Human Resource Management Report

This report analyzes the role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in Waitrose & Partners, a leading British supermarket chain. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM in workforce planning and resourcing, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of different recruitment and selection approaches, and evaluates the benefits of various HRM practices for both employers and employees. The report also discusses the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision-making and examines key elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM practices. Finally, it evaluates the use of technology and digital platforms in the recruitment and selection process.

HUMAN
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1. The purpose and functions of HRM in workforce planning and resourcing an organization.3
3. Benefits of different HRM practices within an organization for both the employer and
employee.................................................................................................................................8
4. Importance of effectiveness of different HRM practices in overall organization context. 8
5. Importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision-making.......10
6. Key elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision-making.......11
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................12
7. Application of HRM practices..........................................................................................12
8.Evaluation of use of technology and other digital platforms in recruitment and selection
process..................................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
....................................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
A business organization is established to achieve its objectives by carrying various
activities. It is a co-ordinated efforts of all the departments working in the organization such as
finance, marketing, production, legal, human resource management, operations etc. One of the
main activities is managing the workforce. Human resource management is the strategic process
of hiring, management, training, development and appraisal of employees for gaining
competitive advantage (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Further, it is also concerned with maintaining
industrial relations and make organizational change as per the laws and regulations. The chosen
company is Waitrose & Partners. It is a chain of British Supermarkets and is food retail division
of John Lewis Partnership. This report covers the purpose and scope HR functions in meeting
business objectives, approach to workforce planning, recruitment and selection, application of
suitable approach to employee relation, key aspects of employment legislation and evaluation of
such laws in decision making.
TASK 1
1. The purpose and functions of HRM in workforce planning and resourcing an organization
Workforce planning is a systematic approach to assess the current and future needs of
human resource in order to conduct business activities effectively. It involves, identification of
capabilities and competency and evaluation if the right candidate are available for the vacant
position (Importance of HRM practices in an organisation. 2018). Along with this, budget and
overall strategies of business should be aligned for achieving the goals in long-run. Waitrose &
Partners is the sixth-largest retailer of groceries in the UK, therefore, it becomes necessary to
manage such a large workforce. The purpose and functions of HRM in the above-mentioned
company are as follows:
Purpose of HRM
HRM is responsible for the co-ordination of people within an entity to attain the
organizational goals. Further, it has to manage the whole human capital also hire the best
employees for the vacant post in order to increase the productivity. Along with this, formulation
of policies by taking into account the laws pertaining to the changing business environment so
that company can get adequate profits. The purpose of Waitrose & Partners' HRM are as follows:

1. Internal Customer Management- Financial performance of an organization depends on
the quality of the workforce it employs. HRM forms and implements various strategies
and policies to attract, recruit and retain the manpower that are efficient to contribute to
the success of business. Therefore, it forms a nexus between the company and external
parties to get the best employees.
2. Laws- Every organization is governed by laws and regulations implemented by the
federal government. The HRM is responsible to have complete understanding about the
applicable legislation regarding employment for hiring and termination. It should also
understand labour relations and negotiation. Further, retirement benefits, conflict
management and employment contract has to be made accordingly (Jiang and et. al.,
2012).
3. Metrics- One more purpose of HRM is to participate in the strategic matters such as
planning the budget and deciding the performance goals. Further, find out the reasons for
high employee turnover and measure the results obtained by the current workforce to
minimize the cost and increase the productivity at all levels.
Functions of HRM
1. Recruitment and selection- It starts with attracting and make the candidates to show up
for the interview which is followed by the selecting the potential and qualified candidate
suitable for a particular job. Proper planning is important before proceeding as it will
reduce the cost by keeping the unqualified ones out.
2. Orientation- A through program must be conducted to enable the chosen candidates to
gain a brief knowledge about the objectives and goals of the organization and how to
achieve both long and short term goals.
3. Good working conditions- The fundamental duty of HR is to maintain and provide a
good workplace and atmosphere by motivating them on regular basis. Also, employees
should be rewarded for their best performance as it gives them a sense of satisfaction.
4. Employee Relations- Efforts should be made to understand employees at the personal
and professional level as it influence their behaviours and work outputs they produce
(Marescaux and et. al., 2012). Maintaining healthy employee relations is key to
organization's success.

