Introduction
The greatest investment that a business can make for success is an investment in the workforce, which is why HR management is an important part of business plans. This business plan document discusses the workforce-related plans of All Colors of the Rainbow – a newly-established organization to support financially disadvantaged students in Michigan. To transform the business into an attractive employer, the plan includes strategies for tutor recruitment and selection, employee training/development, benefits for employees, employee appraisal, and the protection of employees’ right to impartial and equal treatment.
Summary
All Colors of the Rainbow is a business that has been established in Michigan this year to serve the unmet educational needs of low-income K-8 students in Mount Clemens and the Metropolitan Area and contribute to their academic success. Modern researchers in the U.S. widely recognize educational achievement gaps associated with one’s ethnic minority status and coming from a low-income background (Owens, 2018). The organization has been created to address this problem in Michigan.
The business operates in the K-12 segment of the education sector and is projected to have at least 1099 employees in the nearest future to be able to implement its mission and vision. It aims to promote the all-around development in high-risk groups by offering services to improve the acquisition of practical skills and knowledge in six different school disciplines, including History, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Math, and Reading. From the considerations of epidemiological safety, it is planned to make use of different methods of instruction, including both face-to-face teaching and lessons via video conferencing (Zoom Video Conferencing Software). The services should have a tangible impact on the selected demographic group’s academic performance, so the effectiveness of the program will be evaluated by comparing students’ pre- and post-intervention learning levels, as well as analyzing the feedback from stakeholders.
Recruitment/Selection
To a large extent, the success of All Colors of the Rainbow will depend on the effectiveness of the processes aimed at identifying, attracting, and selecting the best possible candidates to provide educational services to children. The recruitment and selection plan should include the stages of job analysis and job description development, creating hiring/recruitment calendars, choosing job advertising methods, planning and conducting job interviews, and offering jobs to those with the necessary experiences and attitudes to teaching (Picardi, 2020). Having analyzed the job positions to be offered, HR specialists at All Colors of the Rainbow will create comprehensive job descriptions, including responsibilities/functions, job titles, required qualifications, and working conditions, and disseminate them using job search websites, contacts with educational institutions preparing teachers, and social media (Picardi, 2020; Wang et al., 2019). Having estimated the number of students in the community that need such services, the organization will create a recruitment calendar to specify the start of each round of hiring and the number of positions to be filled in during each quarter.
Tools to conduct the process of applicant interviewing will be developed and approved before the start of strategy implementation. Regarding job interviews, it is essential to include relevant and non-discriminatory questions, such as the years of experience, educational background, the grades taught, one’s motivation to choose this career field, and teaching philosophy (Wang et al., 2019). The results of interviews and thorough reference checks will then inform tutor selection decisions.
Staff Training/Development
Timely staff training and development efforts will enable All Colors of the Rainbow to build a strong workforce and make sure that all employees have access to tools and resources to make a positive change for low-income students in Michigan. All Colors of the Rainbow should develop a new hire orientation program that can be delivered in person or using self-instruction and other forms of asynchronous learning (Marano et al., 2020). At a minimum, the program will cover the following:
- The business’s objectives, vision, and mission;
- Code of ethics and conduct for tutors;
- How teaching sessions are organized;
- Basics of conflict management for tutors (Marano et al., 2020; Mikkola & Lehtinen, 2019).
Apart from new employee training, the organization will research practical issues reported by students and tutors and design knowledge development opportunities for employees to improve service quality. Some examples may include collaboration with more experienced colleagues for beginning teachers, training sessions devoted to online teaching using Zoom and computer equipment, or inclusion and diversity courses for tutors (Mikkola & Lehtinen, 2019). Depending on the specificity of the identified practice problems, the organization will be able to choose between designing its training materials or using the available solutions (for instance, Zoom tutorials for teachers can be accessed online for free).
Compensation Package
All Colors of the Rainbow will offer a compensation package to its employees to build a competitive advantage and improve its chances to retain the most talented tutors. It has been shown that satisfaction with employment conditions, including compensation package, contributes to job satisfaction and the willingness to continue working for a specific employer (Babu et al., 2016). The compensation package for specialists working for All Colors of the Rainbow will include a fixed base pay structure calculated individually for every job title. In terms of vacation, employees will have ten vacation days after one year of service and fourteen days after three or more years.
Another component of the package will be performance bonuses for employees. Bonus systems have been shown to increase employee productivity and creativity (Bradler et al., 2019). The performance bonuses will be paid quarterly and tied to specific employees’ contribution to the organization’s ultimate goal, such as knowledge improvement in K-8 students. For instance, when it comes to tutors, based on the results of standardized diagnostic tests and student feedback, it will be possible to single out tutors with the best results and give them bonuses to increase these professionals’ motivation even more.
