Impact of HR Practices on Employee Engagement and Retention: A Case Study of Marks and Spencer

This report analyses the impact of HR practices on employee engagement and retention in Marks and Spencer. It includes an overview of the company, literature review, methodology, research findings, and recommendations. The research aims to understand the concept of employee retention and engagement, examine the best HR practices adopted by the company, and determine their impact on employee engagement and retention.

Business Research Project -
Alternative Project on HRM Topic

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the company............................................................................................................3
Literature Review:.......................................................................................................................4
Methodology................................................................................................................................6
Research Findings........................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations........................................................................................................................9
Reflection...................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
Books and Journal......................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Employee engagement and employee retention is the particular strategy or it is the act of
creating a amended working environment in the organisation through which the workers feel
more capable and willing to perform their activities in an appropriate manner. Employing
Retention is the concept that refers to the capability of the organisation to keep existing workers
by using or adopting employee engagement as retention equipment in the organisation.
Employee engagement as well as employees retention plays an important role for the
organisation in order to improve the efficiency as well as productivity of the organisation so that
the company become capable to achieve their goals and objectives and overcome the problems.
Employees engagement also influenced the teamwork in the organisation so that the company
become capable to generate more innovative and creative ideas in order to get more competitive
advantages (Lub, Blomme, and Schalk, 2016). Support is going to analyse the practices of the
human resources management under impact on employees engagement and employee retention
in the organisation. Apart from this, this report going to consider Marks & Spencer organisation
so that the research can analyse the practices of human resources management of the Marks &
Spencer in order to overcome the sudden modification Furthermore, this report is also going to
work on the kids search parameters that consider the appropriate theories and frameworks of the
HR practices and also going to work on the methodologies in order to bring and collect
appropriate Information for the organisation so that they can use that information and collect the
appropriate findings in order to collect the relevant data for the research so that the company can
achieve their goals and objectives.
MAIN BODY
Overview of the company
Marks & Spencer group is a British multinational organisation that situated in London,
England. The organisation is founded in 1884, Leeds, United Kingdom. The organisation is
providing variety of the product and services in the marketplace in context of clothing, home
products and food products. The founders of the organisation is Michael Marks and Thomas
spencer.The organisation is best known for their women’s wear and the organisation is using

different kind of strategies in order to improve employees engagement and employs retention in
the organisation so that the company can achieve their goals and objectives. Apart from this, the
organisation is conducting and considering different kind of activities so that they can improve
the motivation of their employees in order to be involved in the company so that they can
Generate more creative ideas and get more competitive advantages.
Research aim: “To analyse the practices of human resource management and its impact
on employee engagement and retention”, A case study of Marks and Spencer
Research Objectives:
 To understand the concept of employee retention and employee
engagement.
 To examine the best HR practices which are adopted by the company in
order to improve and enhance the employee retention and employee
engagement.
 To determine the impact of HR practices on Employee engagement and on
employee retention.
Research Question:
 Explain the concept of employee retention and employee engagement?
 What are the best HR practices which are adopted by the company in
order to improve and enhance the employee retention and employee
engagement?
 Explain the impact of HR practices on Employee engagement and on
employee retention?
Literature Review:
Explain the concept of employee retention and employee engagement?
According to the “(Kuo and Chuang, 2016)” , Employee retention and employee
engagement plays an important role in the organisation in order to achieve their goals and
objectives. Employees engagement support the organisation to build teamwork in the
organisation and also support the company to get more creative as well as innovative ideas for
the company so that the company become capable to generate More positive outcomes for the

organisation. Employers engagement as well as employees retention is very important for the
company because it goes to the productivity of the company and also the present that the workers
of the company who are invested in their capabilities as well as their roles which are more
productive for the company enhances the organisation culture and also support the company to
bring more opportunities for them. Marks & Spencer organisation are working on the employees
engagement as well as employees retention because they want to improve the employees safe in
the organisation and also improve the employee satisfaction in the company in order to overcome
the problems and building team work in the company. Employs attention and implies
engagement is the part of the talent management that helps the organisation to conduct and
consider different kind of activities. It is the responsibilities of the human resources management
team to work on the employee’s attention as well as employees engagement and focusing on the
different strategies so that they can improve the motivation as well as morale of the workers so
that they can feel more valuable in the organisation. In addition to this, it is the responsibilities of
the human resources management team to focusing on the skills and knowledge of the employees
so that they can improve their capabilities in order to put their best effort so that the company can
achieve their goals and objectives(Liao, 2017).
What are the best HR practices which are adopted by the company in order to improve
and enhance the employee retention and employee engagement?
As per the view of point of “(Rubery, Keizer and Grimshaw, 2016)”, There are different
kind of HR practices that are adopted by the Marks & Spencer so that they can improve and
enhance the employees retention as well as workers engagement in the organisation. The
organisation is ensuring that their pay and benefits are more competitive and they celebrate the
employee success in the organisation so that the workers can feel more valuable in the
organisation. Apart from that, the organisation is motivating a strong team culture in the
company in order to build corporation and coordination among the employees. HR practices also
support the company to improve the brand image of the organisation in the marketplace and
create more customer base for the company so that the company can improve their productivity
and efficiency so that they can become more effective in the marketplace. As in the marketplace
there is a huge competition for the Marks & Spencer so it has become very important for the
company to retain more skilled as well as talented people in order to get more competitive
advantages and improve their brand image and identity Furthermore, the organisation is working

