Let’s assume our client is GoldWorks, a large gold mine in one of Australia’s most remote, yet fastest growing regions. The mine has a reputable brand, has been operating for decades and has historically employed a significant part of the local population.
Recently, the mine has seen an increase in its vacancy rate to 20% (vacancy rate = roles unstaffed out of the total staff necessary for running the mine) representing around 800 roles which require to be filled. At the same time, the HR department has noticed a significant increase in the average time to fill roles to 80 days (time it takes from when the role becomes available to when a new person is employed and begins working).
We were asked by the CEO of GoldWorks to support the Head of HR with identifying the root causes of this trend and how to overturn it.
To begin with, what are some of the reasons why the time to fill could have increased?
Interviewer should provide additional information to the candidate, in line with the structure provided by the candidate in question 1. Then, the interviewer should encourage the candidate to offer several hypotheses based on this new data.
Interviewer should guide the candidate to further investigate the hypothesis that externalizing HR services has led to a decrease in performance by providing the data below. The candidate is expected to review the data and revise their hypothesis based on it.
Interviewer should encourage candidate to assess analytically which option is the most cost-effective.
You are about to meet for the first time with the HR Manager to present them your work to date. What is your recommendation for them?
This case is based on a real McKinsey engagement. It does not require any industry or topic knowledge and is relevant for both candidate-led and interviewer-led models (though designed with the former in mind).