Legal Considerations
When planning a business development strategy, the discussed organization will need to ensure the absence of discrimination or unjust treatment during employee recruitment/selection and making wage payments. Anti-discriminatory practices should be evident in the company’s recruitment strategy – job descriptions should not mention demographic characteristics (sex, age, ethnicity, etc.) as preferred requirements since it can be counted as discrimination (Wang et al., 2019). Next, in terms of wages, according to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, employees’ demographic characteristics, such as sex, should have no influence on their wage levels and opportunities for career progression (Yearby, 2019). At All Colors of the Rainbow, any differences in wage levels should have a substantial justification, such as the complexity of the performed tasks, extra responsibilities, good performance, and other factors that are easily demonstrated.
Performance Evaluation
To promote success and evaluate its future employees’ growth in terms of practical skills and performance, All Colors of the Rainbow will implement an employee appraisal system. The benefits of performance appraisal cited in modern research include increases in job satisfaction and employee motivation levels, as well as a simplified process of setting performance objectives for the business (Idowu, 2017). It is proposed to implement a performance appraisal system based on the so-called 360-degree approach to employee appraisal. At the discussed company, this approach will involve employee evaluations conducted from the following perspectives:
- Evaluation by supervisors (quality of work, productivity, evidence of high ethical standards);
- Evaluation by co-workers (responsibility, communication, use of modern teaching techniques);
- Evaluation by clients (communication quality, creativity, individualized approach to teaching (Karkoulian et al., 2016; Idowu, 2017).
To implement the system, the management team is expected to prepare a detailed employee appraisal schedule helping to conduct thorough evaluations without affecting the workflow. Next, based on the identified indicators of proper performance, employee evaluation forms will be developed for all three groups of stakeholders discussed above. Before being delivered to employees, the feedback from the three groups will be critically evaluated by the HR department to single out the reviews that are probably biased and fail to reflect the actual situation. These cases, as well as complaints from employees regarding the results of evaluations, will be addressed by specialists trained in performance evaluation and conflict management.
Conclusion
In summary, the proposed business plan involves research-informed measures and strategies to organize collaboration with tutors in a way that would increase their willingness to choose All Colors of the Rainbow as their employer. The plan considers common life experiences of employees (risks of unfair treatment, lack of training, etc.) and the advancements of research in the field of business to offer the best possible conditions to employees. The creation of non-discriminatory job descriptions and fairness in employee selection will be followed by thorough measures to support skill development in tutors and promote accurate employee appraisal. An attractive compensation package and practices to eliminate any opportunities for discrimination in recruitment and wage distribution will also make prospective employees feel more protected.
References
Babu, M., Prince, A. F., & Chacko, A. (2016). Impact of compensation package on employee retention. International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management, 7(10), 36-40.
Bradler, C., Neckermann, S., & Warnke, A. J. (2019). Incentivizing creativity: A large-scale experiment with performance bonuses and gifts. Journal of Labor Economics, 37(3), 793-851.
Idowu, A. (2017). Effectiveness of performance appraisal system and its effect on employee motivation. Nile Journal of Business and Economics, 3(5), 15-39.
Karkoulian, S., Assaker, G., & Hallak, R. (2016). An empirical study of 360-degree feedback, organizational justice, and firm sustainability. Journal of Business Research, 69(5), 1862-1867.
Marano, K. E., Vladescu, J. C., Reeve, K. F., Sidener, T. M., & Cox, D. J. (2020). A review of the literature on staff training strategies that minimize trainer involvement. Behavioral Interventions, 1-38.
Mikkola, P., & Lehtinen, E. (2019). Drawing conclusions about what co-participants know: Knowledge-probing question–answer sequences in new employee orientation lectures. Discourse & Communication, 13(5), 516-538.
Owens, A. (2018). Income segregation between school districts and inequality in students’ achievement. Sociology of Education, 91(1), 1-27.
Picardi, C. A. (2020). Recruitment and selection: Strategies for workforce planning & assessment. SAGE Publications.
Wang, J., Straubhaar, R., & Ong, C. (2019). Teacher and administrator experiences with teacher recruitment, retention and support in a California charter-led turnaround school. Inquiry in Education, 11(2), 1-17.
Yearby, R. (2019). When equal pay is not enough: The influence of employment discrimination on health disparities. Public Health Reports, 134(4), 447-450.