HR Case Study - The Female Health Company

Situation

 

The Female Health Company Plc (FHC) manufactures, markets and sells female condoms which are available in 116 countries respectively. Grahame Corrick is the Manufacturing Manager and has been with the company for 15 years. The Female Health Company had secured government funding for specialist subject training from the Learning Skills Council through Acton Training Centre, and People Vision were selected to design and deliver outplacement training for employees facing redundancy.   People Vision has established a handpicked team of specialist consultants who design and deliver training across a range of Human Resources skills. Victoria Lawes has a wealth of experience in resourcing, recruitment, competencies, outplacement and training. She has been working with People Vision for 4 years.

 

Challenge

 

The FHC had identified around 120 of its factory floor workers, whose ages ranged from their teens to their sixties, who were facing redundancy. People Vision were engaged to provide essential training to enable these staff members to prepare the challenges presented by their situation. For the majority of the staff members English was their second language, and the prospect of job-seeking with its demand for CVs, interviews and other language-centred processes was a source of considerable concern. Victoria was to spend 5 days training the 100 people and tailoring the training sessions to accommodate their diverse needs.

 

Action

• Victoria prepared 2 different training sessions to deliver to the staff at the FHC. The first 2 hour workshop focussed on “How to write a good CV and covering letter” and the second 2 hour workshop was entitled “How to be your best at interviews”. Both covered a wide range of topics related to the challenges faced by the staff members.

• To adequately address the specific needs of each of the 100 people Victoria arranged to train the staff members in small groups of 15 people, working with 3 groups each day.

• Victoria observed that the range of age, experience and ethnic background among the staff would necessitate a flexible approach to the delivery of each session. She responded by working closely with individual members of each group, providing a forum for specific queries to be satisfied.

• The first of the training sessions focussed on CVs and covering letters. The current CVs of group members varied from recently updated to several years’ old, and ranged widely in degrees of specialisation and format. Grahame commented that “We had a lot of people who had been with us for between 1 and 15 years. We don’t have a high staff turnover so not many people had experience of CVs and interviews within the last 10 years, so being able to offer that was very useful.” With each group Victoria explored the aims and principles behind a good CV and explained how to fulfil those aims in practical terms, working with individuals to build an effective CV from scratch. Questions of form, content, style and methods of conveying information in order to successfully promote oneself to a specific employer were examined in order to prepare the groups for future opportunities.

• The second training session was focussed around optimum performance in interviews, but Victoria also trained the groups in the wide set of skills necessary to reach the interview situation. The process of job-seeking was explained with emphasis on practical concerns such as targeting agencies and companies. The preparation necessary before interviews and the ability to respond to questions and perform well in interview situations was covered in detail.

Results

• The offer of training alleviated the initial anxiety felt by those facing possible redundancy, and Grahame observed that “we had nearly 100% take-up so it was very successful, and people were very impressed with the training.” Victoria offered structured, practical training and a hands-on approach, responding to the dynamics of the different groups to ensure that each individual had their needs met.

• Victoria’s ability to tailor the training to make it accessible to everyone proved a key factor in the success of the workshops. “Victoria managed to rewrite her training to suit the level of the people we had, so she did an excellent job.” (Grahame Corrick)

• The training provided an explanation of the job-seeking process that enabled all members of the group to understand how best to respond to redundancy and approach new avenues for employment. From feeling daunted by the challenges they faced, Victoria observed that after training “they know what to do, how to go about it, which agencies to contact and they all have a CV and basic interview skills training.”

• The training Victoria provided has had a positive effect on the motivation and outlook of those facing redundancy. She explains that this kind of training “alleviates the fear factor” so that even post-redundancy individuals can feel confident in their ability to identify and approach new opportunities and agencies, adapting to change in order to pursue and achieve their career goals.

02/02/2012 10:30-11:30am

By Ian Crocker

 

09/02/2012 10:30-11:30am

By Jon Heuvel &

Sian Hughes