Human Resources Strategies and Impact on Royal Mail Plc

This report discusses the HR strategies implemented by Royal Mail Plc during the pandemic, the impact of environmental factors on culture and HR planning, the 8-box HR model, Storey's 27 points of difference between HRM and Personnel Management, job design strategies, and hiring and firing strategies. It also provides recommendations for high organizational performance.

Human resources

Table of contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Change in the HR strategies by the firm......................................................................................3
Impact of environmental factors on culture and HR plan............................................................4
8-box HR model..........................................................................................................................4
Storey’s 27 points of difference between HRM and Personnel Management.............................5
The job design strategies.............................................................................................................6
State the hiring and firing strategies............................................................................................7
Corporate examples of firms using good HR practices...............................................................7
Suggestions / recommendations to employers regarding HRM practices to ensure that the
organisational performance is high..............................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The report is about the human resources of Royal Mail Plc. It is the British
multinational postal services as well as Courier Company. The founder of the company is King
Henry VIII. The company has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. The company serve
in United Kingdom. The services provide by the company are letter post, EMS, parcel services,
delivery, third party logistics and freight forwarding. The company earned the revenue of
£10,840 million in 2020. The pandemic has caused many challenges to the company and the
company have to change the HR strategies according to the situation that are discussed in the
report. The report discusses the impact of the environmental factors on the organisational culture
as well as the HR planning. 8-box HR model is explained in the report for creating more value to
the company. the Storey’s 27 points of difference between the HRM and personnel Management
are provided an the management used by the company is discussed. The job design strategies of
the company are analysed. The hiring and firing strategies are discussed that are used by the
company during the pandemic situation. The report is provided with the examples of companies
that are using the best HR practices. In the end the suggestions/recommendations are provide for
ensuring the high performance in the organisation.
MAIN BODY
Change in the HR strategies by the firm
The businesses in UK are linked with the Royal Mail. The posties are delivering the posts
all the days during the pandemic. The businesses are dependent upon the Royal Mail services.
The Royal Mail has to face many challenges during the time of pandemic and the HR of the
company managed the challenges to overcome them. The biggest challenge faced by the
organisation is that they are suffering from the staff absence and the HR has to manage the
severe levels of absence that is continuously increasing at the organisation. The organisation is
implementing strategies for the management of the challenges along with some changes in the
sickness policy. The HRM review the primary functions as well as services and prioritise them
due to the lack of the staff for work. The HRM understand the fact that they are unable to
perform their usual services.
The HRM have to change the normal working of the organisation for implementing self-
isolation for minimizing the spread of the virus and protecting the employees from getting
infected by the virus. These changes are done for protecting the business also (Duarte, 2019).
The sickness policy needs to be in accordance to the homeworkers as well as the onsite workers
and the sickness policy is enhanced more for the seriousness of the situation due to the
pandemic. The HR keeps records of the absence along with the absence monitoring for
predicting the impact of this on the working of the organisation. The expected absence rate was
20% for the staff but the pandemic situation increased the absence rate predicted by the
organisation. The Royal mail take steps for managing the absence rate, first step was that they
prioritise the essential services and while doing the services that can be done in the pandemic
situation at their best, the organisation was also explaining that there will be delays due to the
situation and same services will not be fully provided to the customers.

