netrashetty
Netra Shetty
AmerisourceBergen NYSE: ABC is a Chesterbrook, PA based Drug Wholesale company that was formed by the merger of Bergen Brunswig and AmeriSource in 2001. They provide drug distribution and related services designed to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes, distribute a line of brand name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter (OTC) health care products and home health care supplies and equipment to a wide variety of health care providers located throughout the United States, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail-order facilities, physicians, clinics and other alternate site facilities, as well as skilled nursing and assisted living centers. They also provide pharmaceuticals and pharmacy services to long-term care, workers' compensation and specialty drug patients. It is a market leader in pharmaceutical distribution and ranked 24th on the Fortune 500 list for 2010 with over $71 Billion in revenue.
Work-Life balance has never been more important. Different factors led to the growth of work-life balance arrangements. In the case of High Air, geographic restrictions have caused the company to require employees to come earlier to work. On the one hand, this is advantageous but on the other hand, this is also a potential source of stress and dissatisfaction. The company needs to come up with more accommodating arrangements which will allow the employees to balance their responsibilities at work and their responsibilities at home and their persona lives.
Recommendations for Work-Life Balance
1. Flexi-time - Flextime (flexi-time) is a scheduling option that allows workers to select their starting and quitting times within limits established by management. There are generally core hours when all employees must be present. Although starting and quitting times vary, employee are required to work a standard number of hours within a given time period (Avery and Zabel 2001). There are different forms of flexible working that High Air can offer the employees:
* Formal Flextime – Formal flextime programs allow workers to vary their starting and ending times, and in some cases, even the number of hours that they work in particular weeks (Messenger 2004).
* Time Banking – Time banking or working times accounts involve keeping track of hours worked in ‘accounts’ for individual workers. Like some flextime programs, time banking permits workers to build up ‘credits’ or accumulate ‘deficits’ in hours worked, up to a maximum amount; however, the periods involved are much longer, ranging from several months to a year or more (Messenger 2004).
* Annualized Hours –This approach allows firms to increase hours of work during periods with a high volume of work, which can then be offset by shorter hours of work at other times when the company’s workload is less. The number of hours to be worked in any given week is determined by employers based on the needs of the enterprise, typically within a certain band of maximum and minimum weekly hours, subject to any additional conditions that may exist in collective agreements such as minimum notice periods (Messenger 2004).
Employee Motivation and Retention
In an environment where employees are highly mobile, meaning they can transfer from one job to another, the company needs to come up with strategies to keep their valuable employees and at the same time attract talented and qualified individuals. The management must focus on employee retention strategies particularly those that coincide with motivation. Motivation is an important factor is it affects performance and the desire of the employees to stay or leave the company.
According to Sims (2002), motivation is the process of satisfying internal needs through actions and behaviors. It is concerned with a composite of mental and physical drives, combined with the environment that makes people behave the way they do (p.55). According to Adair (2004), motivation is about something within you impelling you to move forwards, to achieve a goal, to make progress in a task. The ‘something’ is the driving force may be a need, or desire, or an emotion but it leads you to act in a certain way. Signs of motivation in a person are an energy and determination to achieve (p. 58).
Increasing Motivation and Retaining Employees
1. Pay for Performance – Pay for performance refers to any compensation method that ties pay to the quantity or quality of work the person produces. For a Pay for Performance plan to be successful, according to Sims (2002), the manager must:
* Ensure that effort and rewards are directly related.
* Make the plan understandable and easily calculable by the employees.
* Set effective standards that will benefit the organization.
* Guarantee the program.
* Guarantee a base rate.
2. Spot Awards - A spot award is a financial award given to an employee literally on the spot as soon as the laudable performance is observed. Spot awards have a sound basis in motivation. For example, to the extent that the rewards are both contingent on good performance and awarded immediately, they are certainly consistent with the expectancy approach, and provide the recognition most people desire (Sims 2002).
3. Job Redesign – Job design refers to the number and nature of activities in a job; the basic issue in job design is whether jobs should be more specialized or, at the other extreme, more “enriched” and no routine. Job enrichment means building motivators like opportunities for achievement into the job by making it more interesting and challenging. This is often accomplished by giving employees more autonomy and allowing them to do much of the planning and inspection normally done by their managers (Sims 2002).
4. Employee Empowerment - Empowering employees is a popular approach to work organizations. It means giving employees the authority, tools, and information they need to do their jobs with greater autonomy, as well as the self-confidence required to perform the new jobs effectively. Empowering is inherently a motivational approach. It boosts employees’ feeling of self-efficacy and enables them to more fully their potential, satisfying high-level needs for achievement, recognition, and self-actualization. Empowerment results in changes in employees’ effectiveness. The result is that people take more initiative and persevere in achieving their goals and their leader’s vision even in the face of obstacles. In order to effectively empower the employees, the manager must:
* Make sure people understand their responsibilities
* Give them authority equal to the responsibilities assigned to them
* Set standards of excellence that will require employees to strive to do all work “right the first time”
* Provide them with training that will enable them to meet the standards
* Give them information that they need to do their jobs well
* Trust them
* Give them permission to fail
* Treat them with dignity and respect
* Provide them with feedback on their performance
* Recognize them for their achievements (Sims 2002)
The recommendations are based on the belief that a motivated employee does not only perform well but also has an intense to stay in the job. In order to retain valuable employees, the company must first seek to motivate them. I believe that pay and monetary rewards are not the only reasons why employees stay in an organization. More than the financial gains that an employee receives, non-monetary rewards are also important in motivating and retaining employees. Another issue that I will be discussing in the next section (which is one of the cited reasons why employee retention is low at High Air) is the lack of clear training and development opportunities or programs at.
