Contemporary HR Challenges and Solutions at Mitie

This report discusses the contemporary HR challenges faced by Mitie, a British facilities management company, and the role of HR functions in resolving high turnover rates. It identifies the impact of high turnover rates on recruitment and training costs, employee morale, and employer branding. The report also explores HR practices adopted by top companies like Rolls Royce and Dyson to attract and retain talented individuals. Based on these practices, recommendations for change are provided to Mitie to improve employee retention and overall performance.

Business Focus Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION A.....................................................................................................................................1
Identification of contemporary HR challenge faced by Mitie................................................1
Role of HR functions in resolving HR issue of high turnover rates.......................................3
SECTION B.....................................................................................................................................5
Identification of solutions to high turnover rates at Mitie......................................................5
Recommendations for change................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFRENCES...................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Human resources are the lifeblood of the modern business firm. Human resources are
tasked with taking care of every employee related activity in a company. In addition to this
human resources contribute to creation, development and change in organisational culture of a
company. Changes in the business environment have created ne HR related challenges for
business firms. The present report is based on Mitie which is a British facilities management
company. The company is part of the FTSE 250 Index and provides facilities management,
property management and healthcare and energy solutions. The firm has employed 77,500
employees to complete global business operations across presence in Europe Africa and UAE.
The firm earned annual revenue of 2173.7 million GBP in the year 20200 (Mitie Group PLC
MTO.F, 2021). The present report identifies contemporary HR issue faced by Mitie and explains
the role of HR functions in solving this issue. Appropriate solutions for this HR solution are
identified by application of suitable Practices and benchmarking. In addition to this
recommendation for change in context of Mitie are given in this report.
SECTION A
Identification of contemporary HR challenge faced by Mitie
Mitie works in the facility management industry which requires employment of skilled and
experience workers to provide excellent services to the consumers and gain competitive
advantage in the field. It is highly important for Mitie to ensure that skilled and experienced
workers are recruited and stay with the company for long time period. High employee turnover
rates are the main HR challenge affecting the company. As the company primarily operates in
the facility management industry which is highly technology driven industry, there is an ever
increasing need of skilled and experienced workers which are able to adapt with technological
changes and provide effective results.
This challenge is affects daily business operations and overall performance of the firm as
identification and recruitment is employees are difficult. This is because the current labour
market lacks high skilled and experienced labourers (Wright, 2017).
Staffing is one of the main HR challenge faced by business from in every industry and
sector. The main factors which have contributed to this change are lack of availability of skilled
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labour in local region and low employee retention. This HR challenge This HR challenge
affects various aspects of the company.
The main aspect of associated with this challenge which impact business operations of Mitie
are provided below:
Recruitment and training costs: High employee turnover rates results in company regularly
investing money in recruiting new employees to fill employment gaps in their workforce. The
recruitment and selection process requires high investment from business firms (Kashif and et.
al., 2017). High turnover rates make the option of internal recruitment unsuitable for Mitie so the
firm has to use external recruitment which requires high financial investment.
In addition to this the respective company has to invest in training costs for building
skills of the new recruits. Shortage of skilled labour affects the performance of new recruits as it
takes certain time period after their recruitment to attain equal performance of other employees.
This affects overall performance of the company which negatively impacts consumer experience.
All these factors emerge from high employee turnover indirectly decrease the profitability
and brand image of Mitie.
Decreased employee morale: The HR challenge of staffing and retaining skilled workers
affects existing workforce. High turnover rates create negative organisational culture in the
company in which employees are discouraged to working with the firm and feel that they are not
appreciated in the company. High turnover rates decreases employee morale which perpetuates
the employee turnover. Apart from this as experienced workers have to work with inexperienced
workers and unskilled employees after regularly, they feel demotivated about their career
progression (Kang and Sung, 2019). Decreased employee motivation not only affects the quality
of operations conducted by the company but also decreases consumer interaction quality.
In context of Mitie, decreased employee morale has negative impact on overall output of the
firm. The company is not able to ensure consistent high performance which affects the business
of the company. In addition to this low employee participation in various business activities such
as CSR is also attributed to high employee turnover.
Negative employer branding: High turnover rate not only affects the internal factors of the
company such as employee performance but also impacts external factors associated with the
company such as employer brand image. Business firms which have high employee turnover
rates are not considered as an attractive employment options by skilled employees. The company
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is not able to attract skilled employees at any vacancy as the firm is potential candidates believe
that there is no career progression opportunities associated with the company. This affects the
band image of the firm as an employer and employees consider the firm as last resort. Rival
firms gain the opportunity to hire the best talent available and construct a skilled workforce
which affects the competitive position of the company in their industry.
