Human Resource Strategies
of
By: Triple PPP’s
Ashley Corsi
Jason Goude
Arsel Kumdereli
Alex Shelton
Contents
HUMAN RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................ 3
HISTORY OF ANN TAYLOR LOFT ............................................................................................................... 5
HUMAN RESOURCES IN ANN TAYLOR ...................................................................................................... 6
APPLICATION PROCESS ............................................................................................................................ 6
Critique .................................................................................................................................................. 6
SELECTION................................................................................................................................................ 7
CRITIQUE ...................................................................................................................................................... 7
TRAINING ................................................................................................................................................. 8
CRITIQUE ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
MOTIVATION AND WORK ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................... 9
CRITIQUE ...................................................................................................................................................... 9
BENEFITS ................................................................................................................................................ 10
CRITIQUE .................................................................................................................................................... 10
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 11
INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE LAWS ....................................................................................... 12
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY ................................................................................................................ 12
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866 AND 1871 ............................................................................................................. 12
Equal Pay Act of 1963 ......................................................................................................................... 13
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ................................................................................................ 13
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) .................................................................................. 14
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ................................................................................................. 14
Civil Rights Act of 1991........................................................................................................................ 14
EE0-1 report ........................................................................................................................................ 15
CRITIQUE .................................................................................................................................................... 15
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 17
WORK CITED .......................................................................................................................................... 19
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Human Resources
Imagine you are an employer at Ann Taylor Loft, and you expect an annual raise
but when the economy fails as it did in 2008, you are left with nothing but your job. As a
Human Resources (HR) manager you must keep your employees motivated, even if your
company is not able to give an annual raise. In other words how can you keep employees
working as hard as they can, even if they are not given raises?
Cheryl Pressley is the co-manager for Ann Taylor Loft here in Greensboro. Last
year Cheryl had to manage the situation of not being able to reward her employees for
their efforts over the year, as she normally would, because the company overall did not
perform optimally.
In order to prevent this problem from reoccurring, the efforts of the store team
have increased quantifiably by means of getting credit card applications, increased dollarper-transaction amounts, and more one-on-one customer interaction which helps build
longer more trust worthy relationships for the company. The only way for the company to
give raises is to create more revenue, and this can be done by optimizing the employee’s
efforts to please the customers.
All the challenges faced by Ann Taylor Loft, are the dimensions of the Human
Resource Management (HRM). There are tons of issues that a company deals with on a
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day to day basis. Thus, HRM plays a big role on companies’ future goals. We all know
that in the global world, clients are the most important tool for a successful business.
Human resources is a term to explain how people are
managed by organizations. Human resources have
moved from a traditionally administrative function to a
strategic function, that recognizes the link between
talented and engaged people and organizational success
which is called the Human Resource Management (HRM).
Human resource management's objective is to maximize the return on investment (ROI)
from the organization's human capital and minimize financial risk. In a corporate context
it is the responsibility of human resource managers to conduct these activities in an
effective, legal, fair, and consistent manner.
There are some key functions of the Strategic HRM
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Analysis and design of work
Recruitment and Selection
Training and Development
Performance Management
Compensation and Benefits
Employee Relations
Personnel Policies
Compliance with laws
Support for strategy
Currently most managers see HRM practices (i.e. applications, training, and
interviewing) as a necessary expense, rather than a just a source of value to their
organizations. These key functions, if executed well, can have a positive impact on the
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company’s performance. In fact, in the recent economic crisis, strategic HR planning is
more important because it is more difficult to satisfy employees and keep them motivated
while trying to avoid more expenses.
In an effort to understand how these strategies are applied in a company we
decided to investigate Ann Taylor Loft, a well established American retail company. We
will critique strategies within HR by comparing them to federals laws and regulations as
well as the insight of our group.
History of Ann Taylor Loft
Ann Taylor Loft began in 1994 as a new division
of the nationally known Ann Taylor. Ann Taylor
was established in Connecticut in 1954. Despite
common thought, it is not named after a person.
Richard Liebeskind Jr. borrowed the name from
his father’s store’s most popular shirt dress called: “Ann Taylor.” The name was chosen
because Ann was a popular New England name and Taylor implied that the clothing was
tailored and well made. The same idea is maintained today in all Ann Taylor Loft stores:
well-made clothing that meets “the evolving needs of women who want feminine, stylish,
and versatile fashions…” says Kay Krill, Chief Executive Officer of Ann Taylor. Once
Ann Taylor became nationally acclaimed, a division called Loft emerged with a more
casual sense of style. Last year Loft accumulated half of the $2.4 billion dollar total
revenue of Ann Taylor. (NYJobSource, 2009)
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Human Resources in Ann Taylor
Human Resources within Ann Taylor Loft is primarily handled by Ann Taylor
Corporation, and then by the store managers. Once Corporate gives the divisions
permission to hire new employees, managers are then given the task of interviewing and
choosing future employees.
