HR Strategy and Talent Management

The provided project report focuses on the key functions of Human Resource (HR) departments in various companies. The report highlights the significance of following government-imposed legislations related to equality and other factors to meet legal requirements. It also emphasizes the use of recruitment and selection methods by HR to hire talent for company growth and development.

Resource and Talent
Planning

Table of Contents
INTRODCTION..............................................................................................................................1
ACTIVITY 1....................................................................................................................................1
Analysis of current labour market trends that influence talent management and workforce
planning.......................................................................................................................................1
Different types of legal requirements that an organisation must take into account in workforce
planning.......................................................................................................................................2
ACTIVITY 2....................................................................................................................................3
Determination of current and anticipated skills required for a range of organisational examples
.....................................................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 3....................................................................................................................................6
Appropriate examples of job description ans person specification documents for effective
recruitment and selection............................................................................................................6
Different recruitment and selection methods for effective talent resourcing and planning........7
ACTIVITY 4....................................................................................................................................9
HR life cycle and integrated to support strategic talent management.........................................9
Evaluation of HR life cycle stages which integrated with organisational HR strategies..........10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODCTION
Resource and talent planning can be defined as the basic function of human resource
manager. This is performed by HR is order to make sure that the business entity is able to attract
talent and retained skilled workers. When the planning is done in appropriate manner then it may
help to enhance overall performance of the enterprise as highly proficient individuals will be
hired by HR (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This project report is based on the planning of talent
and resources in the context of an organisation. For this purpose the company which is taken is
Argos which a British catalogue retailer and operating its business in UK successfully. It was
founded in year 1972.
This assignment aims at various topics such as analysis of labour market trends,
appropriate legal requirements, determination of current and anticipated skills requirements.
Application of documents and processes which contribute to effective recruitment and selection,
evaluation of the way in which human resource life cycle within the context of HR strategy etc.
are also been covered under this report.
ACTIVITY 1
Analysis of current labour market trends that influence talent management and workforce
planning
In Argos the managing directors of the organisation have asked to the human resource
division to prepare a report that may influence the process of talent management and workforce
planning. The generated report is as follows:
Talent: It can be defined as the skill that an individual is having and that helps to
perform all the tasks in appropriate manner. Argos is planning to hire talented candidates who
may contribute towards the development of the organisation (Carbery and Cross, 2015).
Talent management: When business entities commit to recruit, retain, hire and select
talented, skilled, superior and experienced candidates then it is called talent management. In
Argos the managers have planned to analyse ability, power and competency of the employees in
order to appropriately formulate workforce planning strategies.
There are various types of current labour market trends that may influence the the process
of talent management and workforce planning. All of them are described below:
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Globalisation: After globalisation it has become more easy for the individuals to work in
foreign countries. This factor may affect the talent management and workforce planning of
Argos because now they have more options to hire employees. If such workers are hired by the
company who are not from UK then they will be ready to work on low pay scale hence this will
influence the HR (Cascio and Boudreau, 2016).
Technological change: In all the industries technology is developing continuously and
now it has started to influence talent management and workforce planning because it affects the
requirement of labour. As it changes with time and frequently hence it impacts the requirements
of skills and knowledge of the employees that the company is willing to hire. Argos is a
supermarket and various technologies are required to execute business. Swipe machine, billing
software etc. are the innovations that are used in Argos. Earlier the work is done on paper as
technology is developing it is becoming digital hence it is affecting talent management because
now organisation needs to hire such employees who are friendly with technology.
Demographic change: This the another trend that affects talent management and work
force planning because employees become old with time. At that point of period HR of
organisations like Argos need to find the new candidates as the old once as they get retired. It
increases liabilities of the HR to recruit skilled labour that may handle the work appropriately.
Increasing inequality: Currently inequality related to gender and other factors is
continuously increasing which affects the process of work force planning and talent
management. In UK pay scale for male and female vary and there is a huge difference between
their salaries. It becomes very difficult for the HR of companies like Argos to retain its skilled
female workers as they are not satisfied with their compensation (H. Church, 2014).
All the above described current labour market trends influence the talent management
and workforce planning of Argos by creating issues like increasing responsibilities for hiring
skilled employees.
Different types of legal requirements that an organisation must take into account in workforce
planning
Workforce planning: It is continuous process in which human resource managers
identify work force requirement of company and then form strategic decisions to recruit new
talent. It is done to make sure that business entity is meeting all the regulatory, legislative and
other requirements. In Argos human resource managers plans to recruit such candidates that may
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contribute in the organisational development. There are various legal requirements that should be
fulfilled by the managers in while workforce planning. All of them are described below:
Trend analysis: It is a process of which is used to predict the future movements in the
market situations. It is very beneficial for the human resource managers of Argos because it may
guide them to assess future need of the organisation. As technology is continuously changing
with time which also affects the requirements of companies due to changes in customer's
perception and market demand. It is very important for the HR to take into account this factor so
that workforce planning can be done appropriately (Kavanagh and Johnson, 2017).
Analysis of labour demand and supply forecasting: It is very important for HR to take
into account this factor because it may help to analyse the need of employees that are going to be
hired by Argos. Managers can also assess the future requirements of labour and form strategies
accordingly if this factor is considered by them.
HR legislations: There are various rules and regulations that are imposed by the
government and it is very important for the HR to follow all of them while workforce planning
for the betterment of Argos. These legislations are formulated to provide equal rights to the
employees and provide them appropriate compensation according to their work and efforts. All
the legislations are as follows:
 The equality act: According to this the human resource manager is required to avoid
different types of discriminations such as sex, race, disability, age, religion, equal pay etc.
It is very important for for HR of Argos to treat each and every employee equally and
provide them same rights. In UK pay scale discrimination has a higher rates, due to this
issue the government implemented this act in which companies are directed to provide
equal benefits to all the employees whether they are male, female or disabled.
 Health and safety at work: For Argon it is very important to comply with health and
safety at work act so that security of all the staff members could be assured. With the help
of it all the staff members can stay healthy at workplace.
 Contract of employment act: This act states that companies should form contract of
employment with all the staff members and record detailed information regarding job role
and responsibilities. Argos should comply with this act in order to make sure that
employment activities gets conducted appropriately.
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If a company is not following the legislations then legal authorities may take strict action
against them. To avoid governmental interference the HR of Argon is required to follow all the
regulations and rules of regulatory authority of the country (Sparrow, Hird and Cooper, 2015).
ACTIVITY 2
Determination of current and anticipated skills required for a range of organisational examples
As the technology is continuously enhancing with time hence the requirement of Argos
regarding workforce is also changing due to market trends. Now the company is willing to hire
highly skilled, knowledgeable and experienced workers who have information regarding latest
technology (Sparrow and Makram, 2015). A detailed determination of current and anticipated
skills required for Argos which is based upon labour market trends and legislations is as follows:
Labour
market
trends
Trend analysis Legal
requirements
Current and
anticipated skills
Examples
Globalisation  Increasing
role of small
and medium
enterprises
 Dispersion of
creativity
 Accelerating
functions of
emerging
countries
 Requireme
nt of Visa
for the
employees
who are not
from UK.
 Crystal
clear and
favourable
system for
dispersion
of
creativity
 Good
communica
tion
 Problem
solving
 Motivation
al skills
 New and
advance
d
products
and
talent
from
SME
Technology
changes
 Artificial
intelligence
 Digitalisation
 Copy rights
 Property
rights
 High level
knowledge
of
technology
 Robots
at the
stores
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 Robotics
industry
 Label  skills to
deal with
technologic
al barriers
 Automat
ic
sliding
door
Demographic
changes
 Continuous
increment in
the population
of developing
and poor
countries
 Endorseme
nt
requirement
s
 Necessity
of Visa
 Digital
skills
 Business
creation
 Work from
home
 Virtual
team
 Telecom
muting
 Teams
in
organisa
tion for
specific
tasks
 Internshi
p for a
small
period
Increasing
inequality
 Government's
strict actions
against
inequality
 Strict rules
against age,
sex, pay
scale, belief
and other
type of
discriminati
ons
 Equality act
2001
 Treating
each and
every
employees
equally
 Now
most of
the
compani
es in UK
have
started
to
provide
equal
wage to
the
employe
es.
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From the above table it has been analysed that current labour trends have affected the
human resource planning because now managers are trying to hire employees that are highly
skilled.
For Argos it is very important to take different aspects in to consideration while
formulating decisions so that business can be executed effectively. These are globalisation,
technology and demographic changes, increasing inequality etc. By considering all of them while
making decision organisation can attain success and each to the long as well as short term goals.
Argos focus upon all of them in order to reduce negative impacts of such factors. Taking all of
them in to consideration results in various benefits that are as follows:
 By analysing all the trends Argos have enhanced its ability to hire skilled and
experienced employees according to latest market requirements.
 Focusing on elements such as technology and market changes can help Argos to attain
organisational goals including customers satisfaction and sale maximisation.
ACTIVITY 3
Appropriate examples of job description ans person specification documents for effective
recruitment and selection
For effective recruitment and selection job description and specification is required. It is
very important for the Human resource manager of Argon to focus on both the elements
(Tajuddin, Ali and Kamaruddin, 2015). These are explained below in detail:
Job Description: It is a written document in which job related information is mentioned.
A description for the profileof sales man for Argon is as follows:
Job Description
Company:- Argon
Job Details:
Job title:- Sales man
Department:- Sales
Reporting to:- Sales manager
Location:- Manchester
Salary:-£ 82,450 per year
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Job Type:- Full time
Job Purpose:
 To handle all the customers who are visiting the supermarket.
 Resolve all the queries of the visitors regarding the products.
Responsibilities:
 Interact with customers.
 Resolve their queries.
 Provide information of the products that they are willing to buy.
 Report to the senior manager.
Interested individuals may leave their C.V. at [e-mail]
Thanks & Regards
Argon
Human Resource Manager,
Argon, UK
8598126641
Person Specification: It can be defined as the document which is provided by Argon to
the applicants in orde rto provide information of required skills, knowledge and experineces (van
Zyl, Mathafena and Ras, 2017). A specification for the job profile of sales man at Argon is as
follows:
Person Specification:
Person Specification
Job title:-Sales Man
Experience:
Candidates must have working experience of at least 2 years as a sales manager in the same
sector and at least one year experience of working in field.
Skills/knowledge/cognition
Applicants should have appropriate knowledge of software and a certification for the same.
Qualifications needed in educational sector
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 Internship in sales sector.
 MBA from a recognised institution in makreting and/ or sales.
 Bachlor of commerence form a recognised college.
 Senior secondary with A grading. Seconday with A grading.
Personal skills
 Good communication skills.
 High problem solving skills.
 Skills to influence customers.
Interested candidated may leave their C.V. at [e-mail]
Different recruitment and selection methods for effective talent resourcing and planning
Recruitment and selection both are the elements of effective talent and resource planning.
These are used by the human resource managers of Argon to hire such employees who are highly
skilled, experienced and knowledgeable. Both the elements are described below in detail:
Recruitment:It can be defined as the process of finding best individuals with the skills
that are required by an organisation inn its employees. There are various types of methods are
used by the human resource managers for recruitments in the organisation (Recruitment, 2016).
All the methods are described below in detail:
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(Source: Methods of recruitment, 2019)
 Internal methods: In this type of methods human resource managers of Argon recruit
employees from inside of the company. This method is chosen by the HR to motivate the
existing workers and enhance their work quality. Different techniques under this methods
are job posting, referrals, transfer, promotion, skill inventories etc. In these models
workers are promoted to different designations and some times old employees giver their
reference to the new once. It is cost saving method for the company because the
organisation will not have invest money on the external recruitment. External methods: In such type of methods work force is hired from outside of the
company. HR of Argon find individuals through e recruitment, cross national advertising
etc. models. It helps the company to hire new talent and skilled employees. It costs high
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Illustration 1: Methods of recruitment, 2019

but it is an effective way to fulfil all the requirements of the company regarding
employees.
