HRM 6000 Module 5 Written Assignment: A Changing Workforce and Alternative Staffing Example

Many Languages, Many Arrangements: Diversity and Alternative Staffing at Atlantic Shore Hospitality

Student Name

Master of Science in Human Resources Management, Thomas Edison State University

HRM-6000: Managing the Human Resources Enterprise

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

Many Languages, Many Arrangements: Diversity and Alternative Staffing at Atlantic Shore Hospitality

A Workforce That Has Changed

Our workforce has changed faster than our HR practices. More than half of our hourly employees were born outside the United States, and supervisors manage teams that range from students to workers in their seventies. At the same time, we fill nearly a fifth of shifts with workers from staffing apps and agencies. This summary explains what research says works for a diverse workforce and how to manage alternative staffing well.

Our Changing Workforce

Our employees speak more than 20 languages, with Spanish, Haitian Creole, Bengali and Vietnamese most common after English. Four generations work side by side. Many employees work second jobs, and a growing share are older workers who value part-time schedules. These differences are a strength in serving international guests, but they also challenge communication, training and supervision built for a single language and a full-time model.

What Makes Diversity Programs Work

Not all diversity efforts are effective. Kalev et al. (2006) studied the effects of diversity programs in more than 700 private employers over three decades and found that programs assigning responsibility for diversity, such as task forces and diversity managers, were followed by the largest increases in managerial diversity. Mentoring and networking helped less, and efforts to retrain or rate managers' bias did least of all. The lesson for us is to build accountability and structures, not to rely on one-time training.

Inclusion matters as much as representation. Nishii (2013) found that a climate for inclusion, in which employment practices are fair, differences are integrated and decision making includes diverse views, reduced conflict in gender-diverse groups and the turnover linked to it. For our multilingual teams, inclusion means training and safety information in employees' languages, supervisors who seek input from all team members and promotion paths open to employees whose English is still developing.

Alternative Staffing

Cappelli and Keller (2013) classified work arrangements by who directs the work and how the relationship is structured, distinguishing regular employment from arrangements such as agency temporary work, contract work and independent contracting. The classification matters because legal obligations and management control differ.

Alternative staffing gives us flexibility for peaks, but it carries costs. Workers unfamiliar with our standards affect guest experience, regular employees resent covering for less-trained workers, and if we control how agency or app workers do their jobs, we may share employer obligations for wage, hour and safety compliance.

Recommendations

First, appoint a diversity and inclusion council at each property with an executive sponsor and quarterly goals for promotion of employees from underrepresented groups into supervisory roles. Second, translate core training, safety materials and the employee handbook into our five most common languages. Third, set a target of no more than 12 percent of shifts filled through alternative staffing outside peak events, using a pool of trained on-call employees instead. Fourth, require every agency and app worker to complete a short standards orientation, and review contracts with counsel to clarify responsibilities for wages, hours and safety.

Conclusion

Our workforce is diverse and our staffing increasingly flexible. Research shows that accountability structures and an inclusive climate make diversity effective, and that alternative staffing needs clear rules to protect quality and limit legal risk. These steps help us serve guests with a workforce that reflects them.

References

Cappelli, P., & Keller, J. R. (2013). Classifying work in the new economy. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), 575-596. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2011.0302

Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., & Kelly, E. (2006). Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American Sociological Review, 71(4), 589-617. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100404

Nishii, L. H. (2013). The benefits of climate for inclusion for gender-diverse groups. Academy of Management Journal, 56(6), 1754-1774. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.0823