Question 1

Case study:    The ties are off

It wasn’t a snap decision. In fact, Reid Johnson had thought about it on and off for the past decade. His home was ‘noisy and busy’ with four kids, the youngest in primary school and the eldest in their final year of high school. Work was busy too. As Telstra’s director of customer service, Johnson had nine direct reports and a 250-strong customer service team to manage. An opportunity at work changed everything. Telstra was about to launch a program giving men the chance to change the way they worked. The program included working a four-day week and taking Fridays off. Basically, moving from full-time to part-time work.

Johnson found that he was now able to take a more active role in parenting and sharing in taking the kids to school, sports and social activities. He was also able to create more space to support his wife, who was currently studying.

Although his boss was a big supporter of the arrangement, Johnson admits there was an           undercurrent of resentment in the workplace, the odd joke about men working part-time and the occasional ‘Oh, thanks for turning up’ comment. He also had to overcome self-doubt, and believe that it was not going to impact his career and that he could make it work.

Transitioning was important, so for three months he had someone in his team acting in his role on Fridays who would only ring him when absolutely necessary. Johnson only received four calls in 14 months.

Source: Adapted from McGeoch, L. (2017), The ties are off. HRM, 29, pp. 22–5.

Questions

1.   Discuss the benefits and problems this arrangement for senior employees has for the organisation and the employee.

2.   Why is this arrangement considered to be more unusual and less acceptable for men than women?

Question 2

Case study:    Singapore’s got talent

Singapore does have talent – and potentially plenty of it. In a nation dependent on human capital more than any other resource, identifying talented individuals within an organisation is critical.

According to new research, ‘talent’ are individuals with the ability to adapt and respond to changes and challenges, rather than someone with an impressive degree. The research, ‘Future of Talent in Singapore 2030’, conducted by the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, and the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI), found that the potential pool of talent in Singapore could be larger if organisations are prepared to accept less conventional candidates and the different ways of thinking and working that they offer.

For Singapore’s talent to emerge, business leaders need to change the cultural status quo and encourage individuals to pursue innovation, enterprise, experimentation and entrepreneurship,’ says Wong Su-Yen, Chief Executive Officer of HCLI. ‘With low unemployment and easy access to decent jobs, the benign environment in Singapore can lead to complacency, less risk- taking and a high fear of failure. As a result, many individuals make choices that are safe and predicable, but which hide the true extent of their talent,’ she said.

Current performance alone is insufficient to be recognised as talent. Individuals need to demonstrate they have the potential to  learn,  adapt  and  deliver more value  if given the opportunity to do so.

The ability to innovate and create value inevitably involves taking more risks and accepting occasional failure. In Singapore, to be considered talent of value, one has to master the fine line between taking risks to uncover new value and respecting the social norms the country values.

Questions

1.   In this  case  study, what  impact  does  country  and  organisational  culture have  on employee’s career development strategy?

2.   What are the implications of country and organisational cultures for both the employee and the employer?

Question 3

Case study:    International students 'shocked' by Australian working conditions

When news broke last year of systemic exploitation at 7-Eleven, Australians were shocked, but for many international students the wages were not so surprising. Underpayment is not limited to the multinational company — students working in hospitality, retail and cleaning told Story Hunters it was an accepted part of life in Australia.

Former international student Kenny said he worked his way through his degree at a popular Chinese restaurant for $8 an hour. "Most Australians would find that shocking — that's not much money at all," he said. International students can legally work 20 hours a week during the semester, but many say the low pay means they have to work more just to get by. "We know that it's illegal — if the Government finds out we'd be kicked out. We know the employer is doing the wrong thing … we can't complain. Too many students are looking for work," he said.

Kenny, from China, said working for $8 to $12 an hour was common amongst his peers, particularly those from Asian countries, but he said in his experience Vietnamese students were particularly susceptible to exploitation in the workplace.

Story Hunters joined two Facebook groups of 41,000 students from Vietnam and asked them: what is it like working part-time while studying in Australia? Around 60 students commented, emailed or messaged with their stories within three days, and more than 500 people responded to two polls, with two-thirds saying they were paid under the minimum wage.

Four students — Chi, Daniel, Vincent and Darren — agreed to speak to us in person, under varying conditions of anonymity.

