Which initial step should an HR director recommend to best support a global pay-for-performance initiative?

The largest customer of a small consulting firm demands that the project manager terminate an employee for poor performance or the customer will terminate its contract immediately. The account project manager has documented the employee's performance as meeting expectations, there is no documentation to support a termination, and there is no place to transfer the employee to.

The HR manager conducts a comprehensive investigation and learns that the employee and the customer had a verbal disagreement about how the employee had classified specific expenses and how it affects the customer's budget. The confrontation was significant but did not involve any unacceptable language. In addition, the employee's classification was technically correct; however, a reclassification was also acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles. The project manager was unaware of this conflict. The HR manager concludes that the employee did not follow the policy that requires an employee to advise the supervisor of a client issue. Because such a conflict could significantly harm the company's business, the policy states that an employee can be disciplined up to and including termination for this violation.

What steps should the company take with the customer to improve communication and ensure that all employees are aligned with how information should be communicated going forward?

During an accident investigation, an HR manager determines that the injured employee could not read the safety data sheet (SDS). The manager reviews the company's training database and discovers that 10% to 15% of the current employees possess poor reading comprehension and cannot read the lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures for machinery or the SDS for hazardous chemicals. Upon further investigation, the HR manager learns that these employees ask coworkers for assistance with LOTO and MSDS. Fortunately the company has not had a major catastrophic injury or death related to these areas, although a review of historic data on employee injury rates indicates a high percentage of minor injuries involving chemical burns and skin abrasions. These injuries have resulted in a higher-than-average experience modification rate that has adversely impacted the company's workers' compensation insurance premiums. The HR manager decides to develop a reading literacy program to provide coaching and tutoring to raise the reading and comprehension levels for all employees, soliciting a local educational institution to develop these reading courses.

What additional benefits could the company gain from successful implementation of the reading program?

In terms of risk management, what is a risk control?

A small publishing firm believes that it is too small to benefit from strategic planning. Which short-term benefit is the best choice for HR to use in influencing leaders to begin the strategic planning process?