Xerox – a Case Study Report

Info and Admin Report ParkR&C5

Table of Contents Introduction Xerox Company Departments Finance Information Technology (IT) Global Contact Centre (GCC) Human Resources (HR) Organisation Structure Administration Functions of an Office Workplace Legislation Carers Leave Act 2001 Terms of Employment (information) Act 1994 Unfair Dismissals Act 1993 Introduction This is an introduction for a report I have done as part of my assignment on the globally know company Xerox. The purpose of this report is to introduce people to companies such as Xerox and give them an insight of the work done in the company and reasons for it doing them. In my report I have included the company history, type, size, location and service. I have also explained some roles in the company, an organisation chart along with duties of some jobs, administration functions of an office and finally three pieces of workplace legislation. I feel I have done this report to the best of my ability and hope you find that there is a wide range of useful information on Xerox as a company among other things. Xerox Xerox was founded in the year 1906, Chester Carlson created way to easily duplicate information on to paper named xerography 75 years ago. This invention transformed how office work is done and how information is shared. The invention of xerography is the reason for the company of Xerox, Carlson said while working on developing xerography that his reason for it was “to make office work a little more productive and a little less tedious.” And when we look at Xerox today this shines true. Xerox is one of few companies who’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is a female. Ursula M. Burns joined Xerox as a summer intern in mechanical engineering in 1980 and in her years there has helped strengthen Xerox’s leadership in document technology and services. Xerox is a private sector organisation. A private sector business is a privately owned business, a business is set up to produce or distribute a product or service. The sole purpose of a business is to make a profit, without this a business would not survive in the market. Xerox is a private limited company (Ltd). A private limited company is a company that is owned by its shareholders and can have a minimum of 1 member or a maximum of 99. Limited company’s and PLC are similar legally but limited companies have strict rules for the amount of shares to be issued to the shareholders, these are usually owned by family or friends of the business. Xerox is an American based company and is run in 160 countries, Ireland is one of these countries. Their Irish branch is based in Ballycoolin Industrial Estate Blanchardstown Dublin 15. Xerox has been a major part in document technology and services and currently is the world’s leading company for document management and business process. With over 140,000 employees they offer global services from claims, reimbursement, HR benefits management and automated toll transaction to customer care centres. They commit 3.2% of their revenue to development and research for the company each Xerox, like many businesses has a variety of different departments. Four of these departments are Finance, IT, GCC and HR. Company Departments Finance The purpose of a finance department in a business is to make tactical decisions in the company’s money management. They also deal with annual reports of the company’s payments and returns.

• Do financial reports
• helps with building profits for the business

Information Technology (IT) The IT Departments role in the workplace is to develop and maintain a certain standard of network on desktops. Their main purpose is to manage the technology and software of their workplace and give guidance on these things to other staff members.

• Meeting clients to define any requirements
• Giving written or verbal solutions to queries

Global Contact Centre (GCC) The GCC department is a call centre in Xerox. Its purpose is to take customer calls from a variety of countries with any queries they have with products purchased and also to take orders for products. This is a big part in Xerox’s business as it helps with a lot of sales.

• Provides information to customers on the companies goods
• Gives answers or solutions to inquiries

Human Resources (HR) HR’s role in a company is to help give advice on policies linking to the use of employees in a business. The people in this line of work need to have an understanding of the businesses objectives and by doing so develop their department’s policies.

• Cover the conditions or employment
• Deal with work practices and equality in the work place

Organisation Structure Network Manager Duties include:

• Purchasing equipment for the company network
• Manages the network and maintains its standard
• Installs any upgrades needed
• Oversees all user access
• Develop and run a backup program for any emergencies

Budget Analyst Duties include:

• Helps prepare the annual budget
• reviews budget in case of errors
• explain issues with the budget at hand
• Compare each result of each budget

Administration Functions of an Office The responsibility of the office is to handle any of the information that goes to and from the business. Location and size of an office is determined by the nature and size of the business itself. Larger businesses would usually have an admin office for each specific department, however it would be more common for a large business to have a centralised office for dealing with frequent activities. Functions of admin: Receiving and Sorting Information: The office would usually have to deal with a variety of information on a daily basis received from:

• Customers - queries, orders, payments and quotations
• Government Bodies, Revenue Commissions, Trade and Employment, Employment Welfare Agencies and Department of enterprise
• Suppliers – Statements, invoices, quotations, promotional material and catalogues
• Financial institutions – Interest & currency rates, bank statements and stock valuation
• The business itself – reports, accounts, internal mail & requests and minutes of meetings

Processing and Communicating Information: Information received will usually need further examination before it can be used or distributed. The office will tell the recipient of the information this in one of the following ways:

• Orally – Telephone, face to face or video conference
• Written – By letter or report
• Visually – Bar charts, pie charts or histograms
• Electronically – E-mail or fax

Sorting and Protecting Information: After information is processed in an office it is then stored for future reference. This is done using either a manual filing system or electronic document management system. Information held in paper format or on a computer has to be upheld according to the Data protection Acts 1988-2003, any confidential information should be correctly stored to avoid any unauthorised access. Three pieces of equipment used for these functions are: The Fax Machine Fax machines are used to send images of a document of choice over telephone line, this is an easy way of sending printed of hand written documents to another person’s fax. A fax will usually have its own phone number and line they can also send and receive at the same time. Photocopier A photocopier is an office appliance used to make copies of paper documents. There is a wide range of photocopiers from small desktop ones to the larger freestanding ones, however offices would have a freestanding photocopier as its gives personnel easier access. Shredder A shredder is a machine used to disperse of any unwanted documentation and would be commonly used in offices. It is an effective way of getting rid of unwanted documents as it cuts them into small sections that would be almost impossible to be put back together. Workplace Legislation Carers Leave Act 2001 The Carers Leave Act 2001 provides employees the entitlement to avail of temporary leave to care for persons who require full-time care and attention. To be eligible for carers leave you need to be an employee in your workplace for 12 full months. You are required to be the sole and only carer for the person in need of care. You are required to give your employer at least 6 weeks’ notice of your intention to take this leave. You are entitled to a minimum of 13 weeks and a maximum of 104, however your employer can refuse to your carers leave if it is 13 weeks or less. The right of an employee’s annual leave and public holidays is restricted for the first 13 weeks if carers leave has been taken by said employee Your employer cannot penalise you – treat you unfairly or any different prior to your leave when back from carers leave. When on carers leave you are unpaid but your job is kept open for you and you have the possibility of being paid through carers benefit. The person your caring for isn’t required to be family it could be a friend colleague When on carers leave you got to an educational or training course for up to 15 hours a week Terms of Employment (information) Act 1994 The terms of employment Act 1994 is in place to give employees an understanding on the obligations that should be followed by them and their employer/s. It withholds information on the matters of job descriptions, rates of payment and hours of work. Anyone who is employed and earns an average wage has a contract of employment. Employment contracts do not have to be in writing. An employee has to be given a written statement on their employment and its terms within 2 months of starting work, this does not apply to those employed a month or less. The statement is required to be signed by your employer but there is no requirement for the employee to sign it. The statement can also be signed on behalf of your employer if they are not available to do so. Your employer is required to keep a copy of your statements of terms during your employment and at least a year after it. If any changes are to be made to the statement the employer has one month after it comes into effect at most to inform said employee of the nature and date of the changes. An employee has the right to bring complaints forward to their employment for up to six months from termination. Unfair Dismissals Act 1993 The Unfair Dismissals Act 1993 gives us information on our employer’s rights to employee dismissal. If dismissed from your workplace, depending on your dismissal conditions you have the right to bring a claim forward for unfair dismissal against your employer. This legislation doesn’t protect from dismissal but gives the right to appeal it and question the reasons for your dismissal. If you qualify to bring your claim forward (if your employer agrees there was a dismissal) your employer will have to show that the grounds for dismissal were fair. Dismissals are deemed unfair if there are not significant justifications for it. You can ask for a written statement of the reasons for your dismissal, this is to be provided within 14 days from requested day. If found that you are unfairly dismissed you could be place back in your job position or receive compensation for earning lost because of the dismissal. You have a limit of 6 months from your dismissal date to put in a claim, under certain exceptional circumstances you may be able to extend it up to 12 months. If you’ve work for your employer for at least 13 weeks you are still entitled to a statutory minimum period of notice.

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