on their brand identity so that their workers can feel more proud to be Part of the organisation
(Palmer and Whybrow, 2018). In addition to this the organisation is working on be open to
employee feedback strategy, this will help them to collect the information and lead to
enhancement and improvements that helps them to boost the satisfaction of their workers at the
workplace and also improve the retention across the board.
Explain the impact of HR practices on Employee engagement and on employee retention?
According to the “(Vogel, Rodell, and Lynch, 2016)”, ‘`hr practices create Positive
impact on the employees engagement and on the employee retention. It helps the company to
create more positive environment in the organisation and also improve the communication level
in the company. Apart from this this is strategies and HR practices support the organisation to
retain more talented people in the organisation so that the company can become capable to
achieve their goals and objectives and brings more positive outcomes for the company. In
addition to this, HR practices which are adopted by the Marks & Spencer organisation like
providing training and development programs and considering appraisals and appreciation
activities in the company will help them to boost the morale and motivation of their employees
so that the workers can feel more valuable in the company and give their appropriate effort so
that the company can achieve their targets and get more competitive advantages. Engagement is
the activity which create embarked on the active agreement to do something for the company.
Motivation is the important aspect of employees engagement that support the company to
improve the performance of their teams and also support the company to build a great team for
the organisation in order to overcome the problems And also helps the company to overcome the
uncertainty factors in the company (Licorish, Daniel and George, 2018). Employees engagement
is their strategy that describe the level of enthusiasm and dedication of the employees in the
organisation that how they feel towards the organisation.
Methodology
This is the portion of the research methodology that facilitate researcher to get and collect
more appropriate information and also analysing the primary as well as the secondary data in
context of the specific area of the particular research. There are different kinds of approaches as
well as methods that will be considered by the investigator in order to achieve the welded in
positive outcomes for the investigation. These kind of my thoughts on strategies are below
mentioned:

Research approach: Research approaches and effective procedures that support the
organisation to analysing the qualitative as well as quantitative data by considering deductive as
well as inductive approach. For performing different kind of activities in the current report the
deductive approach is considered by the investigator because it helps the researcher to evaluating
the data in an quantitative as well as in a numerical way. Inductive approach is not effective for
this investigation because this approach will not going to support the research to driving a valid
Conclusion for the research approach.
Research philosophy: There are different kind of research philosophy that known as
ontology, Axiology, epistemology. These research philosophies are very effective for the
research but in order to collect the appropriate information and get the positive outcomes
positivism kind of research philosophy is very useful in order to evaluate the quantitative
information in the particular timeframe and collect the appropriate data. Interpretivism research
philosophy is the kind of philosophy that takes huge time in order to collect the data and
complete and achieve their goals and objectives.
Research strategy: There are different kind of strategies that are used by the investigator
in order to collect the primary as well as secondary information about the particular topic of the
investigation. These strategies are completely based on different kinds of activities like gays
history, systematic literature review, survey and many more. These are the main kinds or types of
the research strategy. In order to conduct the research there is a consideration of the secondary as
well as primary research so that the investigator can follow the appropriate structure. A
systematic framework and structure support the investigator to collect the secondary data as well
as the primary Data in an appropriate manner.
Primary Research: Primary research is the strategy that will help the investigator to get
the information from the appropriate survey, questionnaires, interviews. By conducting service,
and the view, questionnaire the investigator become gay people to collect the information which
are not used before and support the researcher to collect the appropriate information.
Secondary research: In secondary research the data which are used by the investigator
are already published or already used by someone else. In the secondary data the articles, books,
journals or these kind of Information are considered.
Research Choice: This is an essential part and section of the methodology that have
different kind of methods like Môn method, multi method, mixed method. These all methods are

