trained and compensated retail staff that are experts in crafts. Customers have enjoyed the opportunity to gain advice and ideas from the company’s talented workers over the years, and customers are loyal to the committed staff. However, the new discount chain is drawing away customers by recruiting the experienced staff from Makers Crafts. Adding experienced staff to the lower prices at Easy Crafts is quickly drawing business away from Makers Crafts, and company executives are concerned.

The sudden employee attrition at Makers Crafts is a top priority for new Director of Human Resources, Latonya Thomas. Her initial evaluation of the situation suggests that the company needs to examine its benefit offerings. Makers Crafts has done well at recruiting and training staff; however, little attention has been paid to the company benefits offerings to complement the competitive employee pay. While the company pays its employees above market-average wages, it has slowly changed benefits offerings in response to cost concerns. In the last five years, employee contributions to health-care premiums have increased, and the company has scaled back its contribution to the employee retirement plan. While these changed have helped the company control benefit costs, the changes have led to frustration by the employees.

Easy Crafts has capitalized on employee dissatisfaction at makers crafts by offering a generous benefits package to draw away workers. The frustrated employees that have moved to Easy Crafts have accepted minor pay cuts in exchange for benefits that better meet their needs. For example, many of the company workers are older ant heir concerns about retirement benefits in particular are more pronounced as their retirement is not far away. Part of Easy Crafts’ strategic planning process to grow its market share included determining the types of benefits that would be attractive to these workers. Thus, Easy Crafts offers a retirement plan that provides more significant contributions by the company than Makers Crafts plan provides. Given the successful recruitment of so many makers crafts workers, it seems that Easy Crafts planning was effective.

Latonya knows that the company needs to make some changes to its benefits plan. However, she also knows that it is important to not make any hasty decisions in response to this challenge. Latonya needs to begin collecting information in order to start the planning needed to determine the appropriate changes to Makers Crafts’ benefits plan.

Tasks:

  1. Is it a smart effective strategy for Latonya to offer the same benefits as her competitor? Give reasons to explain your answer.
  2. What kind of information does Latonya need for the strategic benefits planning process for Makers Crafts?
Case Study Sample Content Preview:

Case Study: Pension Benefits and Plans
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Instructor's Name
Course
Date
Case Study: Pension Benefits and Plans
Question One
Makers Craft's Human Resource Manager, Latonya Thomas, should make a hasty decision on the best employee benefits package because the company is losing some of its long-term employees at a high rate. However, it is not an effective strategy for Latonya to offer the same benefits as their competitor, Easy Crafts. Primarily, makers Crafts used to offer the best compensation benefits to its employees, but on the way, the company started changing gradually due to the concern of the rising cost. This is the start of the company's problems in implementing a poor employee benefits package. The best strategy for Makers Craft is to revise its benefits plan and examine the already initiated changes and their effect on employee satisfaction.
Latonya should consider examining the extent to which the current benefits packs burden its employees. Much as some of the components of the compensation benefits might be similar to their competitor, Easy Crafts, makers Crafts should not duplicate the strategy. Latonya should note that Easy Crafts is a new entrant into the retail craft-store market. The strategy to improve employee satisfaction within the retail store should be analyzing its internal environment rather than the external factors such as Easy Crafts' competitive strategy. Therefore, it is advisable to revise employee remuneration and benefits by returning to the old compensation benefits plan. Equally, if Makers Crafts applies the traditional defined benefits plan for employee retirement, Latonya should substitute it with the defined contribution plan. The defined-contribution plan will allow the employees to save and invest their money depending on the degree of risk they can tolerate (Kabeyi, 2019). The defined contribution plan will be attractive to the employees. Since economic times continue to be challenging for employees, Latonya should provide a criterion that will help revise the remuneration of employees upwards so that they can confidently meet their needs. It will motivate them to stay loyal to their employer, Makers Crafts.
Question Two
In designing a benefits planning process for Makers Crafts' employees, Latonya needs the following information.
* The organizations' benefits objectives and budget
After consultations with the employees, the objectives will be the guiding principles and expectations. It will be significant to encourage Makers Crafts employees to give their expectations regarding an effective strategic benefits plan. According to the case study, the objectives should focus on offering competitive pay to the employees because it is the central issue of con...
Updated on
Get the Whole Paper!
Not exactly what you need?
Do you need a custom essay? Order right now:
Order

👀 Other Visitors are Viewing These APA Case Study Samples: