Analysis of Microsoft HR Policies and Employee Engagement

The provided study focuses on analyzing Microsoft's HR policies, including their approach to employee engagement through training and internship programs, cultural diversity, and employee empowerment. The analysis highlights the significance of open communication and flexible structures in developing effective employee relationships. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of health and safety at work, as defined by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and the role of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in ensuring workplace safety.

HUMAN-RESOURCE-
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
a) Purpose of HR function and their importance to organisation...........................................1
b) strength and weakness of selection method.......................................................................4
C) Improvements which enhance the selection procedure of chocolate presence company..5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
b.) Advantages and Disadvantages of current methods of advertising job in the organisation2
c.) Recommending the job advert for Receptionist vacancy..................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
a) Microsoft offer graduate training schemes and internships. Evaluate the benefits to both the
organisation and employees of such schemes........................................................................4
b) Microsoft offers a range of flexible working arrangements for staff. Firstly, identify some
of these arrangements and then evaluate the benefits of offering these to both Microsoft and
its employees..........................................................................................................................5
c) Evaluate how Microsoft motivates its workers through the way it designs its job roles.. .6
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................7
b) Critically evaluate the key approaches to engaging workers discussed in the Summit and
how these approaches improve communication in the workplace.........................................8
c) Identify the key elements of UK employment legislation, explaining how they influence
HR decision making such as recruitment, training and development and reward.................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management refers to an aspect which manage the peoples effectively at
work place of an organisation. It is an important factor of every organisation which helps through
providing skilled and capable people for effective attainment of organisational goals. According
to Chocolate presence company, their ground employee staff turnover increased, for retaining the
employee in chocolate presence HRM plays an important role because it provides work
according to specialisation of worker and also provides performance based rewards to employee
for encouraging their interest towards the achievement of companies goal(Wilton, 2016). This
report present purpose of human resource function and their importance to organisation. It
covers advantage and disadvantage of various methods used in organisation for advertising job.
Study also evaluate benefits of graduate training scheme and internship to both employee and
organisation. It also defines term employee engagement and their importance in effective
employee relations in Microsoft company.
TASK 1
a) Purpose of HR function and their importance to organisation
Human resource management is the important part of every organisation which helps to
organisation for better way to accomplish organisational goals by providing capable human
resource. It includes various function such planning, recruiting&selection, performance
management and training & development. The main purpose of each function is to encourage the
employees interest towards accomplishment of organisational goals effectively(Budhwar, 2016).
Purpose of various Human resource functions
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Illustration 1: Functions of Human Resource Management
Source:(Function of Human resource management, 2016).
Planning, it means getting things done through the peoples. It is a function of HRM which
forecast the need of work force in an industrial establishment. The main aim of planning is to
find out job vacancies and determine source of recruitment in a company. Chocolate presence
company can increase their work force through available unemployment in their area and
company recruit the candidates according to their required skill and knowledge for their vacant
post. If candidates are selected according to skill and knowledge needed to vacant position, they
can perform their job better which ultimately results in good quality products and higher
productivity in chocolate presence company(Baum, 2016).
Recruitment and selection is also an important function of every organisation. It is a process of
screening and selecting the prospective candidate according to required position. Chocolate
presence company can hire employees in an effective manner by identifying the proper staffing
plan and taking fair interviews and employment test of employees. With the help of interview
method company can select the people for administrative or manufacturing work from the
available unemployment in their area through determining their capabilities of working. If
workers get their work according to their specialisation, it increases the interest of worker
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towards job and reduce labour turnover in chocolate presence company(Budhwar and Mellahi,
2016).
Performance management function of HRM is play an important role in an organisation.
Chocolate presence company can reduce employee turnover by giving performance based reward
to their employees and through this, interest of employee can be increased towards giving good
efforts in achieving companies goal. It provides promotional opportunities to employees for
boosting morale towards accomplishing companies objective(Bailey and et.al., 2018).
Training and Development is the function which provides the training to needed employees for
increasing their motivational level. Chocolate Presence company can retain existing employee
through giving proper training and development activities. It increases the motivational level of
employees for performing their job efficiently and reduce failure of new employees in
probationary period by providing appropriate training activities(Wilton, 2016).
Importance of Human resource management in Chocolate presence company
The new human resource officer helps in reducing the current problems in the Chocolate
presence company by creating professional development plan and working closely with the staff
members towards the attainment of the common goals and also improve the skill and knowledge
of the employees for expanding their business in the global market and also builds trust in the
employees towards the organisational leadership which increase the productivity of the
employees as well as the chocolate presence company.
Human resource management improves growth and development of an organisation as
well as employee who work in a company. In Chocolate Presence company, as their ground staff
turnover increased, this problem can be reduce by the human resource management through
providing better training to needed employee and providing performance based reward to
employees for encouraging their interest towards completing companies objective(Baum, 2016).
Chocolate presence company can increase their work force through recruitment and
selection function of HRM which provides the better employees with skills and knowledge
according to require position and select the candidate through fair and good methods of selection
process such as interview and employment test.
Human resource management is an important tool of an organisation to achieve the best
outcome with cooperation and personal development of its employees. It also provides the
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competent and prospective employees to their organisation to fulfil the personal and managerial
objective of the company(Budhwar, 2016).
b) strength and weakness of selection method
Selection is the process of selecting prospective candidate from the pool of competent
personnel by using various instrument of the selection methods for gaining expected outcomes of
firm. Chocolate presence company used various selection methods such as home made
assessment test in Maths and English with pass mark of 50 percent, references and informal chat
in interview(Budhwar and Mellahi, 2016).
The first method of selection method which is used by chocolate presence company is home
made assessment test in English and Math and passing criteria for individual is gain 50%
marks.
Strength of this method is selecting good and capable employee who gets 50% marks and
more than this standard. And selected employees may work better towards the attainment of
organisational goals.
Weakness of this method is it can not ensure 100% success of an individual on the job
and it reduces the interest of worker who can perform work better but not reach the standard of
test(Budhwar, 2016).
References check is the second method of selection procedure in chocolate presence company.
Reference refers to the responsibility of knowing the background information about the
candidate by the existing employee of organisation who refer the job applicant.
Strength of this method is to seeking evidence in terms of candidates ability and
experience which is provided by the existing employee of chocolate presence company and
through this employer can get better information about the candidate to make sure that weather
candidate fit for job or not.
Weakness of reference method, it can not provide the surety of information that is right
because some times reference can be provide by the previous employer and it may possible that
wrong information is given, only for selection of candidate(Baum, 2016).
Interview is last method of selection procedure in a Chocolate presence company which is done
through informal chats with candidates at the informal environment.
The strength of this method is candidates can hired easily in the company and also
increase the interest of candidates towards the Chocolate presence company.
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The weakness of this method is not getting employee in the formal manner in the company.
According to chocolate presence company the interview is really an informal chat which takes 15
minutes and during this few times it is not possible for interviewer to determine the skill and
knowledge of candidate(Bailey and et.al., 2018).
C) Improvements which enhance the selection procedure of chocolate presence company
Chocolate presence company can enhance their selection procedure through the
psychometric test which evaluates the mental capabilities of candidates in terms of better
working in organisation. With the help of this method company can increase improvement in
selection procedure by selecting job applicants with high skill and knowledge from available
unemployment in their area. It evaluates mental and behaviour capability of candidates, this help
chocolate presence company to provide work to new workers according to their skill which
encourage employees towards the attainment of organisational goal and reduce the staff
turnover(Wilton, 2016).
Administering skill test also improve the selection process of chocolate presence
company by determining skill level of job applicants. Every job required different skills for
performing well towards accomplishment of organisational skills. This test reduce the
employees' failure in probation period of chocolate presence company through distributing work
according to their knowledge and skills and this improve the products quality as well as
productivity(Budhwar, 2016).
Psychometrics test improve the interview method of chocolate presence company
because interview method can not judge the mental and behaviour capability of employee which
are essential for attaining organisational goals and with the help of psychometrics test
interviewer effectively determine mental and behaviour capability of candidates and company
provides work according to their specialised area which reduce the labour turnover in chocolate
presence(Baum, 2016).
Home made assessment test of chocolate present company improved by the administering
skill test because it determines the skill level of employee towards vacant post. Every job needed
some level of skill and knowledge for better performing and it is not possible through home
made assessment to evaluate skills of job applicants. Administering skill test evaluates skills and
knowledge of employee and also identify weather the candidate fit for job or not(Wilton, 2016).
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TASK 2
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Person Specification
Title of the job
Name of the company
Receptionist
Chocolate presence company
Date: 11/02/19
Qualification required Essential Desirable Met
High school
Graduation or Diploma
course in computer
Good typing ability.
Excellent written and
vocal communication
skills.
Skillful in Microsoft
application like word,
Excel, PowerPoint and
Outlook.
Yes
YES
YES
Yes
YES
YES
Need of Experience
Minimum 1 year of
experience as receptionist.
Yes YES
Personal characteristics
& conduct
Consistent knowledge and
professionalism. YES
YES

Multi task handling ability
and administrative and
clerical action.
Friendly and positive
attitude.
Well mannered and
professional dressing.
Yes
Yes
YES
Roles and
Responsibilities
Conducting and
scheduling meeting.
Greeting clients with
warm and positive
attitude.
Answering and
forwarding phone calls.
Writing and sorting mail.
Assisting in administrative
tasks.
Proving customer service.
Preparation of letter and
documents and
maintaining the same.
Yes
YES
YES
YES
Yes
YES
YES
b.) Advantages and Disadvantages of current methods of advertising job in the organisation
Chocolate presence circulates pamphlets or card of job vacancies internally in the
organization to the existing staff and their family and friends and externally by displaying
vacancy on physical noticeboard on the external wall of main site(Bratton and Gold, 2017).
ADVANTAGES: Chocolate presence uses word of mouth publicity to attract prospective
employees in the organization. Having job openings internally in the organization benefit
company to retain employees and gives advantage to explore new career paths in the same

organization and helps employee to grow their skills, knowledge and abilities. This enhances
working and productivity of the organization by the employees who understand company's goal
and objective which can be achieved effectively and efficiently. Word of mouth publicity about
job vacancy in the organization internally is a very cost effective and less time consuming
process. A high recommendation and positive attitude of family member towards organization
attract skilled, knowledgeable, and prospective employee to the organization which increases
productivity and efficiency in the organization.
Chocolate presence display job vacancy on physical noticeboard on the external wall of the main
site for advertising job vacancy for a particular designation. Designing pamphlets which give
necessary detail about the job vacancy and job description that are attractive and gain attention of
the people(Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016). Hiring new and fresh blood in the organization
brings new insight and idea into the organization which increases productivity of the company. It
helps expand the workforce with more skilled and prospective applicant who has more
experience in a particular field. Their is a wide range of opportunity to select candidates from a
pool of applicants who best fit to perform the job with accuracy and efficiency.
DISADVANTAGES: Word of mouth publicity and distributing pamphlets and cards among
current employees and their friends and family is an ineffective method for filling job vacancies
in the organization because it restricts entering of new blood in the organization which does not
give the benefit of introducing new and prospective ideas in the company. It also limits the
number of potential applicants who has desired skill and knowledge to perform a particular job
effectively and efficiently. Promoting current employees for the new position in the organization
creates another vacancy which needs to be filled.