very appropriate for the research in order to analysing and gathering the information in context
of quantitative as well as qualitative. For this current investigator the Mono method It’s
considered by the researcher in order to facilitate the information that helps them to gaining a
valid outcomes. For this research the research and is focusing on the quantitative information
because it is a cost-effective as compare to the qualitative information and quantitative
information does not require more sources.
Time horizon: There are generally two kinds of time Horizen such as cross-sectional
and longitudinally. In order to conduct the investigation in an appropriate manner and considered
a secondary as well as primary research, the investigator has been selected cross-sectional time
audition because it is the most appropriate time or Asian which is rely on the real situation and
also helps the investigator to complete that every activities in a particular time frame. Gant chart
is a Most effective and appropriate equipment in order to analysing the time of every activity that
supports the researcher to complete as well as divide the activities according to the
responsibilities and interest of the individual.
Data collection method: Data collection method is the strategy that support the
researcher to collect the data and then to form and that is primary as well as secondary. In
context of primary source questionnaire is the most effective strategy or tool that support the
researcher to collect the information and get a valid data about the topic in a minimum time of
period. In context of secondary investigation literature review is the best tool or a strategy that is
considered by the researcher so that they can get the sources from the magazines, journals and
publications in order to collect the information for the research. For this investigation the
researcher considered both Strategies so that they can get more valid outcomes.
Sampling: This is the procedure that is followed by the investigator in order to select the
sample size of the research from the entire population. Sampling is the strategy that has two
techniques that are called as probability as well as no probability. In order to conduct the
research in an authentic manner, the researcher or the investigator has been considered
probability kind of sampling method so that they can provide a logical result. For this research
The investigator has selected 40 sample size.
Research reliability and validity: This is an important part of the methodology which is
completely based on the data reliability as well as the validity of the research. In this
investigation, questionnaire is the most important and effective equipment for the investigator in

order toTesting and analysing the validity and liability of the information. Does, questionnaire is
the appropriate equipment of primary data collection that is used by other researchers so that
they can collect the legal as well as dependable data about the topic In order to improve the
engagement of the employees and retain more talented people in the company
Research Findings
Q1) Do you even have any knowledge of the notion of human resource management within an
organisation?
A. Yes
B. No
Q2) Do you believe that human resource management is crucial in keeping talented staff?
A. Yes
B. No
Q3) Do you consider that covid-19 is causing challenges for human resource management in
terms of keeping valuable staff?
A. Yes
B. No
Q4) What challenges does the organization's human resources management face in terms of
talent acquisition?
A. Lack of confidence
B. Low moral
C. High turnover
D. No personal interaction
Q5) Do you believe that the Marks and Spencer human resources management can hire a variety
of strategies to address challenges of trying to manage talented employees in a constrained
environment?
A. Yes
B. No
Q6) What are the various human resource management tactics for retaining talented employees?
A. Offer the right benefits
B. Leverage technology
C. Both

Q7) Do you believe these methods will help the company retain talented personnel in this
difficult situation?
A. Yes
B. No
Q8) What are the advantages that an organisation may gain from employing good personnel
management strategies?
A. Improve productivity
B. Bring profitability
C. Motivation
D. Reduce employee turnover.
Theme: Kind of comprehension of the notion of human resource management
within a company
Q1)Do you even have any knowledge of the notion of human resource
management within an organisation(Petrou, Demerouti and Schaufeli, 2018)?
Frequency
A. Yes 16
B. No 4
Frequency
A. Yes
B. No
Interpretation: In this case, 16 out of 20 people said they understood the concept of human
resource management. The remaining four respondents had only a rudimentary understanding of

human resource management. According to the report, in order to improve present operations,
organisations must apply a proper grasp of human resources management and talent
development.
Theme: The function of human resources management in keeping talented individuals is critical.
Q2) Do you believe that human resource management is crucial in keeping talented staff?
A. Yes
B. No
Theme: human resources management facing problems due to covid-19 in retaining the talented
employees
Frequency
A. Yes
B. No
Interpretation: 16 of the total respondents were positive, with the critical believing that the
human resources management strategy plays an essential role. On the other hand, four out of
every ten respondents gave an unfavourable response. According to the data, human resources
play a vital role in retaining talented individuals inside an organisation, and the firm must be
specific in order to boost efficiency and fulfil its aims and outcomes.
Theme: Covid-19 is causing challenges for human resource management in terms
of keeping talented employees(Shoss, 2017).
Q3) Do you consider that covid-19 is causing challenges for human resource
management in terms of keeping valuable staff?
Frequency
A. Yes 18