5. Training and Development- HR should increase the ability of workforce by conducting
training sessions for providing the necessary education and knowledge in order to remain
competitive.
Roles and responsibilities of HR function:
1. To attract talented people by creating a good image of company in the market.
2. To hire the potential candidates after conducting interview.
3. To incorporate training program for every new employee and existing personnel
whenever changes occur.
4. To develop employees professionally by considering their personal interest.
5. To maintain work culture and resolve conflicts.
HR plays a link between the company and potential candidates. A company can not
achieve its objectives without employees. HR is responsible for giving advertisement to make
people aware about the job vacancy, conduct interview, select the potential candidates suitable
for the job. Hence, HR has a very significant role in an organization and without HR, it is not
possible to have required employees.
2. Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection
Recruitment is the process of finding potential and best qualified candidates and hiring
them for the jobs in the organization in a cost effective manner. It includes, assessing job
requirements, captivating employee, screening and selecting new employees (Ferreira and et. al.,
2012). The two main methods of recruitment are as follows:
 Internal Source- It is a method of hiring the employees working in the organization
internally . Only the existing personnels are considered for different positions in the same
entity.
Strengths Weaknesses
 Since the employees are selected
internally, company is not required to
pay recruitment agency or advertise.
Thus, saving in recruitment cost.
 It has been seen that candidates often
lie about their accomplishments, hence
this method helps in getting the right
 This type of recruitment can impact the
employees morale negatively which
may lead to conflict.
 Also, the current workforce may lack in
showing their creativity and talent.

employee as per their performance
record.
 External Source- When an entity hire the employees outside the organization, then such
recruitment is called external source (Marchington and et. al., 2016). The human capital
is selected externally.
Strengths Weaknesses
 This approach give qualified candidates
with fresher skill and input for
providing better competition to other
organizations. Further, it result in better
growth and chances of internal politics
are less.
 The new employees will have limited
understanding about the company
which may lead to higher risk and costs.
Also, there may arise situations of
conflict with existing employees. Also,
there is legal risks if the companies do
not follow recruitment process
according to amendments made in laws.
HR manager of Waitrose & Partners gives preference to external method for recruiting
the employees as compared to internal source. The procedure starts with planning the selection
process such as advertising about the vacancy, conducting interviews by creating a scenario in
order to judge the potentials of prospective employee and finally selecting the right person for
the right job.
Waitrose and Partners can adopt training and development method for desired result. In
this, training sessions will be conducted by HR to make employees aware about the objectives of
the entity and gain necessary knowledge and skills to increase productivity.
Approaches to workforce planning
 Determine competencies which will necessary in future context to performing business
activities and operations.
 Predicting future operating environment.

 Preparing effective strategies and also executing tactics for purpose of building
workforce.
Approaches of performance management
 Match the individual goal with the key business priorities, resulting more focused and
also effective utilisation of the resources.
 Provide comprehensive system in order to recognising what need to be don and in what
manner.
 Develop discipline of analysing progress against attaining set objectives and also develop
the necessary adjustments.
Approaches of Training and Development
Different kinds of training and development approaches mention below:
Proactive approach- This training approach is effective when the company is actively
seeking the ways for training to make improvement in performance of business. This approach
tend to adopt through Waitrose & Partner that it is helpful in provide competitive benefits to
business.
Reactive approach- This training and development approach tends to be adopted through
the less developed company. It does not include pre- planning but seen as the spontaneous to
certain degree.
Approaches of Reward System
Traditional approach- It consists job based pay and job evaluation pay.
Job based pay- It is mainly use job description to identify relative job worth.
Job evaluation based pay- It uses the job evaluation in order estimate importance of job
and also its worth.
Contemporary approach- This approach of reward system is based on skill based pay
and performance based pay which are mention below:
Skill based pay- It lights in pay based on competency of staff members.
Performance based pay- It consists procedure of estimating performance of staff
members for give time period.