Selection: It is a process of choosing individuals for a specific job profile offered by a
company. HR of Argon tries to select employees through various methods. These are online
screening, interviewing, psychometric testing, aptitude test etc. In online screening individuals
are analysed by the manager on company's online or different job portals. In interview different
job applicants come to the organisation all of them are interviewed by the HR and then suitable
candidate is being selected. Aptitude test is also a way of selecting as it is used to determine
ability of an individual to perform tasks (Waheed and Zaim, 2015).
Legal and financial aspects of recruitment and selection method: There are various
types of legal and financial aspects for recruitments and financial procedures which are required
to be considered by Argos while hiring new candidates. All of them are as follows:
 While recruiting new candidates for vacant position of the company it is very important
for employers to taken equality act 2010 in to consideration. It direct organisations to
treat all the candidates equally and judge them on the basis of their skills.
 Anti discrimination act is also required to be followed by HR manager in Argos in order
to make sure that they do not discriminate new applicants on the basis of gender,
nationality, complexion etc.
 While conducting procedure of selection and recruitment HR managers in Argos are also
required to focus of financial aspects and costs of hiring new applicants.
 Employers in Argos have to analyse the training costs which is going to take place to
train new employees. In order to reduce the cost they have to hire skilled and
knowledgeable staff members so that training cost can be reduced.
Validity and reliability of recruitment and selection methods:
 Recruitment and selection methods are highly reliable as they help employer to hire
skilled and experienced work force who may contribute in the attainment of business
goals.
 Recruitment and selection methods are viable too as they help to provide appropriate
training to new employees and enhance engagement level of them.
Recommendation: It has been recommended to human resource managers of Argos to
administer all the recruitment and selection policies by considering all the legal implication such
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as equality and anti discrimination so that skilled workforce. With the help of it talent planning
can be done effectively. If managers in Argos forget to take all the elements in to consideration
while making decision for recruitment and selection then it may result negatively for the
organisation.
ACTIVITY 4
HR life cycle and integrated to support strategic talent management
Human Resource life cycle: - This concept describe the stages of employee's life with
particular company and the time period. What role played by the employees in particular
department at every stage. Because every stage have different challenges for the employees and
they always learn something in their life. Basically employees faces five stages of life cycle in
their career.
 Recruitment: - Recruitment is the first stage of employee's life, Argos company actively
find the new and passionate talent for the organisation. HR team required to build
strategies regarding recruiting new people. Finalise the compensation packages and other
benefits in comparison to their rival firms. It also include the process of recruitment such
as written test, aptitude test, face to face interview etc.
 Education: - After recruiting any new employee in the organisation, it is important to
provide basic information to the employee regarding their role and the expectation the
company. For this human resources required to communicate with the new recruiter.
Provide them proper training in respect of their role and responsibilities (Wilton, 2016).
 Motivation: - First three months of employee is just for motivation because people will
not able to survive long if they don't have any reason to stay. HR of the company can
motivate very well in term of regular engage with employee, provide them commitments,
compensation and other benefits. Give them assurance regarding personal growth in the
company.
 Evaluation: - After completing three stages of employee life cycle, it's time for
evaluating new employees performance. These evaluation based upon their performances
and the review given by the leaders. Which is helpful for the identification that the person
is right for this role or not. Feedback also consider in the evaluation and prepare proper
evaluation report.
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 Celebration: - Last stage of human resource life cycle is for the appreciation. It means
office staff thank every employee for their hard work in the organisation and being a part
of this success. They provide different benefits to the employees, so they can retain here
for long time.
End of life cycle: - HR life cycle end because of families responsibility, retirement,
leaving for growth or due to environment and leaving for further studies. Argon need to spend
their time and effort to make termination strategies. It is important as recruitment and selection
process of new employees.