B. No 2
Frequency
A. Yes
B. No
18 out of 20 respondents gave a positive response, stating that human resources management is
currently experiencing a variety of problems as a result of COvid-19 in retaining competent
people. Only two people out of twenty had a negative reaction to this. The fact that human
resource management is critical for an organization's performance as well as the management of
various difficulties is stated
Theme: kind of talent management issues are being faced by human resources
management inside the organisation
Q4) What challenges does the organization's human resources management face in
terms of talent acquisition?
Frequency
A. Lack of confidence 8
B. Low moral 5
C. High turnover 4
D. No personal interaction 3

Frequency
A. Lack of confidence
B. Low moral
C. High turnover
D. No personal interaction
Interpretation: Staff morale was cited by 5 out of 20 respondents. Four out of every twenty
respondents has a high turnover rate. In addition, three out of twenty respondents said they had
no personal interaction.
Theme: There are a variety of tactics that Marks and Spencer human resources
management can apply to address the issues of managing talented
individuals(Belotto, 2018).
Q5) Do you believe that the Marks and Spencer human resources management can
hire a variety of strategies to address challenges of trying to manage talented
employees in a constrained environment?
Frequency
A. Yes 15
B. No 5

Frequency
A. Yes
B. No
Interpretation: Companies are encountering numerous issues connected to human resources
management and inappropriate strategy implementation, according to 15 out of 20 respondents,
and methods can be employed to mitigate this situation. 5 out of 20 respondents are negative in
their responses, indicating that they disagree with the topic.
Theme: the various human resource management tactics for retaining talented
employees
Q6) What are the various human resource management tactics for retaining talented
employees?
Frequency
A. Offer the right benefits 14
B. Leverage technology 4
C. Both 02

Frequency
A. Offer the right benefits
B. Leverage technology
C. Both
Interpretation: Out of the total number of responses, 14 out of 20 responded for this facilities,
where leveraging within the technology was responded to by four respondents, and both of the
technologies were responded to by two respondents. This plainly implies that the greatest
technique for attracting a bright employee in this case is to provide the individual with the
appropriate benefits(Grayson and Hodges, 2017).
Theme: tThese tactics are beneficial to an organization's ability to retain talented
people.
Q7) Do you believe these methods will help the company retain talented personnel
in this difficult situation?
Frequency
A. Yes 16
B. No 04

Frequency
A. Yes
B. No
Interpretation: According to 16 applicants These strategies are very helpful for the company in
order to overcome the problem which are facing by the company and according to 4 applicants
these strategies are not much effective.
Theme: The advantages that an organisation may gain from employing efficient
people management techniques
Q8) What are the advantages that an organisation may gain from employing good
personnel management strategies?
Frequency
A. Improve productivity 13
B. Bring profitability 3
C. Motivation 1
D. Reduce employee turnover. 3

Frequency
A. Improve productivity
B. Bring profitability
C. Motivation
D. Reduce employee
turnover.
Interpretation: Thirteen percent of those who responded said they wanted to increase the
organization's productivity, while three percent said they wanted to increase profitability. Only
one out of every twenty respondents said they wanted to be motivated, and three out of every
twenty said they wanted to reduce staff turnover. This clearly implies that in order to boost
productivity in this situation in the hospitality industry, efficient personnel management practises
must be implemented(Moriña, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it has been concluded that Marks & Spencer
organisation looked at a different kind of a strategy that influence in organisation achievement
and also support them to improve and enhance their employees engagement as well as employees
attention towards the organisation. In this research the general conversation and the discussion is
concentrating on that how old are improving and enhancing the employees engagement as well
as employees retention rate in the organisation. It is very important for the company to
considered every strategies so that they can get more competitive advantages. This report
illustrate about that the organisation are required to build an effective talent management
strategies and to retain more talented people in the organisation in order to achieve their goals
and objectives and improve the capabilities of the company. Apart from this it is also has been
analysed data and it has been evaluated from the data that secondary as well as primary data
which are used by the researcher to conduct the appropriate and effective analysis about the

