Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 5th Edition by Raymond Noe, John Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhart, Patrick Wright

Exercise 5

How Mohawk Industries' HR Practices Empower Employees
Mohawk Industries produces and sells commercial and residential flooring, including carpet, wood, ceramic tile, vinyl, and more. The company started as a carpet manufacturer in the 1800s and now operates on three continents, with headquarters in Calhoun, Georgia. The company operates its own trucking fleet and distributes through its warehouses to stores and contractors.
Mohawk's corporate vision for sustainability includes a "people strategy" that emphasizes fair labor practices and supports employees' involvement in their communities. The company prides itself on its commitment to employee training and development. Four years in a row, it has been named to Training magazine's list of the top 125 organizations for training. In addition, its benefits package includes benefits that reflect a commitment to learning: tuition reimbursement for employees enrolled in college, as well as a college savings plan.
Mohawk has sought ways to give employees more control over their career growth at the company. It views self-service as one tool for that empowerment. The company set up a human resource information system, and to make it easily accessible to employees who aren't tied to their desks, Mohawk installed kiosks in manufacturing plants and created a version of the system for salespeople's mobile devices. With the HRIS, employees can go online anytime to update their personal information or find answers to questions about their benefits.
Mohawk's human resources department is also committed to using technology to communicate with employees and deliver training. For example, the home page on every employee's computer is a myMohawk page that serves as a portal to the company's intranet. The HR team posts information about training opportunities and other messages on myMohawk. It also posts polls as a way to get employees more actively engaged with the site. The company recently added blogs aimed at encouraging employees to share ideas. It also set up a social-media application that employees can use to find help from subject-matter experts, with the hope that this will contribute to the establishment of informal mentoring relationships. Mohawk hopes to improve its training delivery by expanding the offerings that use other languages and reflect the cultural differences of the locations where it operates.
To prepare employees for the choices they would be making during the annual enrollment in employee benefits, the company supplemented face-to-face meetings with e-mail reminders and links to podcasts. Most popular, though, was a company-produced nine-part video series in which actors portrayed characters making wise choices about their employee benefits to meet a variety of needs. That series, titled "Johnny's Diner," was available on the company's intranet, on YouTube, and on a DVD mailed to employees' homes. Mohawk's learning director, Amanda Arnwine, rated "Johnny's Diner" a success based on the number of employees who watched and the percentage of employees who chose their health care plan without further assistance.
In addition to its commitment to learning, Mohawk is committed to employee health, which not only can boost employees' well-being and engagement, but also can reduce costs of providing health benefits. Mohawk arranged for an organization called PictureWellness to deliver a wellness plan to employees. PictureWellness offers health risk assessments, exercise classes, nutrition seminars, and more. Mohawk estimates that it saved an average of $4,000 per employee on health care costs for employees who participated in the wellness program.
Would you describe Mohawk as a learning organization? Why or why not? What else could it do to promote continuous learning and knowledge sharing?