Your first post is due in this module, and your follow-up posts (two) are due in the next module.
Think about your current employer or a former employer within the context of benchmarking, and come up with ideas on how this process could be used to improve the firm's performance.
Identify a specific company that the firm could use to benchmark a process. You need to describe what process or processes and the company would want to improve. Discuss how you would go about collecting data how the results could be used to improve the company. Also, discuss at least one potential challenge with benchmarking.
To the best of my knowledge, I do not think Home Instead Senior Care has used benchmarking. They could benefit from benchmarking by understanding both client and employee satisfaction. Ultimately, I believe that both client and employee satisfaction are necessary for the future success of HISC because they have an extremely high turnover in both areas. I believe it would be good to use comparative benchmarking using Right At Home and Comfort Keepers because caregivers and clients have left to go to these companies. For employees, I think benchmarking wages would be a good place to begin. HISC would want to make these comparisons so they are able to raise wages to attract and retain the best talent. One of the first things job seekers look at is salary ranges and benefits (Maurer, 2018). For clients, HISC could measure overall customer satisfaction such as overall quality, reliability, punctuality, cost, and compatibility. These are the factors that clients and their families are most often concerned about. The information will allow them to know how that are competitive with these factors, how they can improve, and what issues clients and families have concerns about.
I think the best method to collect data for benchmarking would be through surveys. Surveys would be rather easy to build and collect information. Surveys are relatively inexpensive and are customer and employee friendly. I believe HISC would benefit from a benchmarking team because they would not only be able to collect and analyze data, but they would also create and implement a strategy for change. The benchmarking team could also utilize other methods of gaining information such as on-site visits, telephone screening, and publications. Many of these techniques are underutilized, can be beneficial, and insightful (Butler & Tonkin, 1994). I think the biggest challenge for HISC would be to assign a benchmarking team because they are a relatively small organization.
Butler, R., & Tonkin, L. (1994). Benchmarking Data Collection: Selecting the Best Method. https://www.ame.org/sites/default/files/target articles/94q1u2.pdf.
Maurer, R. (2019, August 16). Why Are Workers Quitting Their Jobs in Record Numbers? SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent- acquisition/pages/workers-are-quitting-jobs-record-numbers.aspx.