Blueprint for Action
Improving the Team Aspect of HSA
At our full company weekly meetings, one of our twelve agencies should present a challenge they faced or project they completed and discuss the methodology behind it. Since our agencies are in various fields, it would benefit all managers to understand the processes of other agencies. Additionally, exposure to different modes of problem-solving may introduce new practices.
Improving Training and Onboarding
To improve training, HSA should include a clause about completing a training checklist in our contracts. Currently, some outgoing managers may not train their successors to the best of their ability. However, they continue to get paid during the transitional period. This clause can state that the training checklist must be completed by the outgoing manager, incoming manager, and the outgoing Managing Director by November 20th to ensure one’s employment at HSA. This will provide a financial incentive for potentially burnt out managers to finish out their year strong and train their successors well, without inflicting any extra cost to HSA overall.
Integrate HSA Better into the Harvard Community
While we do employ over 600 students annually, HSA can be better integrated into the Harvard community. Most students know about HSA Cleaners and The Harvard Shop, but they might not know about some of our newer agencies, such as DEV, a web and mobile development company. In the past few weeks, HSA launched several Instagram accounts. Establishing a social media presence will be essential to building HSA. Additionally, HSA can partner with other organizations via conferences or business dealings. For example, GroupGear, our group apparel company, can create customized apparel orders for many organizations on campus.
Improving the Hourly Employee Experience
Becoming More Systematic
With the advent of operations manuals for managers last summer, HSA should make operations manuals and video guides for hourly employees. This will allow hourly employees to be more effective and independent. If hourly employees can just check a manual or video each time they have a question, managers will have more time and business operations will run quicker and smoother.
Incentivizing Direct Feedback to Managing Directors
If an hourly employee has an idea for improving the operations at his or her job, he or she should be able to send feedback directly to the manager or Managing Director. If the idea goes into effect, the hourly employee should receive a bonus. We have hourly employees who have worked at HSA longer than some managers. They possess a great deal of institutional knowledge and are essential to the operations of our businesses. Their insights are very valuable, and we must incentivize them to share their perspectives.