Furthermore, displaying job vacancies on external notice board of the main site is not an
attractive method to gain attention of the people(Cascio, 2015). People usually tend to ignore
such display which leads to attract less amount of people for the vacancy and company might not
find the right and appropriate candidate for the job.
c.) Recommending the job advert for Receptionist vacancy
Chocolate presence uses attractive job adverts to gain attention of skilled and prospective
receptionist who fits best for the job profile and who can perform roles and responsibilities
effectively and efficiently. They can publish advertisement in newspaper which gives specific

details about the job specification; job description; qualification and experience ; location and
date and time for the interview. They can display job vacancy on various social media platform
like Facebook; LinkedIn; indeed; monster.com; glassdoor, etc where they can attract large
number of candidates and can select the one who is best suitable for the job profile. Interested
candidates can also apply on company's career website where candidate can upload their resume
and necessary details as mentioned on the site. Company can also opt for email marketing by
giving necessary details about the job profile and job specification, salary, duties and
responsibilities, location, contact number, email id and mailing the same to the candidates who
are best fit for the job. Company can also hire receptionist through various employee referral
program inside and outside of the company.
The most cost effective method of selecting prospective and talented candidates for the job who
can perform the roles and responsibilities effectively and efficiently is by conducting employee
referral program which ensure reasonable skill set and integrity(Kew and Stredwick, 2016). It is
the most inexpensive method of advertisement to attract prospective candidates. Advertisement
in print media like newspaper attract large number of candidates who are looking for specific
roles and it does not involve huge cost to the company.
TASK 3
a) Microsoft offer graduate training schemes and internships. Evaluate the benefits to both the
organisation and employees of such schemes
Benefits to employees of Microsoft because of training and internships
 Microsoft has designed its graduate training schemes and internship in such a way that it
would empower its employees to make their own choices and thus would not be bound
by the decisions taken by others for them.
 The training and internship provided by Microsoft helps in increasing the productivity of
employees and hence they would be able to achieve their individual as well as
organisational objectives effectively and efficiently.

 Moreover, training and internship would also help employees to deal with changes or
helps them to adopt new technologies and methods which helps in creation of job
satisfaction in the mind of employees and will in turn help in building the morale of
employees.
Benefits to Microsoft because of training and internships
 Since these training programs empower the employees, this not only benefit the
employees but will also benefit Microsoft because when an employee is given autonomy
they would generate creative and innovative ideas and thus would help in bringing a
positive change in the organisation. For example if chocolate presence company provides
its employees to autonomy and participation in the decision making, employees provides
various creative and innovative ideas which helps the chocolate presence companies to
achieve the desired result of outcome through increasing the effectiveness of the
employees.(Ocampo, 2015).
 Graduate training schemes and internship provided by Microsoft helps In motivating
employees which in turn helps the Microsoft to retain employees for a longer period and
it is quite obvious that an experienced or a retained employee would contribute more
towards achievement of organisational objective as compared to new employee.
b) Microsoft offers a range of flexible working arrangements for staff. Firstly, identify some of
these arrangements and then evaluate the benefits of offering these to both Microsoft and
its employees.
Microsoft offers a wide range of flexible working arrangements for its staff such as flexible
working hours(for example, 9:30 am to 5 pm), work from home in order to provide ease to those
workers who cannot travel long distance in order to go to office, condensed working week(for
example, 5 days a week), flexible holiday time that is concerned with paid leaves and part-time
jobs for those who cannot work full-time because of their studies or any other reason.
Benefits to Microsoft for providing these benefits
 Providing these benefits to staff helps the company to improve the retention rate of
employee which will help to create sense of belongingness in the mind of employees and
thus would be encouraged to stay in the company
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 Microsoft by providing these benefits to employees helps to beat the competition as a
company that provide attractive benefits to its employees would help them to maintain
and grow their brand image and improve its ranking.
Benefits to employees for providing these offerings
 Microsoft by providing these benefits to employees helps to improve the job satisfaction
in the mind of employees and thus would be motivated to perform better and would
improve their productivity(Wilton, 2016).
 These benefits would help employees to maintain proper work-life balance such as
facilities like flexible working hours and part-time jobs gives flexibility to employees to
systematically maintain their private life as well as work life.
c) Evaluate how Microsoft motivates its workers through the way it designs its job roles.
