Which approach is most effective for the HR manager to use to resolve her difference of opinion with the sales manager?

A car sales company has approximately 700 sales employees and 200 administrative employees who perform the tasks of checking stock availability, processing deliveries, sending out invoices, and maintaining records and databases. During and after the pandemic, the company has suffered a 45% loss of profit and revenue due to poor sales. In a bid to stay afloat, the sales manager has laid off the entire administrative team and 100 sales employees who were the least performers last quarter. The remaining 600 sales employees are required to take on administrative tasks, as well as a 20% reduction in base pay and a 20% increase in commissions from car sales.

The HR manager has been told by an employee in the sales department that he is leaving because of the additional workload which has distracted him from making sales and has reduced his commission-based pay. The HR manager is concerned that employee satisfaction levels have fallen drastically due to the increased tasks and unfavorable compensation model. She believes several sales employees are planning to leave the organization which will further reduce the organization’s revenue.

The HR manager decides to share these apprehensions with the sales manager. The HR manager shares that there is a real possibility of high turnover amongst the sales employees which will result in loss of trained talent, corporate know-how and revenue. The sales manager refutes this claim and states that there is a necessity to weed out employees who do not pull their weight and have been relying on the certainty of their base pay as opposed to generating sales. The sales manager notes that the worst performing employees are those who complain and are welcome to leave.

Furthermore, the sales manager shares that laying off the administrative employees and increasing commission-based percentage of pay has improved the company’s financial condition and encouraged the sales employees to have a line of sight between their tasks and the company’ productivity. The sales manager states that the HR manager should not bother about baseless complaints but revise the job descriptions of the sales position to include the administrative tasks so as to recruit new employees who are comfortable with the workload of the role.

Which approach is most effective for the HR manager to use to resolve her difference of opinion with the sales manager?
A . agree with the new commission-based pay but advise that low cost and low skilled temporary staff be hired to carry out the administrative tasks which will enable the sales employees focus exclusively on sales and increase company revenue.
B . inform the employees that the sales manager has the final say over the department and suggest they create an employee resource group for a collective concerted avenue to share their issues with management.
C . propose that focus groups and exit interviews be conducted by HR to determine if and why the sales employees are dissatisfied with new work and compensation model.
D . Utilize a business case to inform senior management of her concerns over the increased turnover
rate in the sales department and its impact on company revenue.

View Answer

Answer: C

Explanation:

Note that the first thing to do is ascertain the reasons for the issues. The first thing the HR manager needs to do is determine if employee satisfaction levels have dropped and if this is due to the new work model and compensation model. Remember, HR must first ascertain opinions through valid metrics (focus groups and interviews) before creating or implementing solutions.

Note that it is inappropriate for HR to encourage employees to take collective action against the company and its management. Also, reporting the issue to senior management does not address the issue directly with the sales manager. Hiring temp staff incurs additional costs to a problem that the underlying issues have not been determined.