Application Process
Selecting potential applicants is achieved in two ways: the first is a common
application which can be done in the store or online, and the second is an online
assessment. This assessment is a questionnaire. The questions pertain to personality traits,
comfort levels, ability to perform tasks conducive to work at the Loft. The assessment is
another process within hiring, before the recruiting process that helps weed out people
who are not a match with the Loft employee standard.
Critique
The applications process is structured, which means every applicant follows the
same guideline, which helps Ann Taylor Loft keep their information organized and helps
filter through unqualified applicants efficiently. The online assessment is another part of
the application process, but this is a more in depth look into the potential employees, and
it allows the company to preview the applicant’s personality, to assess whether they are
appropriate for Ann Taylor Loft. The application process is also a low cost way to gather
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basic information about the employees. The online availability of the application is
positive because it is convenient to the applicants, relieves the stress of driving around to
the stores, keeps nervousness to a minimum, allows applicants to update their resumes,
and it is environmentally sound.
Selection
Selecting is performed by individual interviews with a manager. The interview is
unstructured, and the managers are only required to ask a few pertinent questions. Most
of the interview is getting to know the applicant in a way that their resume cannot
convey. The criteria for potential employees are always the same: energetic, stylish,
experienced, time availability, and pay expectations. The majority of applicants for the
Loft are women; therefore the majority of employees are women. For example Cheryl
Pressley, has worked for the Loft for four years, and has only worked with two males.
But if a man was to apply, he would be judged by the same criteria as a woman, and
would have the same chances as a female applicant.
Critique
The interview is unstructured which can cause a biased towards the interviewers
developing a relationship. If the interview was more structured, it would be more job
relevant, which would ensure that the applicant was hired based on their job
qualifications versus their amiableness. The managers are more susceptible to biasness
through this unstructured method; if they were to follow the same guideline for each
interviewee, the process could be shortened and made more objective. “Although
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interviewers may object to being restricted, the results are made more valid and reliable
then with a non directed interview.” (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009)
Training
Once an applicant has successfully gotten through
the interview, their training begins. The first step is a
multi-media computer program designed to work
through multiple situations that may occur on the job
and test the new employee’s ability to assess and
handle the situation in a way that fits the company’s
guidelines. This is followed by a cash-register training program, which essentially does
the same as the multi-media. The new employee is given a number of scenarios within
the cash-warp realm (cash register) that allow them to work through many forms of
payment, coupons, and special codes. Once the employee has completed both programs,
there is on-the-job (OTJ) training; OTJ is where the new employee follows/shadows a
more experienced employee and watches how they handle any situation and learn to
interact with customers/clients.
Critique
The training focuses on the skills necessary to the job, through diverse methods
which helps keep the new employee enthusiastic. Through technology based training the
company can see the computer based skills of the employee, with cash register training
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the strengths with money are assessed, and with OTJ training the company can view how
well the employee performs with customers. Loft does a superior job at having a wellrounded training process. However, Ann Taylor Loft does not give the Business Conduct
Guidelines (Employee Handbook) to the employees, the manager will show only parts of
it to the new employee, and then both have to sign off to verify that they went over the
handbook. The employees should have a chance to review these Guidelines, so they are
aware of their expectations, and therefore do not tarnish the brand.
Motivation and Work Environment
Once an applicant is hired, there are incentives to keep employees. Loft keeps its’
employees motivated to do well by keeping track of employees success, which may lead
to raises or promotions. This is especially focused on getting credit cards for clients.
Every time an employee obtains a credit application from a client, it is recorded into the
computer system which is linked to Corporate; as well as marked on a weekly chart for
all employees to see. Although this is a great motivator for employees to do well in
pushing credit, it also causes competition between employees, which may not always be
positive.
Critique
The company does do well to keep the employees motivated to gain credit card
applications. However, this creates negative tension amongst the employees. “Provide all
associates with a healthy, safe, and productive work environment and is committed to
eliminating recognized hazards from the workplace.” This is taken from the Business
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Conduct Guidelines; this idea creates a productive environment. Even though tension
may be created between employees as to who obtains the most credit card applications,
the overall effect is productive for the company.