human resources management system in order to manage the talent management strategies and to
manage and improve the employee engagement and employs attention rate in the company create
positive impact on the company. Apart from this there is a consideration of the questionnaire that
will support the researcher to collect the appropriate information in the particular timeframe so
that they can achieve their goals and objectives and collect valid outcomes for the organisation.
In addition to this, there is a consideration of the research methodology that supports the
investigator as well as Their team to collect the appropriate information and authentic data so
that they can brings more opportunities for the organisation and overcome the problems which
are facing by the company.
Recommendations
From the above mentioned the boat there is a few recommendations to the Marks &
Spencer organisation so that they can improve the employee engagement as well as employee
retention rate in the organisation in order to brings more positive outcomes.
 It is recommended to the organisation, in order to improve the retention rate of the
employees it is very important for the company to create a healthy working moment in
the organisation and maintain a flexible environment in the company so that they can
improve the scope for growth andDevelopment of the workers.
 It is also advice to the Marks & Spencer organisation that they should consider effective
leaders for the organisation so that they can build teamwork in the company in order to
achieve their goals and objectives and also improve the employees engagement towards
the organisation.
 In order to get more competitive advantages, the Marks & Spencer company is
recommended to Follow the appropriate strategies and analyse the factors which create
impact on the organisation and those factors are like internal as well as external factors.
 This is also recommended to the organisation that they should focusing on the
management structure of the organisation in order to retain more talented employees
towards the company and improve the capabilities as well as sufficiency of the
organisation in order to enhance the success and productivity of the company.
Reflection
I am very grateful for the opportunities in order to work on the particular investigation
topic that has a title which is to analyse the practices of human resources management and its

impact on employee’s engagement and retention. This research has a broad scope and that allows
me to gain and improve my capabilities as well as understanding in context of the particular
topic. Apart from this, this research also helped me to become more capable and confident to
improve my skills like my Time management skills, communication skills, team building skills
project management skills and many more. This research also allow me to get the opportunities
in order to overcome the problems and analyse the best strategies in order to engage tomorrow
employees towards the company and retain more talented people in the organisation. Due to
notion or concept of human resources management team but there’s always evolving around the
organisation it has become very beneficial for me to Contact the relevant investigation in the
future. While conducting the research, I am a light that the researcher or the investigatorHas been
facing different kind of challenges in context of insufficient data availability, many ethical
concern so these kind of challenges support me to work on it and do not repeat these kind of
mistakes again so That I can complete and achieve my task in an appropriate manner. After
participating in this research I am become more capable to handling and managing all of these
kind of challenges and also helped me to develop my capabilities in literature review as well as
in data management so that I can improve my critical thinking and also work on my different
kind of areas. Overall, the investigation was very appropriate and beneficial for me because it
support meTo improve as well as enhance my better understanding and learning about the
concept of employees engagement as well as employees retention that I can use for the future
investigation project in order to achieve my targets and goals.
REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Lub, X.D., Bal, P.M., Blomme, R.J. and Schalk, R., 2016. One job, one deal… or not: do
generations respond differently to psychological contract fulfillment?. The International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(6), pp.653-680.
Kuo, M.S. and Chuang, T.Y., 2016. How gamification motivates visits and engagement for
online academic dissemination–An empirical study. Computers in Human Behavior, 55,
pp.16-27.

Rubery, J., Keizer, A. and Grimshaw, D., 2016. Flexibility bites back: the multiple and hidden
costs of flexible employment policies. Human Resource Management Journal, 26(3),
pp.235-251.
Liao, C., 2017. Leadership in virtual teams: A multilevel perspective. Human Resource
Management Review, 27(4), pp.648-659.
Vogel, R.M., Rodell, J.B. and Lynch, J.W., 2016. Engaged and productive misfits: How job
crafting and leisure activity mitigate the negative effects of value incongruence. Academy
of Management Journal, 59(5), pp.1561-1584.
Licorish, S.A., Owen, H.E., Daniel, B. and George, J.L., 2018. Students’ perception of Kahoot!’s
influence on teaching and learning. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced
Learning, 13(1), pp.1-23.
Petrou, P., Demerouti, E. and Schaufeli, W.B., 2018. Crafting the change: The role of employee
job crafting behaviors for successful organizational change. Journal of
Management, 44(5), pp.1766-1792.
Shoss, M.K., 2017. Job insecurity: An integrative review and agenda for future research. Journal
of Management, 43(6), pp.1911-1939.
Belotto, M.J., 2018. Data analysis methods for qualitative research: Managing the challenges of
coding, interrater reliability, and thematic analysis. Qualitative Report, 23(11).
Grayson, D. and Hodges, A., 2017. Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make corporate
social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.
Palmer, S. and Whybrow, A. eds., 2018. Handbook of coaching psychology: A guide for
practitioners. Routledge.
Moriña, A., 2017. Inclusive education in higher education: challenges and
opportunities. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 32(1), pp.3-17.