In relation to the facilities management firm Mitie, the brand image of the company is
severely affected by the high turnover rates of the company (The 10 worst UK companies to
work for - according to their staff, 2017). This factor is considered one of the most undesirable
factors according to potential workers. Competing organisations are able to gain talented workers
which leave unskilled workers for the company.
Role of HR functions in resolving HR issue of high turnover rates
The human resource department of any business organisation plays an essential role in the
retention of the employees, as issue of high turnover can create a negative image of the
organisation in the market it will lead to reducing the profitability of the organisation, in order to
grow and survive in the market is becomes very essential for the business to reduce the high turn
over rate of the employees of the organisation (Dinnen and Alder 2017) The human resource unit
of the organisation is responsible for analysing, evaluating, recommending and implementing the
employee retention strategy of the organisation effectively. In context to the chosen company
which is facing huge turnover rates in their company, there are number of human resource
functions in resolving the HR issue of high turnover rates that can be taken into consideration by
the company as discussed below:
Motivating employees: in order to retain the employees in the organisation the manager of the
organisation needs to ensure that the employees are continuously motivated towards for their
hard work and also they are motivated to work towards achieving the targeted goals and
objectives of the organisation effectively. In context to the Mitie, HR manager of the company
needs to ensure that the employees are motivated in order to retain them in organisation.
Rewards and benefits: The another function of the HR in order to reduce the employee turnover
in the organisation is the providing rewards and benefits to the employees, they needs to feel that
they are valued and appreciated in the organisation through offering rewards and extra benefits to
them for their hard work and extra work (Kang and Jang, 2019). They needs to be recognised for
their efforts through offering them rewards, this will help company to retain their employees.
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The HR manager of the Mitie needs to ensure that employees are well recognised and
appreciated for their efforts in the organisation.
Training and development: The employees needs to be provided with the required training in
order to develop their skills and knowledge, this will help employees to perform better in the
organisation will automatically reduce their turnover, organisation needs to continuously
evaluate the performance of the employees and after evaluation as per the requirement the
required training should be provided to improve their skills. In context to the chosen company, in
order to retain employees in the company proper training should be provided to them
(Khandelwal, 2021).
Promotion of employees: The another function that can be performed by the HR manager in
order to retain the employees in the organisation is the promotion of the employees, promoting
employees inside the business organisation as will help employees to grow, promotion gives a
sense of encouragement to the employees to work hard in the organisation, it is one of the
essential method that can be used by the organisation to retain the employees. The mitie
company can use this in order to reduce their turnover rate effectively; manager needs to ensure
that the right candidate is promoted as per the required skills and qualification which will lead to
encouraging him and other employees to work hard towards achieving goals.
Hiring the right candidate: One of the main reasons for employee turnover in any organisation
is because not hiring the right candidate, so in order to retain the employees organisation needs
to ensure that they are hiring the right candidate for the right position (Naim and Lenka, 2017).
The role and responsibilities needs to be clearly defined to hire the right candidate. In case of
Mitie company, Hr needs to ensure that they are hiring the right candidate for the right job in
order to reduce the employee turnover.
From the above discussion it can be concluded that in order to retain the employees in the
organisation for the linger time Mitie company needs to ensure that they are following all the
above mentioned role and functions taken into consideration by the human resource in order to
retain the employees in the organisation , the above mentioned function will help company to
retain their employees and also enhance the overall performance of the organisation also
increasing their profitability and productivity.
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SECTION B
Identification of solutions to high turnover rates at Mitie
In order to identify possible solutions for eliminating challenge of high turnover rates faced
by Mitie, it is important to evaluate solutions by comparing with industry standard of other
business firms in context of retaining top talent.
Rolls Royce is top employer brand in the UK. Skilled workers aim to gain recruited by the
company. The HR practice implemented by the firm which helps the firm retain top talent and
reduce employee turnover includes Selective hiring. Under this HR practice business firms
utilise various digital tools to identify and recruit exceptional talent for the company. In addition
to this the focus of the firm is on creating employer brand image which attracts skilled workers
from all over the globe. Rolls Royce had developed a community of potential candidates through
schools universities and social media. The company created a team of apprentices and graduates
to build scale LEGO replica of Trent 100 passenger jet engine for Air show which has become
highlight of the recruitment road shows. This is because it depicted the company as a place
which values skill. In addition to this the firm collaborates with collages and schools to
encourage young people to take up STEM careers (case study: employer branding at Rolls-
Royce, 2020). This helps the company identify skilled workers at young age and develop strong
employer brand.
In context of Mitie, the company needs to utilise the HR practice of selective hiring and
focus on building recruitment and selection plan which helps the company build talented
workforce.