Benefits
Benefits are only offered to managers of the Loft. Managers receive health,
vision, and life insurance. Tuition assistance used to be offered, but was cut because of
budgeting. These are standard with most companies, in order to receive these though, you
must be a manager. In order to be promoted, the individual performance is assessed as
well as the company’s overall performance. Although an individual may be working
above-average, if the company is not successful overall, there is no way a promotion can
be achieved.
Critique
The benefits for the managers are excellent. These benefits help keep the
managers, who are harder to replace versus hourly employees. The managers are also
guaranteed salaries no matter how much they work, and this creates a sense of safety for
them in this economy. All the benefits affect the company’s bottom line (revenue)
positively, because manager motivation is kept high.
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Conclusion
From our experience within the Loft, we have found that these strategies and
policies are acted upon in day-to-day working. Loft’s mission is to “be a leading specialty
retailer, [have the]client be at the center of all that we do, and achieve improving
financial results through building brands, becoming operationally excellent, and creating
a winning culture.” From the winning culture booklet distributed to Loft employees. See
appendix for figure-1. Just this act alone of informing employees of the Loft’s vision is a
way that the Loft has enhanced their human resources strategy.
After researching Ann Taylor Loft we felt it necessary to further define the laws
and regulations that concern the Loft as well as every public company. We will point out
how each law would affect each part of their HRM strategies, and investigate how the
Loft could improve on these.
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Introduction to Human Resource Laws
It is important for the company to understand the laws and regulations affect
HRM. One important question to ask is what are the laws and regulations and how do
they apply? Whose affected by these laws and what should every employer know about
the laws regarding HR? It’s not as tough as one may think. There is already a lot of
knowledge readily available to every employer but they have to take the necessary
actions to access this information; whether it’s taking a HR class, or looking up
information online. In this section we are going to outline a few of these laws and
explain why it is important for public companies such as Ann Taylor Loft to understand
and follow these laws.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) is one the most important parts of a
Human Resource Strategy. The definition of EEO is the condition in which all
individuals have an equal chance for employment, regardless of their race, color, religion,
sex, age, disability, or national origin. (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009)
Civil Rights Act of 1866 and 1871
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted all people the same property rights as
Caucasian citizens and the rights to enter into contracts. The Civil Rights Act of 1871
granted all citizens the right to sue in federal court if they felt they had been deprived of a
civil right. Although these acts seem old and outdated it is important to mention within
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HR, because they help establish the idea that all people should have access to the same
opportunities which is a predominant issue when it comes to Human Resource Strategies.
Equal Pay Act of 1963
The EPA of 1963 established the basis: If men and women in an organization are
doing equal work, then the employer has to pay them equally. The act defines equality in
regards to skills, efforts, responsibilities, and working conditions. (Noe, Hollenbeck,
Gerhart, & Wright, 2009) However, this act does allow for differences in pay, if the pay
difference results from seniority, merit, quantity or quality of production or any other
reason than the sex of the employee (ie: training programs) than the differences are legal.
(Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009)
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
This is the major law that regulates equal employment opportunity in the United
States. Title VII directly resulted from the Civil rights movement of the early 1960s
which was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Title VII was passed in hopes to ensure that
equal employment would be based on character or ability rather than race. This law is
enforced and regulated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Title VII, states that employers may not discriminate because of an individual’s race,
color, religion, sex, or national origin. (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009) These
characteristics do not relate to job performance; which is one of key issues that a human
resource strategy is evaluating. This act applies to organizations that employ fifteen or
more workers, who work twenty or more weeks in a year and are involved in interstate
commerce. It also includes state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor
organizations.
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Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
In 1967 Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act which
strictly prohibits the discrimination of workers who are over the age of 40. It outlaws
hiring, firing, setting, compensation rates and other employment decisions based on a
person’s age being over 40. (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009) Age
Discrimination Complaints make up a large number of complaints that are filed with the
EEOC. See appendix for figure-2.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
In 1990 this law was passed to protect individuals with disabilities from being
discriminated upon in the workplace. It prohibits discrimination in all areas such as job
applications, hiring, firing, promotion, compensation and training. However it is
important for the employer to understand how disabilities are defined. The ADA defines
it as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life
activities, a record of having such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an
impairment. (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009) There are conditions not
covered by the ADA and they are obesity, substance abuse, eye and hair color, and lefthandedness.
Civil Rights Act of 1991
This act passed by congress widened the relief available to victims of
discrimination in the work place. The major change that comes from this law is the right
to compensatory and punitive damages in cases of discrimination under Title VII (race,
color, religion, sex, or national origin).