3. Benefits of different HRM practices within an organization for both the employer and
employee.
The HRM employs many practices to manage the workforce effectively. It may range
from selection, training, development, maintaining healthy working conditions and so on. The
HR is responsible for performing activities required to keep employee motivated for giving their
best. HR should continuously practices these activities to motivate and retain the existing
employees and attract new employees (Alfes and et. al., 2012). The importance of various HRM
practices for both employees and employers, that are being practiced in Waitrose & Partners are
as follows:
Employee relations- HR is the link between the organization and its employees. This
practice involves engaging the employees to shares their views and opinions. This help in
establishing a close and healthy relation between the company and personnels. It makes them
feel a sense of belongingness which motivates them to increase their efficiency. Also, the
interaction will give a clear idea about what an employee want and what are his capabilities.
Conflict resolution- Conflicts are inevitable at workplace. There may be numerous
reasons for such situations. HRM should take resolve the matter reasonably by hearing all the
parties involved and reaching to a conclusion on the basis of evidence collected. Furthermore, it
should be resolved quickly otherwise, it may prove to be a disadvantage for the work
environment (Clarke and Hill, 2012). It will benefit the employer to focus on other major
objectives. Employees find a workplace which is friendly and provides prompt solution for
disputes.
Training and development- Training helps in making the employees adapt the business
environment changes and work to survive in the cut-throat competition. The HRM should
manage to conduct sessions for assessing their current knowledge and impart updated education
in order to make them better. Also, this contributes to their development since, the employees
will be able to complete their targets within allotted time. It will provided required knowledge to
achieve objectives in an increased way which will save costs.
4. Importance of effectiveness of different HRM practices in overall organization context.
Employees are the most vital element of an organization. Their management is important
for increasing productivity of the entity. The HRM practices are done in order to make the
human capital more capable of performing their tasks as their performance affects the financial

position of the company. To increase the profits and efficiency, Waitrose & Partners may
implement various HRM strategies to enable the personnels do their work efficiently. Importance
of various HRM practices are as follows:
Setting goals and their proper execution- HRM set the goals that are required to be
achieved by employees along with way of attaining such objectives. Also, the time will be
allotted for individual task so that timely execution is done. Since, Waitrose & Partners is a large
entity, it may appoint manager who are capable of carrying out their activities as required by the
company. This will provide a co-ordination among all the departments of it.
Effective communication- This area of Waitrose & Partners is responsible for making
practices that will increase the communication among the employees (Zibarras and Coan, 2015).
There should be various way through which people working within the organisation may interact
with other, also efforts should be made to reduce the degree of grapevine in the company. By
this, team goals will be aligned with the individual goal and the combined efforts will result in
increased profitability.
Alliance and collaboration- HR is the nexus between the company with the outside
world. The use of HRM practices encourages the external parties to take the alliance and
collaborate with the company. Association is good for a company to expand its business and
capture the market to gain competitive advantage. The behaviour of external parties influence the
internal management of an organization, hence there views and ideas should be implemented.
Rewarding the employees- One of the main HRM activities is to reward the employees
for their efforts to keep them motivated and also to retain them. The practices give help
company to get the best out their workforce by resorting their interests in the organization which
may result in lower employee turnover by making them work in effective and efficient way.
Increased efficiency of employees- Waitrose & Partners is one of the leading groceries
company is the UK, therefore it is quite obvious for the entity to face fierce competition. Hence,
the HRM practices help company to maintain a balance in working environment as per the
changes in the business and economic environment. For this, the workers are need to be
competent enough to perform their task with full efforts. Their exiting skills and capabilities can
be updated through training and knowledge sessions.

5. Importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision-making
The pre-requisite requirement of an organization is to maintain healthy employee
relations. It is necessary for high productivity and satisfaction of people working in the entity.
Such relations can be maintained by avoiding conflicting situations or resolving the situations
bothering an employee. Further, it greatly depends on working conditions and environment,
compensation, incentives and communication system in the organization (Bučiūnienė and
Kazlauskaitė, 2012). It leads to more productive and efficient human resource which directly
affect the sales level. A company may come across various barriers for creating and maintaining
such relations, HR should put efforts to overcome such obstacles. The below mentioned are some
of the importance of employee relations that contribute to HRM decision-making:
Productivity- The outcome of strong employee relations is that it motivates employees
by increasing their morale. This result in positive working environment for the people working in
the company. HRM strategies of Waitrose & Partners, involve conducting employee relations
program to see positive results as improved productivity leads to higher profits. Employees look
forward to work in a healthy and friendly working environment.
Employee loyalty- It is a common perception for all prospective employees to work in
an entity that will provide good working environment. It increases loyalty of workforce working
in the company and retention of them becomes easy. Also, it helps in many ways, such as
reduction in employee turnover and recruitment cost. Low turnover implies that existing
employees are trained and skilled. Waitrose & Partners considered its employees as the most
vital assets, hence it implements strategies to gain their loyalty. When the opinions of employees
are considered, it make them have a feeling of belongingness.
Conflict reduction- A friendly work environment limits conflicting situations. This
increases the productivity of employees as they can focus on their tasks. A proper management
of employee- employer relation is crucial to success or failure of businesses. Waitrose &
Partners has adequate conflict resolution system as its a large corporation and chances of
conflicts are higher in big companies. Prompt action is what an employee look for.
Increased sales- The main objective of any organization is to increase their sales
resulting in increasing profits. The company should understand the needs and demands of
customers and make its employees work within specified time in order to increase sales.

Waitrose & Partners, is a large scale company, employing more than 50 thousand employees,
therefore, it becomes imperative to manage the workforce to achieve the sales target.
6. Key elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision-making.
The government make legislation to promote uniformity and equality in the society.
There are many laws that governs business activities and transactions as well as employment.
The motive of laws relating to employment is to provide an environment that will be fair to all
(Hennekam and Herrbach, 2013). Some of employment legislation pertaining to employment in
UK are Employment Act 2002, Equality Act 2010, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Minimum
Wage Act 1948, and many more. All the decisions, policies, plans and strategies of HRM should
be according to the applicable laws in order to be ethical and legal. They govern recruitment and
selection procedure, training and development, termination, providing good working conditions
and environment etc. One of the main HRM objectives of Waitrose & Partners is to provide a
good and competitive working condition that treat all its employees. Also, to provide attractive
compensation and benefits in order to retain and increase their and company's productivity. Some
of the important laws applicable in company in respect to employment are as follow:
Employment Act, 2002- It provides laws regulating employment contract, pay, leaves,
appraisal, dispute resolution and many more provisions. It has been enacted so that employees
can working an organization which treats them equal. Therefore, HR policies should be made by
taking into account its provisions.
Equality Act, 2010- This Act provides protection to employees at workplaces who have
been discriminated on the basis of gender, ability-disability, caste, religion, nationality, martial
status, age etc. Further, it contains grounds for dismissal of an employee and when a dismissal a
will account to be unfair. Hence, HRM of Waitrose & Partners, should make the working
environment equal for all employee in order to save itself from legal consequences.
Family and Medical Leave Act, 1993- This law has been made to enable employees to
take off from work for taking care and fulfilling the requirements of their dependent(s). As per
this Act, an employee can take unpaid leaves for maximum 12 days per year in case of
discrepancy and it has been extended to three months in case of female employees while they are
pregnant.
Age Discrimination Act, 1967- According to this Act, an employer can not discriminate
and take decisions regarding the hiring or promoting an employee on the basis of his age. It

provides protection to the people above the age of 40 years. Also, a company can not terminate a
personnel due to his age (Donate and et. al., 2016).
Data Protection Act- The provisions of this is to protect confidential data employees.
Companies should have adequate system for containing their information is a secured way.
Further, any disclosure of such data by employer to a third party without the prior permission of
the concerned employee will be an offence under this Act.
Above mentioned laws helps the company to provide fair and consistent treatment to all
employees. Decision taken by looking into the provision of these Acts will promote a healthy
employer-employee relationship which will form a better co-ordination among all the
departments for achieving set goals.
Implementing employment laws and maintaining good employee relation within organisation
helps managers in taking effective decisions and meeting objectives of business.
TASK 2
7. Application of HRM practices.
In the given case, Waitrose and Partners can apply the following HRM practices:
1. Self-managed and effective teams- The team members should be capable enough to
manage their individual tasks. HR should make policies to assign separate goals along
with time.
2. Extensive training- It increases the current knowledge base which will make employees
achieve companies goals in an efficient manner. Due to this, company will gain
competitive advantage.
Job description:
Job Details
Post: Accountant
Company: Waitrose & Partners
Job Purpose
To maintain records of daily transactions in the head office of company and conduct internal
audit at fixed intervals to detect errors or omissions.

