Conclusion

From the interview with Abrahams, Davidson and Co., the

companys human resource methods on how it handles its
employees and motivate them could be studied. Under staf
management,
recruiting
techniques,
selection
techniques,
orientation
and
socialization,
training
and
development,
performance management, flexibility and work-life balance,
promotions and benefits, and retention and turnover are analysed.
Employees motivation could be afected by several factors such as
clarity of job scope, compensation for overtime, goal-reaching
rewards, responsibility and leadership and workplace environment.
However, there are contradicting remarks from the interview that
can cause a limitation to the study. Im not really sure how to put
this in, but if we are including the interview questions in the report
maybe we can number all the questions for easy reference, if not
(something like this?):

Case 1:

Does the firm provide training for new or existing employees, or

are they expected to have the skills upon employment?
Both new and existing employees, training such as companys
system training and
workflow training as well as attend
conferences and course such as managerial PA and secretarial
course.
VS
Are
existing
and
long-time
employees
given
opportunity/allowed to go training to further their career?

the

No.

Case 2:

Are your employees given a clear idea/set of goals that they

know they must achieve, either to meet their targets or be
promoted?
No. But only senior legal secretaries are given target from their
billing and this is counted towards their bonus remuneration.

VS
How do you keep employees for being interested in the work
that they are assign to? How do you know that their interest is
not fading?
Employees in this firm are usually aware of their job scope,
therefore they always do their best for the work they assign to,
accurate and in timely manner. None have shown any
uninterested sign so far.

Nevertheless, there are some improvements that can be made so

that the firm can be more efficient in managing its staf and
motivating its employees such as allowing flexible working hours,
giving compensation for overtime, ask feedbacks from employees,
compliment its employees and carry out performance appraisals
more frequently.

Recommendations
A) Flexitime
Flexitime or flexible working hours allow workers to come to work depending
on their time preference as long as they meet the minimum working hour
requirement, for example, 7 hours per day if they do not need to attend
meetings or appointments. Currently, the company only allows its staff to go
out during working hours if urgent matters arise. Flexible working hours can
be convenient for workers that need to send or fetch their children to or from
school if the time clashes with their normal working hours. However, there
should be a set of rules for the employees if the company opts to have this
system. Throughout the companys opening hours, for example, 8 a.m. to 5
p.m. there should be adequate staff to ensure the companys work is
progressing according to schedule and there are staff available to tend to
clients. Also, there should be a limit to how many employees are allowed to go
out of the company at one time within the usual working hours.

B) Compensations for overtime

According to the interview, employees of Abrahams, Davidson and Co. are not
given any sort of compensation if they are required to do overtime. This will
result in unhappiness of the workers and may affect their work performance as
they lose their personal time to be with family or do sports just to do extra
work without pay. To encourage the staff to do their best, the company could
pay them or for the number of hours they do overtime, it can be accumulated
and considered as a day of leave.
C) Ask feedbacks from employees

From the data collected, the company has never asked their employees for any
feedbacks such as suggestions and improvements that should be made for the
company to perform better. The company should constantly ask feedbacks
from the staff and consider them so that the company can achieve its goals
efficiently and effectively. This is because the workers are the ones that deal
with problems and issues within the company so their feedbacks are of great
value. Any problems that arise along the way would be handled in a better and
faster way too.
D) Compliments for all employees
The company does not practice complimenting its workers, except the human
resource manager if they have accomplished any of the law firms goals.
According to Maslows theory, employees self-esteems can be improved by
compliments from employers and could help enhance the spirit of working for
these employees. At the same time, it can increase competition among
employees and therefore, increasing their productivity. Hence, the company
should always compliment and give positive encouragements to all of its
employees.
E) Frequent performance appraisal
Based from the interview, it is found that the company does performance
appraisals only once a year. This may be insufficient because within a period
of twelve months, it is possible and easy for the workers to slack off and only
start being hardworking when its close to employees review time. To ensure
the workers are constantly motivated to work hard, performance review should
be done monthly to ensure the workers are continuously determined to
produce their best. For employees that are performing well, the company can
reward them, for example, with money.