Immediate issue:
The company has to deal with its lower-wage employees¡¯ work-life balance issue.
Basic issues:
1.The work-life balance program was ignored by lower-wage workers because they couldn¡¯t afford that program.
2.The lower-wage workers were depending on management for assistance with more serious issues not just child-care or referral programs.
3.Managers spending upwards of 50% of their time to solve employees¡¯ numerous personal issues.
4.Extremely high turnover among the company¡¯s lower-wage employees.
Importance
1.Managers spend a lot of time on solving employees¡¯ personal issues. They could have more time to focus on the company¡¯s strategy if the issue is solved.
2.The company is in the service industry. High standard service is the company¡¯s competitive advantages. More than three-quarters of the company¡¯s employees are hourly employees. They provide the service to customers. Their personal issues will directly affect the quality of the service that they provide. Thus affect the company¡¯s profit.
Urgency
The company¡¯s existing program is not working. Lower-wage employees¡¯ personal issues are still unsolved. The company is wasting money on the program. The managers are wasting time on solving lower-wage employees¡¯ personal issues. Unsolved employees¡¯ performance is threatening the company¡¯s high standards of service. Therefore, in order not to keep losing money and time, the company need to start finding solution for this issue as soon as possible.
Cause
No one in the senior management team was talking about lower-wage employees with respect to work life challenges. Their existing work-life balance programs were more toward to professional employees. They are useless for lower-wage employees.
Effects
Managers spent more than 50% of their time on solving lower-wage employees¡¯ personal issues because there is no program within the company that can help those employees. Company is losing money because the high