Arriving in Australia can be a daunting and lonely experience for an international student. For many Vietnamese students, it is their first time away from home and Australian English is vastly different to the American pronunciation that they learnt at school. "I could not even order KFC when I first came here, because they couldn't understand me and I couldn't understand them either," Darren said. Darren said the experience rocked his confidence and, in need of work, he turned to the established Vietnamese community, who offered him a job waiting tables for $12 an hour. "I thought that when people speak Vietnamese with each other, they would treat me way better — but the opposite turned out to be true," he said.

"When I speak Vietnamese they just abuse me because they think that I don't have the ability to talk English to communicate with others and tell my story." Vincent said business owners assumed students like him would accept below-award wages because the average rate of pay in Vietnam was so much lower. "They say 'you should be happy, because in your country think of how much you can earn, and now how much do we pay you'," Vincent said. Even as the students  were  discussing  their  frustration  with  the  system,  employers  were  advertising positions for as little as $10 to them on the same Facebook group.

"Most of us when we work for mostly Vietnamese-Australian owners … it's very rare for us to get the $12 an hour if we don't have any experience, mostly it's about $8 - $10," Chi said.       When we met Chi she was working at a bakery for $8 an hour. It was her first job since arriving here four months ago. The way she was treated by the Vietnamese owner shocked her. She said she was expected to come in with no notice, worked 12-hour shifts without meal breaks and was regularly abused by management. "In Vietnam my parents own a fashion shop and they do hire people but never in my life have I seen them yell at their employees," she said. "Never in my life have I seen this kind of thing happen. "I can't say that every Vietnamese boss in Australia is like that, but it's not just me, it's not just my boss. Many Vietnamese students have experiences like this."

Daniel said his first job in Australia at a Thai restaurant paid just $9 an hour. "It was my first job and I don't know how to report him, and other workers with me were paid $9 so I thought it was normal," he said. When 7-Eleven was sprung for dodgy practices, it was a clear case of a  multi-million-dollar business being  greedy.  The  Fair  Work  Ombudsman  took them  to court, they were  forced to repay hundreds  of thousands  of dollars in wages and are now reviewing their practices.

But for international students working in small businesses across the country, justice is hard to come by. Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said the body only received "a couple of hundred complaints" from international students each year. "That doesn't to me suggest the full story, particularly when you consider there are 430,000 international students in the country," she  said.  Ms  James  said there were  four key  factors which made  international  students vulnerable to exploitation: youth, language barriers, loyalty to their employers, and concerns about losing their visas. These factors came up again and again when speaking to international students.

Students told us stories of being yelled at, belittled and breaking down in tears after a long day's work, but recoiled at the idea of going to the authorities. "If I talked to the Fair Work Ombudsman — I know that they will help us, but if I tell them the business will get [fined]," Vincent said. "My restaurant has 18 people, it will change the life of the boss, the business will close. The first thing — the worker will lose the job. "If I tell them, the whole Vietnamese community is affected, not only me."

"If the Government forces the employers to raise wages to the minimum level, then those owners will fire us, because they cannot afford it," Chi said. "The reason why the owner is paying $8 or $10 an hour is because of the relationship of supply and demand … if I don't work,  other  people  will."  Some  students  suggested  lowering  the  minimum  wage  for international students as a way to encourage employers to put staff on the books.

It is a controversial idea even amongst the students, with ramifications for local workers competing in the job market, not to mention on Australian ideals of equality. "If [we] are allowed to work in Australia, then we should be treated fairly," Chi said. There have also been calls for the Fair Work Ombudsman to conduct more random checks on small hospitality businesses known to hire international students.

Ms James pointed out the fundamental flaw in this suggestion. If the employers' records aren't right, if they're being so deliberately exploitative that they're paying $8- 10 an hour then they're probably not keeping accurate records of that, so simply looking at the books is not going to fix the problem, that's actually not going to tell us what's going on. We need to talk to people." Vincent called on Vietnamese-Australian community leaders to address the situation and call out those business owners doing the wrong thing. While they may not yet be leaders, a number of students are putting this idea into practice, starting a Facebook group where students can report dodgy employers. "The new students when they come to Australia — they'll know not to go there and also we also want the customer to not go to the restaurant that treat people badly," Chi said.

Source:                   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07- 13/international-students-underpaid-australian-working-

conditions/7586452

Questions:

1.      Why it is that some employers are so attached to a cost efficiency approach to employee reward that they would violate legal minimum pay requirements.

2.      Aside from the risk of legal prosecution, and damage to business brand, why might such  an  approach  to  employee  reward  be  counterproductive  in  terms  of the employees’ psychological contract?