,HRM3701 Assignment 2 (100% COMPLETE ANSWERS)
Semester 1 2025 (340554)- DUE 27 March 2025
Employee layoffs at Hope Regional Medical Centre
Hope Regional Medical Centre is a medium-sized, 400-bed hospital in
Johannesburg. It was established in 1908 by a group of doctors. The
facility has grown gradually over the years and is now the third largest
medical facility in the city. It is entirely nonunion and has never
experienced an employee layoff since its inception.
Robert Perry has been the CEO of the Hope Regional Medical Centre
for 11 years. Eight years ago, he hired Sharon Dlamini as director of
human resources. Dlamini has an MA in Human Resource Management
and has been instrumental in formalising the institution's human
resources’ policies and procedures.
Occupancy rates in Hope Regional Medical Centre ranged between 76
and 82 percent from 1990 to 2002. However, since then, occupancy has
fallen to 57 percent. This decline has been experienced throughout the
industry and is the result of changing reimbursement policies, emphasis
on outpatient services, increasing competition, and the financial
meltdown of . The declining occupancy rate has affected this hospital's
revenues to such an extent that it ran a deficit for the first time last year.
The only response to these changes thus far has been a tightening of
requirements for equipment or supply purchases.
At the most recent quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors, Perry
presented the rather bleak financial picture. The projected deficit for the
coming year was R3,865,000, Unless some additional revenue sources
were identified or some additional savings were found. The Board's
recommendation, based on the immediate crisis and the need to generate
short- term savings, was to lay off employees.
, They recommended that Perry consider laying off up to 10 percent of the
hospital's employees with an emphasis on those in “nonessential” areas.
Perry responded that the centre’s employees had never been laid off in
the history of the institution. Moreover, he viewed the employees as
“family” and would have great difficulty implementing such a layoff.
Nevertheless, since he had no realistic short-term alternative for closing
the “revenue gap”, Perry reluctantly agreed to implement a layoff policy
that would be as fair as possible to all employees, provide a guarantee
agreement requirement for those laid off, and find additional revenue
sources so that layouts would be unnecessary in the future.
Perry then called Sharon Dlamini into his office the next morning,
shared his concerns, and asked her to prepare both a short-term plan to
save R 3,000,000 over the next year through staff layoffs, as well as a
long-term plan to avoid layoffs in the future. Dlamini’s concerns were
that the layoffs themselves might be costly in terms of lost investment in
some of the laid off employees, higher turnover costs, lost efficiency,
potential lawsuits, and lower morale. She was concerned that the criteria
for the layoffs not only be equitable but also appear to be equitable to
the employees. She also wanted to make sure that those being laid off
received “adequate” notice so that they could make alternative plans or
so the hospital could assist them with finding alternative employment.
Since the hospital had no previous experience with employee layoffs and
no union contract constraints, her feeling was that both seniority and job
performance should be considered in determining who would be laid off.
Dlamini knew the hospital's performance appraisal system was
inadequate and needed to be revamped. While this task was high on her
“to do” list, she also knew she had to move ahead with her
recommendations on layoffs immediately. The present performance
appraisal system is a traditional checklist rating scale with a summary
rating since there is no forced distribution, the average ratings of
employees in different departments vary widely.
Semester 1 2025 (340554)- DUE 27 March 2025
Employee layoffs at Hope Regional Medical Centre
Hope Regional Medical Centre is a medium-sized, 400-bed hospital in
Johannesburg. It was established in 1908 by a group of doctors. The
facility has grown gradually over the years and is now the third largest
medical facility in the city. It is entirely nonunion and has never
experienced an employee layoff since its inception.
Robert Perry has been the CEO of the Hope Regional Medical Centre
for 11 years. Eight years ago, he hired Sharon Dlamini as director of
human resources. Dlamini has an MA in Human Resource Management
and has been instrumental in formalising the institution's human
resources’ policies and procedures.
Occupancy rates in Hope Regional Medical Centre ranged between 76
and 82 percent from 1990 to 2002. However, since then, occupancy has
fallen to 57 percent. This decline has been experienced throughout the
industry and is the result of changing reimbursement policies, emphasis
on outpatient services, increasing competition, and the financial
meltdown of . The declining occupancy rate has affected this hospital's
revenues to such an extent that it ran a deficit for the first time last year.
The only response to these changes thus far has been a tightening of
requirements for equipment or supply purchases.
At the most recent quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors, Perry
presented the rather bleak financial picture. The projected deficit for the
coming year was R3,865,000, Unless some additional revenue sources
were identified or some additional savings were found. The Board's
recommendation, based on the immediate crisis and the need to generate
short- term savings, was to lay off employees.
, They recommended that Perry consider laying off up to 10 percent of the
hospital's employees with an emphasis on those in “nonessential” areas.
Perry responded that the centre’s employees had never been laid off in
the history of the institution. Moreover, he viewed the employees as
“family” and would have great difficulty implementing such a layoff.
Nevertheless, since he had no realistic short-term alternative for closing
the “revenue gap”, Perry reluctantly agreed to implement a layoff policy
that would be as fair as possible to all employees, provide a guarantee
agreement requirement for those laid off, and find additional revenue
sources so that layouts would be unnecessary in the future.
Perry then called Sharon Dlamini into his office the next morning,
shared his concerns, and asked her to prepare both a short-term plan to
save R 3,000,000 over the next year through staff layoffs, as well as a
long-term plan to avoid layoffs in the future. Dlamini’s concerns were
that the layoffs themselves might be costly in terms of lost investment in
some of the laid off employees, higher turnover costs, lost efficiency,
potential lawsuits, and lower morale. She was concerned that the criteria
for the layoffs not only be equitable but also appear to be equitable to
the employees. She also wanted to make sure that those being laid off
received “adequate” notice so that they could make alternative plans or
so the hospital could assist them with finding alternative employment.
Since the hospital had no previous experience with employee layoffs and
no union contract constraints, her feeling was that both seniority and job
performance should be considered in determining who would be laid off.
Dlamini knew the hospital's performance appraisal system was
inadequate and needed to be revamped. While this task was high on her
“to do” list, she also knew she had to move ahead with her
recommendations on layoffs immediately. The present performance
appraisal system is a traditional checklist rating scale with a summary
rating since there is no forced distribution, the average ratings of
employees in different departments vary widely.
