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Human Resource Development Proposal
Prestigious Inc.
Melissa Redding
Grantham University
Midterm Week 4

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Company Background
Prestigious Inc. was established in 1967, and provides technology products and services to many
businesses in the surrounding area. The company was excelling in customer service and had a
low turnover rate. Employees were happy up until 2 years ago and some of the businesses that
they were servicing have moved to other technology providers, citing cheaper prices. Not only is
the competition taking clients from the company they are also recruiting the some of the high
performance employees. The Human Resources Manager is struggling and has asked for help.
Upon evaluation it is also noted that there are several complaints of sexual Harassment that need
to be addressed and the Human Resources Manager is not up to date on the current Employment
Law Changes. This can negatively affect the company and needs to be resolved. The proposal is
as follows.
ProMak Inc. will come in and do a full analyzation on the Human Resources Department. The
analyzation will evaluate all staff and the Human Resources Manager to determine what training
needs to ensue and if any new training needs to be addressed. We will also be assessing what the
issue is with the Sexual Harassment charges and help to move those onto investigation to make
sure the conflicts are dealt with and resolved in the proper manner while having the Human
Resources Manager attend and learn from the experience. Below will be the outline for the
procedures that will be taken to resolve the above issues and try to get the company back on
track.

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Proposal
Working with the Human Resources Manager our analysts will sit down with each
Human Resource Department personnel twice. The first time will be as a team and participation
will be vital for success. The next time will be with each individual. A series of questions will
be asked in the team meeting as well as the individual, questions are encouraged and so is
solutions from members for consideration. We want to try and give the team a chance to work
out the problem with our help not just our team fixing it and walking away. We aim to give
them the tools to continue to be successful and to not just apply a quick fix.
After the first initial meeting we will look at the suggested options if there were any and
provide our suggestions as well. We will then address the Sexual Harassment cases with the
Human Resources Manager and train her and the team on the new employment laws. We will
then have her bring in the employee who placed the complaint and find out what the details are,
then we will bring in the accused to get both sides of the story, then locate if any witnesses. The
Sexual Harassment cases need to be addressed first and foremost due to liability issues. During
this investigation there will also be employment law training and sexual harassment instigation
training to ensure that these issues are never looked over again.
We will then look at the company and analyze why the business has dropped. We will do
this by looking at what the competition is offering and try to see if the same offerings can be
achieved for the clientele and the employees. Some businesses get complacent and think that
their services cannot be beat or the benefits offered to important staff is good enough. This will
not always be the case as the year’s progress and when similar competitive businesses come into
play. Below we will outline the procedures that will be played out in the 6 weeks of analyzation.

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Week One Employment Law Training and Sexual Harassment Issues
Using the Sexual Harassment cases already in play the Human Resource Manager and her team
will evaluate the situation. The following training will include but is not limited to:
“Make sure that Management knows to promptly report the employee’s complaint immediately
to the HR department or any other individual identified as the person with ultimate responsibility
for enforcing the company’s policies against unlawful harassment. Often, supervisors mistakenly
suggest to a complaining employee that she has the responsibility of reporting the problem to
another person, such as the director of HR. An employee may feel discouraged when she is
directed to another person, or she might simply fail to contact the additional person to report the
complaint. When that occurs, the interests of both the employee and the employer are
compromised because the complaint isn’t promptly investigated or even addressed at all in some
cases. Therefore, supervisors and managers should be trained to assume personal responsibility
for contacting HR directly if they receive a complaint.
Promptly initiate the investigation. You may have all the right policies and your investigation
may be thorough, but it’s difficult to argue that you take harassment complaints seriously if you
wait two months to start an investigation. Instead, initiate investigations immediately, and
complete them as soon as possible. If there are unavoidable delays, document the reasons for the
delays, and inform the concerned parties of the results once the investigation is complete.
Training on the current EEOC guidelines, a favorite tactic of employees’ attorneys is to attack an
employer’s investigation by showing how it fell short of the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission’s (EEOC) guidelines on how to conduct an effective inquiry into unlawful
harassment. The guidelines include advice on how to reach credibility determinations, protective

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measures to take during the investigation, and even specific questions to ask the victim, the
accused, and any witnesses. We will look at this at a later date, since training can take time.
Develop adequate documentation. Every investigation should be documented with the worst-case
scenario in mind, that is, the investigator facing cross-examination in front of a jury about every
sentence in the investigation report. Reports should be thorough and thoughtfully written.
Ideally, witness statements should be signed by the witnesses. When offering conclusions about
a witness’ credibility, the investigator should set forth the objective basis for his determination.
For example, the witness’ demeanor and motives, the extent of corroboration by other witnesses
or evidence, and any history of similar accusations or conduct should all be documented.
Interview all potential witnesses. The HR Manager should ask the complaining employee to
identify any witnesses who might have relevant information. Also, you should interview
coworkers of the accused, who may be able to provide information about whether they have seen
him engage in similar conduct. If coworkers have witnessed the alleged harasser engaging in
sexually harassing conduct in the past, that can have a huge impact on the outcome of the
investigation. Additionally, make sure to interview all witnesses identified by anyone you speak
with, including former employees when possible.
Take interim remedial measures during the investigation. Too often, employers focus only on
which remedial measures to take after the investigation is complete. However, depending on the
circumstances, you may need to take temporary remedial measures during an investigation. For
example, in a sexual harassment investigation, the EEOC guidelines and case law suggest that
you separate the complaining employee from the alleged harasser until the investigation is
complete. However, that doesn’t mean involuntarily transferring or increasing the workload of
the complaining employee, which may be seen as retaliation.