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EE0-1 report
The EEOC also monitors organization’s hiring
practices. One of the ways they do this is by an EE01 report. The EEO-1 report is an online questionnaire
which requests the number of employees in each job
category and is broken down by their status as male
or female, Hispanic or non-Hispanic, and members of
various races. These reports are used as possible
ways to identify possible discrimination from in the
organization. (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009)
Critique
First of all an organization needs to have an adequate HR Strategy in place that
addresses all these issues properly according to the laws. Part of this is for the
organization to properly educate and train their employers. Then have the employers
educate their employees about these important laws and issues as well. It is important to
make the information known and available to employees so they know all of their legal
rights under EEO. Organizations could pass out handouts to their employees or put up
posters that let their employees know about these laws. Also the organizations need to
make sure they choose a knowledgeable individual for the HR position. A good HR
manager could develop workshops and classes for the employers to give them the
information they need so they do not violate any of these laws. Also a good HR manager
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could save an organization a lot of money when it comes to lawsuits and complaints that
may be filed with EEOC.
Employees can go directly to the EEOC website to get all the information they
need when it comes to HR if they do not have an adequate HR Strategy in place. The
website is www.eeoc.gov and it is filled with great information. It has all the federal
laws an employer needs to know as well as statistics and graphs that give you an idea of
the importance of abiding by these laws and regulation. See appendix for figure-2. It
also a great source to get current news feeds about events going on in the workplace
pertaining to the EEO subject matter.
Ann Taylor Loft is serious about abiding by the laws, and is a firm believer in the
EEO. Although the majority of employees in the Loft are female, male
applicants/employees would receive the same opportunities as female employees. “Ann
Taylor’s work climate must also be free from discrimination and harassment based on
race, personal characteristic, including: color, religion, creed, citizenship, national origin,
national ancestry, age, sex, sexual preference, marital status, pregnancy, physical,
psychiatric, or emotional disability, veteran status, any other factor unrelated to job
requirements, or job status, and any other category protected by federal and/or applicable
state law and the company will not tolerate any discriminatory behavior…” (HR
Department, 2009) Sexual Harassment will not be tolerated by any employee of the Loft,
and this is made clear in the Business Conduct Guidelines. See appendix for figure-3.
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CONCLUSION
In this report, we looked at a brief overview of Human Resource strategies and
guidelines and how Ann Taylor Loft abides by them. These areas of Human Resource
Management include the Business Conduct Guidelines, the recruiting process, hiring and
firing, and retaining Loft employees. An important facet of Loft’s employee relations
include retaining and motivating talented employees - even in the midst of economic
downturns - while “weeding out” employees who may not perform to the company’s high
standards.
Next we briefly looked at the history of Loft, a subsidiary of Ann Taylor
Corporation, and highlighted the company’s vision for the future. Then we examined and
critiqued each step of the process for recruiting employees– from the application process,
to the criteria involved in selecting applicants, to the training procedures utilized by Loft,
and lastly the benefits offered by Loft and other ways to motivate talented employees.
We also analyzed and critiqued Ann Taylor Loft’s Human Resource policies by
reviewing key HR and employment regulations, including the Americans with
Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and how they relate to
Loft’s HR management strategies in several issues such as discrimination and sexual
harassment. Based upon all the critiques performed, we have concluded that Loft’s
strategies and policies are fully compliant with all applicable rules and regulations.
As our group progressed through this project, we all learned different elements of
HR strategies and how they are applied to a real company. With prior knowledge of HR
laws, applying them within a company we learned how a company interprets these laws
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into their own HR strategies. Through our critiques of Ann Taylor Loft, we found that
there were more positives than negatives, which proved that the Loft is a well rounded
company that follows HR laws and regulations.
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Work Cited
Department of Labor, Initials. (2009, May). Employment standards administration .
Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/TAguides/consttag.htm
HR Department, . (2009). Ann taylor stores corporation. Retrieved from
http://careers.anntaylor.com/AT_C_workplace.html
HR Department. (2009). Business Conduct Guidelines. New York.
Katz, A. (2007, December). Welcome to the world of hr. Retrieved from
http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
Lee, E. (2007). California labor and employment law. Retrieved from
http://www.calaborlaw.com/2007/11/16/and-the-winner-for-most-popular-discriminationcomplaint-in-the-us-is/
Noe, R, Hollenbeck, J, Gerhart, B, & Wright, P. (2009). Fundamentals of human
resource management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
NY Job Source, Initials. (2009, March 6). Ann taylor. Retrieved from
http://nyjobsource.com/anntaylor.html
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