Dyson is another company which has created strong employer brand and is able to tackle the
challenge of high turnover rates effectively. The HR practice adopted by Dyson in attracting and
retaining talented individuals is to ensure that each new recruit gain effective and relevant
training. In addition to this, the company provides training to existing workforce so that they can
expand their skills according to future needs of the company and gain career progression
opportunities while staying with the company. The company has invested more than £31.5m in
creation of The Dyson Institute of Engendering and Technology. The aim of this endeavour is to
build professional engineers from the university level which has the potential to become high
performing and innovative employee for the firm (Work starts on Dyson tech campus in
Wiltshire,, 2017). The company aims to identify high potential young graduates, give them
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suitable roles in the company and provide effective training and mentoring so that they contribute
to the success of the firm. This HR practice helps the company ensure each new recruit that the
workplace is filled with career development and improvement opportunities (Santhanam and et.
al., 2017). This along with mentoring increases employee retention as employees feel that they
can continuously develop their skills and seek promotions in the company.
In relation to Mitie, the respective company needs provide effective training to new recruits
along with existing workplace so that they can continuously enhance their skillset, expand their
responsibilities and make career progressions in the company. The firm needs to develop training
programs which not only increase technical skills of the employees related to their job role but
also improve soft skills so that they gain career progression opportunities in leadership. This will
help the firm retain new recruits and attract skilled workers.
Recommendations for change
In order to improve the overall performance of the organisation and to gain competiveness in the
market, it becomes very essential for each and every organisation to create strong brand image in
the market and retain their employees effectively. In order to retain the employees the
organisation first and fore mostly needs to ensure that they are hiring the right candidate for the
right job, as hiring the wrong candidate will lead to reducing the performance of the organisation
and also leads to poor results, it’s the responsibility of the organisation to clearly define the role
and responsibility and hire the right candidate. Another thing that organisation needs to ensure in
order to retain their employees human resource is implementing effective strategies and working
towards enhancing the performance of their employees and also motivating them regularly
towards achieving targeted goals and objectives. The human resource department needs to build
a effective communication between the top management and employees in order to resolve the
issues of the employees and build strong trust between both the parties, the needs to be ensure
that the communication gap is avoided in the organisation. In addition to this top management
needs to ensure that individual needs of the employees are also taken into consideration as it will
lead to encourage and motivate them. The retention of the employees is one of the most
important part of the business which decide the success or failure of the business. Human
resource manager of the Mitie company needs to ensure that the above recommendation are
effectively followed in order to retain their employees also to reduce the employee turnover in
the company.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that Human resources play a crucial role in
eliminating employee centric challenges faced by business firms. High turnover rates are one of
the most common challenges faced by business firms in the current corporate world. This is
because of lack of skilled workers in the labour markets. In order to face the barrier business
firms need to utilise various HR functions such as rewarding employees and HR practices such
as selective hiring.
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REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Dinnen, M. and Alder, M., 2017. Exceptional talent: how to attract, acquire and retain the very
best employees. Kogan Page Publishers.
Kang, J. and Jang, J., 2019. What do employees perceive as hindrance or challenge stressors in
the hotel industry? The role that hope plays. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality
& Tourism, 18(3). pp.299-322.
Kang, M. and Sung, M., 2019. To leave or not to leave: the effects of perceptions of
organizational justice on employee turnover intention via employee-organization
relationship and employee job engagement. Journal of Public Relations Research, 31(5-
6). pp.152-175.
Kashif and et. al., 2017. You abuse but I will stay: The combined effects of job stress, customer
abuse, and emotional intelligence on employee turnover. Journal of Management
Development.
Khandelwal, A. K. ed., 2021. Transformational Leadership in Banking: Challenges of
Governance, Leadership and HR in a Digital and Disruptive World. SAGE Publishing
India.
Naim, M. F. and Lenka, U., 2017. Mentoring, social media, and Gen Y employees' intention to
stay: towards a conceptual model. International Journal of Business and Systems
Research, 11(1-2). pp.28-41.
Santhanam and et. al., 2017. Impact of human resource management practices on employee
turnover intentions. Journal of Indian Business Research.
Wright, C. F., 2017. Employer organizations and labour immigration policy in Australia and the
United Kingdom: The power of political salience and social institutional
legacies. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 55(2). pp.347-371.
Online
Mitie Group PLC MTO.F, 2021. [Online] Availbe through
https://www.reuters.com/companies/MTO.F/financials
The 10 worst UK companies to work for - according to their staff, 2017. [Online] Availbe
through https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/10-worst-uk-companies-work-
13285978
case study: employer branding at Rolls-Royce, 2020. [Online] Availbe through
https://www.randstad.com/workforce-insights/employer-branding/case-study-employer-
branding-rolls-royce/
Work starts on Dyson tech campus in Wiltshire,, 2017. [Online] Availbe through
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-42154336
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