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Take steps to avoid retaliation. Everyone concerned, including HR representatives, supervisors,
and managers, should be extremely sensitive to the rules prohibiting retaliation. In most cases,
conduct that could be viewed as retaliatory, whether it’s committed by the accused or others, can
lead to additional liability. It’s therefore imperative that the complaining employee, the accused,
and everyone else who is interviewed as part of the investigation be advised, as soon as possible,
that you will not tolerate any form of unlawful harassment or retaliation against the individual
who made the claim or anyone who participated in the investigation into the claim. And, as
always, document that you’ve made that statement.
Remember that confidential complaints still count. Every employer has probably confronted this
problem at least once: An employee complains to a supervisor that a coworker engaged in
inappropriate conduct but asks the supervisor to “keep it between us for now.” That’s usually
because the employee fears retaliation. In this situation, the supervisor should explain to the
employee that the company will do everything possible to keep the matter confidential, but it
faces legal liability if it doesn’t investigate every complaint. You shouldn’t promise absolute
confidentiality but instead state your intent to provide confidentiality to the extent practical.
Most important, you should assure the employee that company policy prohibits retaliation
and that she should immediately report any retaliation to her supervisor or HR. Remember, in
California, an employer isn’t liable for harassment by a nonsupervisory coworker unless it “knew
or should have known” about the harassment and failed to remedy it. Even a “confidential
complaint” puts the company on notice, however.
Avoid prejudging complaints. It’s important not to prejudge complaints. In some cases, invalid
claims are innocently filed because of a failure to comprehend the law or the applicable legal
standards. In other cases, harassment claims are filed to retaliate against supervisors an employee

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dislikes or to shield the employee from responsibility for his own performance deficiencies.
Unfortunately, some individuals use sexual harassment laws as a tool to harass and retaliate
against others who are themselves innocent victims of such claims. Until a claim is fully and
carefully investigated, you shouldn’t form conclusions about guilt or innocence.
To ensure a completely unbiased investigation, be sure it’s conducted by an individual
who doesn’t immediately supervise or have a close relationship with the complaining employee,
the accused, or any key witnesses.
Be consistent. All complaints, even seemingly minor ones, should be investigated thoroughly,
and similar incidents should result in similar discipline. One of the most common mistakes
employers can make is to protect a high- level executive, top producer, or favored employee who
has been accused of harassment while implementing more serious discipline against other
employees accused of similar conduct. While the law allows employers fairly wide latitude in
determining the appropriate level of discipline, it’s critical that like cases be treated alike,
regardless of the relative “stature” of the parties involved. Having the same person or group of
individuals handle all complaints of sexual harassment can standardize the process and help
ensure consistency (Cooper, 2012).”
Week Two Continuation of Investigation and Training
In the second week we will continue to follow up on the Sexual Harassment cases, there
will also be updated training on EEOC laws and make sure that everyone in the HR team is up to
date. Management will also be brought in for training as well. We will set up sexual harassment
awareness training for all employees and make sure that the HR department is keeping
everything up to date and training is conducted on an annual basis.

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We will then start to look into the competition and evaluate what can be done to rectify
the situation with losing clientele and key personnel. Hiring may be in order to replace those lost
and HR should set up a hiring fair to look for qualified individuals. Temporaries are not needed
at this time due to the fact that we need to replace those that are important for productivity and
operations to gain a foothold back into the market. HR will also work with our marketing team
to try and locate potential clients to reverse the effects of the loss and to start gaining profit
again. The process will be slow and will require the next four weeks of training and analyzation
of all data to determine what prices need to be set for services and what services may require
updating to fit with the changing technology. We will also bring in experts on new technology to
do these evaluations and work with the company to ensure that the proper steps are be taken.
This is a proposal and will be valid for one week after which any changes can be made
and all ideas from the company will be considered. The goal is to fix the problems set forth and
gain ground again by addressing issues with HR and with the integrity of the company itself. We
thank you for considering us to help you in this time of need and we hope that the following will
be something that you will consider as you look over and discuss this proposal.

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References
Cooper, L. (2012, July 31). Top 10 tips for conducting an effective sexual harassment
investigation | HR Hero Line. Retrieved from
http://www.hrhero.com/hl/articles/2012/07/31/top-10-tips-for-conducting-an-effective-
sexual-harassment-investigation/