The groomers usually start work at 9am each day as they can’t start cleaning and polishing the vehicles until the mechanics have completed their duties and the groomers are only employed on a part-time basis. There may be some days when only one or two cars are returned to Rotorua which means out of the 15 groomers, only one or two are required. The team leader for the groomers (Helen) appears to favour two of the workers over the others as you notice that these people receive more hours and pay than the rest of the team. You start hearing rumours about the unfairness of the roster and decide to investigate.
Your reception area at the airport is operated by ten front line reception staff who work two shifts over any day from 7.30 am - 1.00pm and 12.30 pm - 8.30pm. They are rostered over a five-day period.
The administration staff (five people) are kept busy with mainly online orders, making sure the correct vehicle is at the airport at the right time, collecting and banking any money that is paid in cash plus checking bank statements daily to reconcile the online sales and banking, plus keeping track of insurance paid for by clients. Michael (head administrative assistant) has asked if he can work from home on two days a week. Again, you need to look at the implications on the rest of the administration staff before making a decision. All staff are given appropriate uniforms, and these are replaced on a yearly basis. A cleaning allowance is paid as part of the staff member`s allowance.
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP NZCB401
ASSESSMENT 1 PART B
Scenario narrative
Rentals NZ Ltd
A record number of overseas visitors has left some rental car companies virtually booked solid as Chinese New Year brings an influx of visitors from sia to New Zealand.
Rapata Wirihana, managing direction of the Rental Car and Campervan Organisation of New Zealand, said a year ago the industry thought peak season hires would hit 100,000 a month, but now estimated they would reach at least 120,000 for both January and February. “ I expect that it could be as high as 135,000, and 80 per cent of them are likely to be overseas drivers. We are close to full capacity”
Wirihana has advised that overseas visitors who had not yet booked a rental vehicle could experience difficulties, and they may not be able to get the type of vehicle that they had planned to book, especially if they wanted it for several weeks.
Rental companies, including Rentals NZ has also taken on extra staff to speed up grooming times. Oliver Harris, CEO of Rentals NZ, reports that "vehicles are being cleaned almost as soon as people get out of them as we need to grab the vehicles and turn them around as quickly as possible."
General manager of Top Star Rentals, Kirsten Briggs, said her company had added more than 750 new vehicles to its fleet to cope with the surge in demand.
"There are periods of time where we are sold out on all our car classes. During peak season we often have no spare vehicles."
As well as the overall increase in tourist numbers, she said the average vehicle rental period had increased, with many customers choosing to rent cars for more than 8 days.
"There is clear pattern here; there is a return of longer haul travellers from Asia, the UK, America and
Europe, and these tourists are staying for longer periods of time in Aotearoa. Many years ago, during the GFC (Global Financial Crisis), we were relying on Australian and New Zealanders, and these customers tended to hire vehicles for a much shorter period of time."
Figures from Aotearoa Tourism indicate that changing travel habits have had an impact too. The data shows that, on average, 60,000 visitors from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong arrive at the start of the year for the Chinese New Year and many of these visitors are opting out of group bus tours.
The proportion of Chinese visitors travelling independently is increasing which also impacts the demand for rental vehicles. Te Waiponumu Rentals manager Hemi Waitea said his company was almost fully booked in the South Island and February was always busy because peak tourist season coincided with the resumption of local corporate travel following the summer break
"February really is our peak period, and this means that it is becoming very difficult for some tourists to secure rental cars”
Waitea reported that because of the increase in tourist numbers more businesses are showing interest in the rental vehicle market, particularly those not currently operating in New Zealand. In example of this is American company Sunny Rentals, who have just started operating from Auckland Airport.