Suggestions: It has been suggested to the human resource manager of Argos to
effectively manage key stages of HR life cycle which are required to be applied to specific HR
contexts. In order to ensure effective management it is very important follow all the stages of HR
life cycle effectively.
Evaluation of HR life cycle stages which integrated with organisational HR strategies
 Recruitment and selection: - From all the above steps of human resource life cycle it
has been evaluated that, manager in Argos firstly identify the business needs and than
find out the person who have potential for the vacant position. It means Argon need to
find that their is requirement of any vacancy or not. Competencies of job specified the
overall skills, knowledge and ability. Which is required in the person who is going to
secure that position. Select those candidates who are eligible or fit for the vacant profit.
This is a responsibility of human resource team that place a right employee for the right
position.
 On boarding and orientation:- It has been evaluated that this stage includes the learning
and development of the new employees. HR team set orientation program which make
employee aware about the company. Employees meet with the other staff members and to
know about their job responsibility. HR try to comfort new people in the organisation
through staff engagement and regular communication with the employee.
 Performance management:- It has been evaluated that, at this step, learning
continuously goes on for staff members. HR of Argon collect feedback and any
suggestion which is helpful the employee. For the training of new employee, organisation
need to set different programs and these activities done by some professionals. These
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programs includes the talent management system, interview management system and
development resources advisor.
 Succession planing:- It has been evaluated that at this stage human resource manager in
Argon may find out the new leader for the company who can replace the old one in case
of death, retirement or leaving company. Succession planing increase the chances to find
out experienced and capable employees for the role (Yadav and Dabhade, 2014).
 Exit and transition:- This steps helps to evaluate that if any employee plans to leave
Argon, then human resource managers make sure that if they are leaving then they should
leave on a good note. Organisation need to prepare proper planning regarding exit and
transition. HR need to build strategies in respect of employee exit. Company provide all
the benefit to the employee which is pending till the date of leaving organisation.
Business need to prepare strategies for the exit and transition of employee. It will help the
employees for leaving organisation with positive image.
Suggestions: It has been suggested to the managers of Argos to integrate all the stages
with HR strategy by taking all of them in to consideration while formulating decisions. It could
be integrated by analysing detailed information regarding HR life cycle stages and then assessing
their importance for HR strategy.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that talent management and
workforce planning are the two major functions of HR of different companies. Various
legislations related to equality and other factors are imposed by the government and for the HR it
is very important to follow all of them in order to meet legal requirements. Recruitment and
selection both are used by HR to hire talent for the company in order to attain growth and
development.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Carbery, R. and Cross, C. eds., 2015. Human Resource Development: A Concise Introduction.
Palgrave.
Cascio, W. F. and Boudreau, J. W., 2016. The search for global competence: From international
HR to talent management. Journal of World Business. 51(1). pp.103-114.
H. Church, A., 2014. Succession planning 2.0: Building bench through better
execution. Strategic HR Review. 13(6). pp.233-242.
Kavanagh, M. J. and Johnson, R. D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics,
applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.
Sparrow, P., Hird, M. and Cooper, C. L., 2015. Strategic talent management. In Do We Need
HR? (pp. 177-212). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Sparrow, P. R. and Makram, H., 2015. What is the value of talent management? Building value-
driven processes within a talent management architecture. Human resource
management review. 25(3). pp.249-263.
Tajuddin, D., Ali, R. and Kamaruddin, B. H., 2015. Developing talent management crisis model
for quality life of bank employees in Malaysia. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences. 201. pp.80-84.
van Zyl, E. S., Mathafena, R. B. and Ras, J., 2017. The development of a talent management
framework for the private sector. SA Journal of Human Resource Management. 15(1).
pp.1-19.
Waheed, S. and Zaim, A. H., 2015. A model for talent management and career
planning. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice. 15(5). pp.1205-1213.
Wilton, N., 2016. An introduction to human resource management. Sage.
Yadav, R. K. and Dabhade, N., 2014. Human resource planning and audit–a case study of HEG
limited. human resource management. 4. p.5.
Online
Recruitment. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.cleverism.com/what-is-recruitment/>
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