Scenario

With her decision to expand Salty Pawz, Wanda needs a workforce. However, she has never interviewed or hired anyone in her life. While putting labels on bags of dog treats one afternoon, you ask Wanda how she intends to recruit and select her workforce. She smiles and says, “Well, for once I have a plan!” You can’t wait to hear her plan, and you feel that maybe after all this time she is getting the hang of running Salty Pawz like a business effectively.

Wanda’s plan is to place an ad in a local newspaper and have people who are interested in working for her stop by the local coffee shop to speak with her. She thinks that filling out application forms at this point is premature, so she will have them leave their name and phone number in her planner for now. Wanda doesn’t have any particular questions in mind to ask the applicants. Instead, she thinks it is more natural to just let the conversations evolve, so she can figure out who she “clicks with.” She doesn’t want them to feel like they are being interrogated! However, she is particularly interested in hiring mothers with young children who can start work after they drop their kids at school. She also is going to keep her eyes open for at least one young man, because sacks of flour are heavy. The only thing she is certain about is asking each person for his or her salary requirements, so she can set her pay schedule and budget accordingly.

Your Task

• Explain to Wanda why virtually everything in this hiring plan is a bad idea based on the key role that human resource management plays in the success of her business.
• Be sure to inform Wanda about the laws that govern the employer-employee relationship and what could happen if she became the subject of an employee lawsuit. (For reference, Wanda’s business is located in the state of North Carolina.)

Grading Rubric