Work-Life balance has never been more important. Different factors led to the growth of work-life balance arrangements. In the case of High Air, geographic restrictions have caused the company to require employees to come earlier to work. On the one hand, this is advantageous but on the other hand, this is also a potential source of stress and dissatisfaction. The company needs to come up with more accommodating arrangements which will allow the employees to balance their responsibilities at work and their responsibilities at home and their persona lives.
Recommendations for Work-Life Balance
1. Flexi-time - Flextime (flexi-time) is a scheduling option that allows workers to select their starting and quitting times within limits established by management. There are generally core hours when all employees must be present. Although starting and quitting times vary, employee are required to work a standard number of hours within a given time period (Avery and Zabel 2001). There are different forms of flexible working that High Air can offer the employees:
* Formal Flextime – Formal flextime programs allow workers to vary their starting and ending times, and in some cases, even the number of hours that they work in particular weeks (Messenger 2004).
* Time Banking – Time banking or working times accounts involve keeping track of hours worked in ‘accounts’ for individual workers. Like some flextime programs, time banking permits workers to build up ‘credits’ or accumulate ‘deficits’ in hours worked, up to a maximum amount; however, the periods involved are much longer, ranging from several months to a year or more (Messenger 2004).
* Annualized Hours –This approach allows firms to increase hours of work during periods with a high volume of work, which can then be offset by shorter hours of work at other times when the company’s workload is less. The number of hours to be worked in any given week is determined by employers based on the needs of the enterprise, typically within a certain band of maximum and minimum weekly hours, subject to any additional conditions that may exist in collective agreements such as minimum notice periods (Messenger 2004).
Employee Motivation and Retention
In an environment where employees are highly mobile, meaning they can transfer from one job to another, the company needs to come up with strategies to keep their valuable employees and at the same time attract talented and qualified individuals. The management must focus on employee retention strategies particularly those that coincide with motivation. Motivation is an important factor is it affects performance and the desire of the employees to stay or leave the company.
According to Sims (2002), motivation is the process of satisfying internal needs through actions and behaviors. It is concerned with a composite of mental and physical drives, combined with the environment that makes people behave the way they do (p.55). According to Adair (2004), motivation is about something within you impelling you to move forwards, to achieve a goal, to make progress in a task. The ‘something’ is the driving force may be a need, or desire, or an emotion but it leads you to act in a certain way. Signs of motivation in a person are an energy and determination to achieve (p. 58).
Increasing Motivation and Retaining Employees
1. Pay for Performance – Pay for performance refers to any compensation method that ties pay to the quantity or quality of work the person produces. For a Pay for Performance plan to be successful, according to Sims (2002), the manager must:
* Ensure that effort and rewards are directly related.
* Make the plan understandable and easily calculable by the employees.
* Set effective standards that will benefit the organization.
* Guarantee the program.
* Guarantee a base rate.
2. Spot Awards - A spot award is a financial award given to an employee literally on the spot as soon as the laudable performance is observed. Spot awards have a sound basis in motivation. For example, to the extent that the rewards are both contingent on good performance and awarded immediately, they are certainly consistent with the expectancy approach, and provide the recognition most people desire (Sims 2002).
3. Job Redesign – Job design refers to the number and nature of activities in a job; the basic issue in job design is whether jobs should be more specialized or, at the other extreme, more “enriched” and no routine. Job enrichment means building motivators like opportunities for achievement into the job by making it more interesting and challenging. This is often accomplished by giving employees more autonomy and allowing them to do much of the planning and inspection normally done by their managers (Sims 2002).
4. Employee Empowerment - Empowering employees is a popular approach to work organizations. It means giving employees the authority, tools, and information they need to do their jobs with greater autonomy, as well as the self-confidence required to perform the new jobs effectively. Empowering is inherently a motivational approach. It boosts employees’ feeling of self-efficacy and enables them to more fully their potential, satisfying high-level needs for achievement, recognition, and self-actualization. Empowerment results in changes in employees’ effectiveness. The result is that people take more initiative and persevere in achieving their goals and their leader’s vision even in the face of obstacles. In order to effectively empower the employees, the manager must:
* Make sure people understand their responsibilities
* Give them authority equal to the responsibilities assigned to them
* Set standards of excellence that will require employees to strive to do all work “right the first time”
* Provide them with training that will enable them to meet the standards
* Give them information that they need to do their jobs well
* Trust them
* Give them permission to fail
* Treat them with dignity and respect
* Provide them with feedback on their performance
* Recognize them for their achievements (Sims 2002)
The recommendations are based on the belief that a motivated employee does not only perform well but also has an intense to stay in the job. In order to retain valuable employees, the company must first seek to motivate them. I believe that pay and monetary rewards are not the only reasons why employees stay in an organization. More than the financial gains that an employee receives, non-monetary rewards are also important in motivating and retaining employees. Another issue that I will be discussing in the next section (which is one of the cited reasons why employee retention is low at High Air) is the lack of clear training and development opportunities or programs at.
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