I see two major issues and a couple of minor issues facing Arthur, problems with finding summer employees. The first major issue is to find workers who are willing to work on short notice. The second is finding employees who do not have a problem with not knowing how many hours they will get to work each week. The minor issues are the cost of the boots for working in the warehouse and the union dues.
The challenge of finding employees, who do not mind being on call, can present a big challenge. However, here are two possible solutions I can recommend for this problem. The first would be to work through a staffing agency to get replacements for people who call out sick. When an employee called in sick, Arthur could contact the employment agency and have the employment agency send some one over to work the hours of the sick person. This way Arthur would not have to worry about hiring on call employees.
Arthur could use the staffing agencies to cover vacation time off as well. However, he also could look at seasonal workers to fill vacation time. He could ask his employees to plan their vacations as far in advance as possible. This way Arthur could contact the seasonal employees months in advance and let them know what days he would have available for them to work. Also the seasonal employees would know exactly how many hours would be available for them to work. I would strongly recommend using both the staffing agency as well as seasonal workers, this would give him a good base of employees to fill in for employees who are off.
Finding a local shoe store that would be willing to give a deal on the boots could be one possible way to deal with the cost of buying the boots. Another possible solution would be to have rental boots available for the employees who only worked a few hours. The first suggestion would be practical for seasonal workers, while the second suggestion would be practical for employees who are called in to work only a day or two. Implementing both solutions would aid in attracting and keeping summer employees.
The union dues are something, which have to be paid. I do not see a way around this particular problem. Also the dues may not turn out to be the reason why employees would not take the job. Even though the case study does not address this issue, the unions dues are generally not something, which would scare away potential workers. Some employees like the benefit of being part of a union.
By looking to work with a staffing agency and also hiring seasonal workers, Arthur will have a more reliable employee base in the summer time. He could meet the needs of the cost of the boots by negotiating a contract with a local shoe store, and sending the employees there to purchase the boots. He would also want to implement a rental boot policy, so workers who only work a day or two would not have to go out and buy boots. The issue of the union dues is not a problem as this is just a benefit of working for the company.
