HRM3701 Assignment
1 Semester 2 2024
(585848) - DUE 26
August 2024
[Company address]
, HRM3701 Assignment 1 Semester 2 2024 (585848) - DUE 26 August 2024
Operational context NOVA Economics is a specialist economic and development
consulting firm which employs 120 people, the consultants are all economists, financial
analysts and computer scientists. Most of the staff are between their 30s and mid-40s
many with master’s degrees and some with PhDs. Founded in 2002, NOVA Economics
provides clients with the in-depth expertise and analysis necessary to make the right
choices. The consultants combine a deep understanding of the Southern African
business and policy context with specialist skills in international trade, public policy and
regulation, competition economics and climate change. The work is very technical,
involving large amounts of data analysis. Where NOVA Economics does not have
specialist skills in-house, the consulting firm was able to draw on a network of local
experts and academics as well as their strategic business partners in Australia and
Europe. Before lockdown, staff were used to remote videoconferencing with clients, and
company policy allowed working from home one day a week, but this wasn’t particularly
commonplace. The Managing Director Yash Ramkolowan commented that ‘even if once
a week someone would work from home, the rest of the team would be in the office, so
it did have the feeling that most people were in the office most of the time.’ In terms of
flexible hours, there was already a culture of flexing the start and end of the day, both
for work–life balance needs and to enable meetings with “THEIR” clients in different
time zones. While some staff made use of this, many also worked traditional office
hours, and core hours of 11.00 to 15.00 were in place. The type of knowledge work
done by NOVA Economics could hardly be better suited to working from home, or
1 Semester 2 2024
(585848) - DUE 26
August 2024
[Company address]
, HRM3701 Assignment 1 Semester 2 2024 (585848) - DUE 26 August 2024
Operational context NOVA Economics is a specialist economic and development
consulting firm which employs 120 people, the consultants are all economists, financial
analysts and computer scientists. Most of the staff are between their 30s and mid-40s
many with master’s degrees and some with PhDs. Founded in 2002, NOVA Economics
provides clients with the in-depth expertise and analysis necessary to make the right
choices. The consultants combine a deep understanding of the Southern African
business and policy context with specialist skills in international trade, public policy and
regulation, competition economics and climate change. The work is very technical,
involving large amounts of data analysis. Where NOVA Economics does not have
specialist skills in-house, the consulting firm was able to draw on a network of local
experts and academics as well as their strategic business partners in Australia and
Europe. Before lockdown, staff were used to remote videoconferencing with clients, and
company policy allowed working from home one day a week, but this wasn’t particularly
commonplace. The Managing Director Yash Ramkolowan commented that ‘even if once
a week someone would work from home, the rest of the team would be in the office, so
it did have the feeling that most people were in the office most of the time.’ In terms of
flexible hours, there was already a culture of flexing the start and end of the day, both
for work–life balance needs and to enable meetings with “THEIR” clients in different
time zones. While some staff made use of this, many also worked traditional office
hours, and core hours of 11.00 to 15.00 were in place. The type of knowledge work
done by NOVA Economics could hardly be better suited to working from home, or