The second step they extended the terms in the sickness policy for the employees having
the covid-19 symptoms (Lopez-Cabrales and DeNisi, 2021). The HRM also understand that the
situation needs to be monitored regularly and make changes according to it.
Impact of environmental factors on culture and HR plan
The Royal mail has to deal with many environmental factors and this impact the culture
as well as the HP planning of the organisation significantly. The technological advancement as
well as the environment pollution pushed the organisation to adopt the organisational culture that
promotes the innovative recycling along with waste management practices. Recycling has
become the business norm and The HR plan for the organisation to adopt efficient waste
management practices that are located in the urban areas. The HR can take the renewable
technologies from the neighbouring countries for ensuring the long term sustainability. This will
help the organisation in enhancing the brand image and attract more customers along with
increasing the stakeholder satisfaction.
The HR can revise the marketing as well as the product strategies for managing the
sudden changes due to the weather and the climatic conditions that can impact the operation at
the organisation. The cost of operation during the extreme weather conditions can be increased
for the Royal Mail. The organisation has to adopt the culture that is more flexible for the working
for value of chain. The trend is going on where the products used are green/eco-friendly, this can
attract more customers towards the organisation and increase the customer base (Daily and
Huang, 2001). The Royal Mail need to adopt the business practices that involve green business
and this also turn out to be the opportunity for the organisation to win the stakeholders trust. The
product innovation priorities of the Royal Mail is altered due to the regulatory bodies that
ensures that the businesses compliance with the environmental norms. The HR need to plan and
prioritise their focus on marketing of the products that are eco-friendly in nature.
The Royal Mail can get attention form the media, customers, environmental protection
group along with the general public, if they do not consider the excessive depletion of the
resources at the organisation. The HR need to study about the environmental regulations to
understand the resources that are considered rare along with the endangered species. The HR
need to plan to use the resources in minimum amount from staying away of the troubles.
8-box HR model
The 8-box model by Paul Boselie can be used to create value for Royal Mail. The
external as well as the internal factors are shown that impact the effectiveness of the HR. In first
the general market context is observed that influence the working of the HR. for example, if
there is a shortage in the market of certain skills then this will impact the working of the HR in
the organisation such as the hiring and the recruiting of the employees is affected. The trade
unions and the work councils also affect the working of HR in their day to day working by
limiting them. The communication with the HR and the goals that need to be achieved and the
effectiveness of the HR policies are influenced by the Royal Mail’s history of technology and
culture. This influences the formation of HR strategy. The HR strategy has six parts that are:
 Intended HR practices – the starting point of the model is the recruiting and trainings
according to the needs of the organisation.

 Actual HR practices – the HR as well as the manager corporate and execute the
practices for the great intention of the organisation (Mala, 2020). The manager can decide
to do things differently but the actual practice can be changes differently even if the
intentions are nice.
 Perceived HR practices – the perception of the employees will depend on the processes
that are going on in the organisation. The HR as well as the manager can perform the
activities in the best ways possible but the employees can perceive the actions differently
as compared to the intended intensions and the HR practices cannot be mirrored out.
 HR practices – the HR practices in the organisation lead to certain outcomes that
improve the internal performances like innovation, productivity and quality. These
outcomes help in leading to the financial performance such as the profits, better margins,
ROI and financial turnover.
 Critical goals – the HR leads to the critical goals such as flexibility, cost-effectiveness
and legitimacy.
 Ultimate business goals – the critical goals lead to the ultimate business goals that are
market shares, profit, market capitalization, these are all related to the organisations
viability as well as the other factors help in building the advantage over the competitors.
Storey’s 27 points of difference between HRM and Personnel Management
The belief and assumptions of the personnel Management and HRM are:
Personnel Management HRM
Contract The contact is carefully
written.
The management aim to go
beyond the contract.
Rules There are rules that need to be
followed with clear devising.
The management can outlook
the rules and are impatience.
Guide to the management
actions
There are procedures. The guidance is made
according to the needs of the
business.
Behaviour referent The management follow the
norms/customs as well as
practices.
They follow the
values/missions.
Managerial task Monitors the labour. Nurture the labours.
Nature of relations Pluralist in nature. Unitarist in nature.
Conflict Institutionalised conflicts. De-emphasised conflicts.
The strategic aspects of personnel management and HRM are:
Personnel Management HRM
Key relations They are involved in labour They are involved with

management. customers.
Initiatives Piecemeal Integrated initiatives.
Corporate plan The corporate plans are
marginal.
The corporate plans are
central.
Speed of decision Slow in decision making. Fast in decision making.
The key levers of personnel management and HRM are:
Personnel Management HRM
Selection Have separate and marginal
tasks.
Have integrated and key tasks.
Pay The employees are paid
according to their evaluation.
The employees are paid
according to the performance.
Conditions The conditions are separately
negotiated.
Harmonisation conditions.
Labour management The labour is collectively
bargained with contracts.
The labour is managed with
individual contracts.
Thrust of relations with
stewards
Facilities and training are used
to regularise.
Marginalised along with some
exception for the bargain for
the changed models (Doaei
and Najminia, 2012).
Job categories and grades Many categories. Few categories available.
Communication Have restricted flow. Have increased flow.
Conflicts and handling Reach to temporary truces. Able to manage the climate
and culture.
Training and development Have controlled access to the
courses.
Learning companies.
Focus of attention for
interventions
Personnel procedures are
focused upon.
Wide ranging structural,
cultural and personnel
strategies.
The Royal Mail uses the HRM in the organisation.
The job design strategies
The job design strategies of the Royal mail are meeting with the quality program for
improving the services provided by the organisation. The job strategies are set for improving the
perspective of the customers at the Royal Mail. The organisation has set the customer first

strategy for improving the services for the customer and this strategy involve the training
initiative along with the instigation for continuous improvement at the organisation in the
services. The strategy initiate a process of quality support network and the staff of all the levels
are involved in the programme from, the managing g director to the front-line employees at the
organisation. Various Royal Mail site are used by the 120,000 people of UK for taking part. The
workshop content provides information for the training programme as well as describes how to
take the activies at the organisation are measured for the improvements. The strategies are
successfully at the implemented in the organisation for the positive results. This strategy is
working till the date from 1988.
The development in the HR strategy involve the identification of priorities of the
strategies that are based on the key business objectives, the development of the HR strategies that
are supporting the robust analysis, analysing the current state of the organisation, the proposed
approaches are reviewed against the data as well as the key stakeholders and the HR strategy is
finalised (Holman and et.al, 2012). The key factors of the organisation for delivering the
successful HR strategy are identification of the right metrics, engagement with as well as
facilitation across, the stakeholders, using the evidence based approach, robust adaptation and
the adaptation of the business rather than the HR focus.
The HR functions needs for the organisation are analyst skills, combines the hard data
analysis that relates to the financial as well as measures of operational performances along with
soft analysis of data that include the employee opinion as well as assessment results. The
understanding of the wider business strategy is very critical and for acting as the strategic
partners the engagement of the organisation with the stakeholders is a vital part.
State the hiring and firing strategies
The cost-cutting plan is used by the Royal Mail for dealing with the pandemic situation.
The plan involves the cutting of 2,000 jobs. The organisation will cut 10,000 management roles
by March and the areas in which the cutting is done include marketing, IT, finance and sales. The
postal workers are affected by the cost-cutting plan. The organisation’s sweeping changes
declined the profits or years along with the failure to respond quickly to the volumes of drop in
letters as well as the parcel that are linked to the online shopping are boomed. The pandemic has
increased the acceleration towards the parcels than the letters. The company was warned that the
loss in the business is likely to be this year also. The pandemic accelerated the trends and the
trends are coming as challenges to the organisation (Dowding and Dumont, 2008). The
immediate actions are the only way for saving £130m in the staff cost. The organisation will
work closely while supporting the managers as well as their representatives for transition further
in their careers.
The cutting of the members from the organisation is a classic example of creating the
viable long-term future by trying to reposition the business. The company is sweeping away the
employees for producing better results for the company. The frontline workers of the Royal Mail
are not targeted in the cuts but the decline of the workers will be seen after the automation of the
process of letters as well as the parcels is started. The pandemic caused the jump in the UK
parcel deliveries and there is a drop in the letters from the international parcels and the