Roles & Responsibilities
 Record and classify transactions relating to sales and others
 Physical verification of stocks at store as well as at go-downs
 Conduct internal audit at specified intervals
 Guide the management about mismanagement, misappropriation of funds, and efficiency
of internal control
 Analysis of financial position and trends and provide forecasts for budget
 Complying with relevant laws and legislation
 Help external auditor in audit by providing complete information
Person Specification
Post: Accountant
Department: Accounting
Attributes Essential Desirable
Qualification & Experience Certified Accounting
Technician. Certificate of
Institute of Chartered
Secretaries & Administrators
(ICSA). Member of Institute
of Chartered Accountants in
England and Wales.
Experience of 8 years as
Accountant in a reputed
MNC.
Certified Membership along
with minimum of 5 years in
Accounting department.
Skills or knowledge Analytical skills along with
good presentation skills.
Must have strong knowledge
of accounting and finance
along with proficiency in MS-
excel.

Interview Questions
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Where were you working earlier and why did you leave the job?
3. Why do you want to join the company and what are your long-term goals?
4. Explain revenue recognition and matching principles.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Name: Richard Garry
Address: 78, North, Block B, Paddignton St., London, United Kingdom
E-mail ID:
Contact No.:
Professional Summary: Dedicated and highly capable of accountant with several years of
experience in financial and accounting matters. Adept at handling accounts for small and large
businesses and providing forecasts and budgets. Comfortable with leading meetings and
presenting information in an intelligible form, to co-workers, clients and shareholders. Seeking
a fresh position and the chance to lead a larger team.
Core Qualifications:
6. Certified Accounting Technician.
7. Certificate of Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators (ICSA).
8. Member of Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Experience:
Minimum experience of 5 years as Accountant in a reputed MNC.
Key Skills:
 Analytical skills
 Computing
 Proficient in computer and internet
 High leadership qualities
Job Offer Letter

Mr. Richard Garry
Address: 78, North, Block B, Paddignton St., London, United Kingdom- WF1 2UP
Dear
Waitrose & Partners is pleased to offer you the position of Accountant, Accounting Department.
Your skills and experience will be an ideal fir for our company.
As we discussed, your starting date will be March 1, 2019. The starting salary is £48, 000 per
annum and is paid on monthly basis.
If you accept this job offer, please sign the attached copy of this letter and return it to em at your
nearest convenience.
When your acknowledgement is received, we will send you employee benefit enrolment forms
and an employee handbook which details our benefit plans and retirements plan. We will look
forward to welcoming you to Waitrose & Partners.
Please let me know if you have any questions or I can provide any additional information.
Sincerely,
Jo Walmsley,
Manager, Human Resources
Waitrose & Partners
I hereby accept the Accountant position.
Signature
8.Evaluation of use of technology and other digital platforms in recruitment and selection
process
Technologies like online resources, digital platforms such as facebook, and social
networking sites are useful way to connect to huge number of people as majority of them use
social networking. It is a fast and cost-effective way. The one major disadvantage it has, it that,
occurrence of fraud is higher as anybody can make fake profile of company. No huge amount of
cost is in involved and as majority of people spend most of their time online, it provides a great
platform for recruiting and selecting.

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that human capital is important for the
entity's success. Their management is necessary to get maximum result in an cost-effective
manner. Further, various strategies for their benefits should be implemented, also, time-to-time
appraisal and reward should be given to keep them motivating. Further, proper training should be
imparted for updating their knowledge for surviving in the competitive market. Large companies
require more control over its workforce, hence a co-ordination should be created to sustain in the
long -term. Along with this, various laws governing employment in the organization should be
abide by in order to save the company from legal consequences.

REFERENCES
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Marchington and et. al., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
Alfes and et. al., 2012. The link between perceived HRM practices, performance and well‐being:
The moderating effect of trust in the employer. Human Resource Management Journal.
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Zibarras, L.D. and Coan, P., 2015. HRM practices used to promote pro-environmental behavior:
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Clarke, M.A. and Hill, S.R., 2012. Promoting employee wellbeing and quality service outcomes:
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Ferreira and et. al., 2012. Organisational influence on volunteer satisfaction and attitudes towards
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Online:
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