Microsoft motivates its employees through Maslow's need hierarchy theory. This theory
is concerned with 5 major needs and those are:
Physiological needs – Microsoft takes into consideration all the basic needs of employees such
as food, clothing, water and house in order to design the job roles of employees. For example if
chocolate presence company fulfil the physiological needs of the employee it results in
improving the employees interest towards the firm and with these employees give their possible
efforts towards the accomplishment of the organisational goal.
Safety needs – Microsoft takes into consideration the security and safety needs of employees
while designing the job roles in order to motivate them such as if the person does not have any
technical knowledge regarding working of machines then he/she would not be given job roles
related to handling of hazardous nature of machines.
Social needs – it is concerned with belongingness and love needs of an employee such as
relationships with their family and friends to motivate its employees. Microsoft would not design
the job of its employees in such a way that it would hamper or restrict its employees from
fulfilling their social needs.
Esteem needs – it is the need which is concerned with status, respect, achievement and
confidence. Microsoft design the job roles of its employees in such a manner that satisfy, fulfil
and justify the status of a person so as to create job satisfaction in the mind of employees.
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Self actualisation needs – it is concerned with that stage in which an employee achieve its full
potential. Microsoft designs the job role of its employees in such a way that it fulfils the self
actualisation needs of an individual. (Wright, 2018).
TASK 4
a) What is meant by the term employee engagement and why is employee engagement such an
Important part in effective employee relations in Microsoft?
Employee engagement
Employee Engagement is a business concept, which states the extent to which an employee feel
connected with the organization and committed towards the work. Employment Engagement is
not Employee Satisfaction or Employee Awareness. It is the measurement of feeling which an
employee feel for job and organization. Higher the degree of employee engagement, longer the
degree of stay of employee in the organization.
Importance of Employee Engagement in effective employee relations in Microsoft -
Microsoft give rewards, bonus, perks for engaging them in the company which encourage them
to become effective, efficient and creative which make them productive too. They are not only
become productive but also become satisfied with the work and environment of the company
which make them happy. Happier employees create happy environment which is good for
employee relationship. Good relationships create good communication which is a symptom for
building effective employee relations.
Microsoft creates supportive and secure working environment for engaging employees in the
company. Engaged employees know more and better about the Microsoft company and they
know more about the objectives, goals, mission, visions, organizational structure, strategic plans,
organizational strategies etc., which make them better decision makers who need in every
important decisions in Microsoft. Involvement of engaged employees in decision making process
make them stay in organization which is good for building effective relationship between
organization.
In Microsoft company, the structure of communication is open and clear. Employees know that
whom to report, whom to delegate the work. Open and clear communication structure strengthen
their relationship with other employees. So communication also make employees engaged in
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company. Engagement decreases employee turnover. Their career graph also grow and they are
less likely to quit Microsoft.
b) Critically evaluate the key approaches to engaging workers discussed in the Summit and how
these approaches improve communication in the workplace.
Key approaches of engaging workers discussed in the summit are as follows:
 Microsoft has adopted cultural diversity approach to engages or employ its
employees from diverse culture, racial and ethnic groups; in order to improve
communication at the workplace
Pros:
Cultural diversity is very important to be inculcated in an organisation because it helps in better
understanding of different perspective of world. It helps in fostering the communication because
through communication they would be able to gain knowledge about diverse cultures and thus
help them in developing different perspective of the world.
Cons:
Cultural diversity may lead to conflict arising at the workplace because of diverse culture
because of conflicting ideas, opinions and views and hence this will hinder the communication in
Microsoft.
 KFC has adopted empowerment of employees approach to engage its employees that
is giving them autonomy to make their own decisions as well as encouraging them to
give feedback which helps in improving communication at the workplace
Pros:
Empowering employees is very important to develop a positive environment in an organisation
as empowering employees fosters open communication through feedback, queries and decision
making.
Cons:
There are always disadvantages associated with advantages. Empowering employee gives
freedom to employees to make the critical business decisions(What is Employee Engagement.