advertisers. The organisation is hit by the social distancing along with the protective equipment
and the staffs pay for the overtime.
Corporate examples of firms using good HR practices
The corporate firms using good HR practices are:
Adobe is using the best HR practices and has the performance rating of 8.783. The
company is putting effort in hiring while maintaining the big picture of whole company instead
of the individual teams. The company invest its time in hiring the people that are right for the
company by having a diverse interview panel for getting the balanced view.
Google is also having good performance rating; this is done by operating with the people
in the organisation. The HR practices of Google are also called people operations. The HR
department of the organisation try to build a strong relationship between the employee and the
employer (Ngo and et.al, 1998). The practices make use of the combination of the human
resources as well as science.
Accenture is a leading multinational company. The HR of the company focuses on re-
inventing the performance primarily. The company uses the hobbies of the employees for using
the hidden team work under the enjoyment of the activity. The organisation focuses on the
passion of the employees. The company focus on one employee at a time as the skills and the
interest of the individual are different.
Suggestions / recommendations to employers regarding HRM practices to ensure that the
organisational performance is high
Royal Mail can make the employees adaptable for the business that means the company can
work without the boundaries. For the adaptability the company need to exhibit the openness of
the new concepts as well as new ideas. The HRM needs to find diverse as well as unexpected
solution to the coming challenges. Flexibility provides the employees with the willingness to
adapt according to the situation at the organisation. For evolving the employees to improve the
adaptability as well as the flexibility are necessary part of HR practices.
The business of Royal Mail is operating in great uncertainty; the factors such as new
technologies, globalisation, environmental issues as well as the business transparency have
created the uncertainty. The uncertainty comes along with the change as well as challenge. The
HR practices can be implemented in the areas like: workplace culture, diversity and inclusion,
talent management, employment development, leadership development, employee benefits,
human resource innovation as well as talent acquisition.
The organisation can break the approaches to approachable steps that are flexible for gaining
the best practices for Royal Mail (Kehoe and Wright, 2013). The HRM needs to have the ability
for reading and acting to the signals that means the HRM have to react proactively for the signals
that are required with the vital actions. The HRM needs to experiment and for this the first time
attempts can fail. The organisation can test along with tweaking with the experimentation that
will provide the most robust systems for the organisation in the long run. The HRM can utilize
the ability to mobilize; the organisational structure can be utilized for reacting to the changes
quickly by concentrating the focus of the employees in a flash. The HRM can look for the

neighbouring business for the building valuable connection with the suppliers as well as the
customers. This will help in increasing the performance of Royal Mail.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that the company have to change the HR strategies
for overcoming the challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic. The normal working of the
company has to be changes for maintaining the safety of the employees and customers. The
company have to change the sickness leave policy for the employees. The HRM understand the
need for regular monitoring of the situation for the acting upon the sudden changes. The impact
of the environmental factors on the organisational culture is seen and the need for flexible and
innovative culture is identified. The HRM has to understand the environmental regulations for
working in accordance to it for avoiding certain situations for the organisation. The 8-box HR
model is explained and the areas where the HR practices can be implemented for effective
change is discussed. The six parts of the HR strategy are also discussed. The Storey’s 27 points
of difference between the HRM and personnel management is discussed and found out that
Royal Mail uses HRM. The job design used by the organisation during the pandemic is cost-
cutting plan. The hiring and firing strategy is discussed along with providing recommendation to
the HRM for ensuring high performance in the organisation.

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
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Dowding and Dumont, 2008. Structural and strategic factors affecting the hiring and firing of
ministers. In The selection of ministers in Europe (pp. 19-38). Routledge.
Duarte, 2019. Equity research-Royal Mail PLC (Doctoral dissertation, Instituto Superior de
Economia e Gestão).
Holman and et.al, 2012. Job design and the employee innovation process: The mediating role of
learning strategies. Journal of Business and Psychology. 27(2). pp.177-191.
Kehoe and Wright, 2013. The impact of high-performance human resource practices on
employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management. 39(2). pp.366-391.
Lopez-Cabrales and DeNisi, 2021. The road to more sustainable firms in the face of a pandemic:
Changes needed in employment relationships. BRQ Business Research Quarterly,
p.23409444211017913.
Mala, 2020. How COVID-19 Changes the HRM Practices (Adapting One HR Strategy May Not
Fit to All). Available at SSRN 3736719.
Ngo and et.al, 1998. Human resource practices and firm performance of multinational
corporations: Influences of country origin. International journal of human resource
management. 9(4). pp.632-652.