Question

Janine is a wholesale yarn salesperson working the northeastern US. Her territory covers all of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Ohio. She lives in Harrisburg, PA with her husband and three children. Janine enjoys her job and loves being out on the road and meeting yarn shop owners and knitters. However, her employer, White Mountain Yarns, requires her to drive to Detroit for a monthly staff meeting; maintain an office outside of her home; complete redundant paperwork due to outdated systems; and often sets her store visit schedule in a way that results in a lot of backtracking, all of which cut into the time she has to build rapport with store owners and individual buyers of the products. The company also doesn't let her hold virtual client meetings, even though clients want them and they would save considerable time and money. Janine is one of the top 5 salespeople and her customers rave about her, however the company is making her job difficult. She doesn't want to quit her job, but many of the antiquated aspects have led her to consider either quitting or asking to be cut back to part time so she can have a better work life balance. Using the concepts, write up a proposal to redesign and/or enrich Janine’s job.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Firstly, the essential thing to do would be to give Janine an office computer, internet and the necessary office supplies in order to set up her office at home.

Secondly, the company should hire a temporary assistant that would help Janine with transferring the paperwork on to a computer application. This would help consolidate information and give Janine easy access to it.

Thirdly, the redundant system of paperwork should be changed to include only the necessary information in order to help her save time. This would help Janine focus on the clients.

The monthly staff meeting in Detroit should be converted to a conference Skype meeting. If a face-to-face meeting is necessary, only then should Janine have to drive to Detroit.

Virtual client meetings should be allowed. This is because customer satisfaction is a priority for any company and it should be allowed since it is the customers who have requested it.

By doing all of these things, Janine would be able to maintain a better work-life balance which would make her happier and in turn more productive at work.