2019). If these decisions are not taken properly than it will have a negative impact on the success
of an individual and the organisation. This may lead to differences between the individual and
their supervisor and would in turn hinder the communication.
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c) Identify the key elements of UK employment legislation, explaining how they influence HR
decision making such as recruitment, training and development and reward.
UK Employment Legislations influence Human Resource Decision Making -
Employment Rights Act 1996 – According to this law emplopyees has the right to get a
reasonable notice before getting terminated. Before employment, the employer shall give the
employment statement to the employees, also the statement should be in written statement and
shall contain the name of the employee and joining date. HR department of Microsoft laid in
their policy that employer of Microsoft has to give employment statement to their employees
before joining the Microsoft and also they are required to provide proper dismissal letter to
workers who are been terminated.
Equality Act 2010 – The Act protects employees against discrimination, harassment or
victimisation in employment and protected characteristics mentioned in the act. Microsoft's HR
make the policy that they can not do inequality in the work place on the basis of following
characteristics – Age, Disabilities, Gender reassignment, Marriage and Civil partnership,
Pregnancy and Maternity, Race, Religion or belief, Sex, Sexual orientation and also HR of
Microsoft stated those adjustments in their policies which is made for person with disabilities for
betterment of disable employees of Microsoft. HR cannot discriminate during recruitment like to
whom to offer employment. HR cannot discriminate during training also, he must pay equal
attention to all the trainees and employees. HR department of Microsoft also ensure the
appropriate procedures are in place to prevent unfair treatment and discrimination.
Equal Pay Act 1970 – Equal pay act prohibited wrong favourable treatment between men and
women in terms of employment. HR of Microsoft has implementated a policy which includes
pay equal amount to those employees who are on same position whether emplyee is man or
women, this should be mention in their policy statement. Also, maternity / paternity pay should
also mention by Microsoft HR in HR policy according to law(Paauwe and Boon, 2018).
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 – Health and safety act defines the provisions
regarding health, safety and welfare of persons at workplace. Microsoft of HR has to recruit
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the safety of employees of Microsoft. HR department
also has to mention about the fire safety at mircosoft workplace in their policy. Microsoft HR
also prohibit on the smoking at Microsoft offices.
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CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarised that Microsoft has developed effective
training and internship programs; which helped in motivating employees, created job satisfaction
and improved productivity of an organisation and in turn resulted in achieving the organisational
objectives effectively and efficiently. Apart from that, the study shows that Microsoft adopted
cultural diversity approach and KFC adopted employee empowerment approach to engage the
employees and which in turn helped in improving communication. Moreover, study also shows
that employee engagement is very important in developing effective employee relationship
through open communication and flexible structure.
REFERENCES
Books and journals
Baum, T. ed., 2016. Human resource issues in international tourism. Elsevier
Budhwar, P.S., 2016. International human resource management. Edward Elgar Publishing
Limited.
Bailey, C. and et.al., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.
Budhwar, P.S. and Mellahi, K. eds., 2016. Handbook of human resource management in the
Middle East. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management.
Routledge.
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill.
Kew, J. and Stredwick, J., 2016. Human Resource Management in a business context. Kogan
Page Publishers.
Ocampo, C.L.P., 2015. Engagement and Retention: Essentials of Employee and Labor
Relations. Handbook of Human Resources Management. pp.1-22.
Paauwe, J. and Boon, C., 2018. Strategic HRM: A critical review. In Human Resource
Management (pp. 49-73). Routledge.
Wilton, N., 2016. An introduction to human resource management. Sage.
Wright, P., 2018. Fundamentals of human resource management. Management. 5. p.27.
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Online
What is Employee Engagement. 2019. [online] available through
<https://www.custominsight.com/employee-engagement-survey/what-is-employee-
engagement.asp>
Purpose of human resource management.2016. [ONLINE] available through
<https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-management/chapter/purpose-of-human-resource-
management/>
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