British Airways HR Report: Madeira Flights and Employee Relations

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HRM IN BRITISH AIRWAYS
Human Resource Management in British Airways
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Task 1 (LO1)..............................................................................................................................3
AC.1: Role & purpose of HRM in British airways....................................................................3
AC1.2: HR plan based on supply and demand analysis with justified staff numbers, roles and
working hours required for delivering services to Madeira.......................................................5
Task-2 (LO2)..............................................................................................................................7
AC2.1: Employee relations’ present condition in airline industry.............................................7
AC2.2: Effect of employment law over HRM...........................................................................8
Task 3 (LO3)..............................................................................................................................9
AC.3.1: Job description and personal specification...................................................................9
AC.3.2: Comparison between selection process of BA and Transport for London.................10
Task.4 (LO4)............................................................................................................................11
AC.4.1: Guidance notes for the trainee manager for analysing the contribution of training for
BA............................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Human resource management has become an essential requirement for the growth and
perpetual succession of an organisation. It is effectively used by the management of an
organisation to work for the welfare of the employees along with ameliorating the
organisations reputation and level within the market. In the following report, the various
aspects of human resource plan of British airways have been explicated in relation with the
fulfilment of the agreement for flights of BA from Heathrow to Madeira. The report will
comprise of explanations on various areas like the HR plan, its roles and purpose, effects
posed by the employees’ relations and laws in the British airways (Grundy and Moxon,
2013). In this way, all the related significant areas such as the description of the job and
personal specifications of cabin crew, training and other components of the development
operations of the British airways will be outlined in the succeeding report sections. The
selection process of British airways will also be overviewed and its comparison will be made
with the selection process of the transport for London agency. At last, overall conclusion will
be formed and the significance of human resource management will be assed in an effective
manner.
Task 1 (LO1)
AC.1: Role & purpose of HRM in British airways
According to Gamage (2016), the main functions and roles of human resource management
in British airways are regarding selection of employees, training, development, induction,
performance analysis, employees reward and appraisal schemes etc. These areas are mainly
related to the employees and thus human resource management of BA is primarily focused
towards them, so that the employees can be motivated for delivering better performance in
the organisation. There are other such roles and purposes of HRM in BA, which are further
discussed in the report.

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Figure: Roles and purpose of HRM in British airways
(Source: Buhr et al. 2014)
Recruitment & staffing
In British airways, the human resource manager carries out recruitment and selection
procedures for finding and hiring the best suitable employees required for the organisation.
As stated by Momin (2018), first the HR managers of BA asses the organisation requirements
and then the candidates are attracted for the recruitment process. After going through various
selection criteria and testing the employees' talent and skills, the best suitable candidate is
finally hired for performing specific kind of function of the organisation. This enables the
proper development of suitable workforce for the British airways.
Training
Taylor and Moore (2014) have stated that after recruiting and selecting the right candidates
from the recruitment process, the candidates are examined and the requirement of training or
development for them is analysed by the managers. Then, the Human resource managers of
BA arrange a training and development program for these employees in order to make them
ready for performing the particular functions and activities in the organisation. According to
Madar (2015), in these training and development programs, several skills are enhanced
possessed by the employees and even several kind of assessments and test are performed
during these programs for analysing the learning gained by the trainee employees. In this
way, HR managers in British always have a major role in development and training programs
of the employees.

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Payroll management
The HR managers in BA decide the payroll and salary for the candidates according to the
training salary structure in other sectors and industries. As opined by Lange et al. (2015),
they select the best pay practices and facilitate best compensation plans for the employees
along with PF, med-claim scheme, bonus schemes, rewarding programs etc. All these
processes are abided by the governmental regulations and policies.
Performance management
In British airways, the HR personnel are responsible for evaluating the performance delivered
by the employees. As referenced by Buhr et al. (2014), after making the evaluation and
observing the activities of the employees, they are suggested some changes and appraisals are
provided to them. HR managers also reward the employees for their performance and boost
their motivation for facilitating much better performance delivery from them.
Conflict resolution and employees relations
Partridge (2015) has stated that there are many times when conflict occurs among the
employees, which reduces the performance effectiveness and efficiency and thus it hinders
the operational rhythm and flow in British airways. Therefore, HR managers in British
airways interact with the employees and team members and find the base of conflict. After
this, they resolve the conflict by working on the root cause of the conflict and by finding out
such solutions, which are agreed by the parties indulged in the conflict. In this way,
employee’s relations are also managed by the HR managers in British Airways.
AC1.2: HR plan based on supply and demand analysis with justified staff numbers,
roles and working hours required for delivering services to Madeira
The HR plan formulated will be consisting of several constituents, which are discussed in the
following sections.
HR audit
According to Gebremedhn and Nagaratnam (2017), the HR plan, suitable for British airways
will comprise of the key factors like forecasting demand of the labours, analysing the present
supply and bringing balance in the projected demand and supply of the labours. These will be
the steps from where; the HR plans will be initiated. HR audit will thus help in gaining a

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rough estimated figure of the needs of employees and the strengths and weaknesses of the
human resources management in the organisation. According to Al-Sulttan and Holbrook
(2015), in order to fulfil the agreements’ demands regarding the supply of flights to Madeira,
HR audit will be a successful tool for HRM in British airways.
Selection and recruitment
After analysing the present demands and supply of workforce in British airways, selection
and recruitment process will the next stage in the HR plan. As opined by Lange et al. (2015),
the required employees for completion of the task involved for fulfilment of agreements will
be hired and recruited by aligning with the budget and policies of the organisation. In this
way, required demands and supply between the human resource and workforce will be
balanced effectively.
Induction
Bamber (2018) has stated that induction is very crucial step and in this present scenario of
British airways, induction will be helpful in making the newly recruited employees
comfortable in the new working environment. This will ultimately eliminate the hindering
factors such as shyness and fear of the recruited employees, lack of communication or
interaction spirit in the employee. This will help in attaining better performance from them
for completion of the agreement.
On job training and performance appraisal
As suggested by Ren (2017), the employees will be then trained through training programs
for which, their skills and talents will be analysed by the HR managers. After making the
analysis and realising the talents and skills of the employees, proper training programs will be
conducted for enhancing their performance, after completion of their training, their
performance will be analysed and appropriate suggestion will be provided to them for
appraisal. In this way, the employees will be able to work properly and fulfilment of the goals
and objectives of BA.
Apart from these features, the formulated HR plan will also consist of the compensation plans
and other factors for the welfare of the employees in British airways. Thus, the developed
human resource plan will be effective for completion of the requirements of agreements
regarding the supply of flights to Madeira

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Task-2 (LO2)
AC2.1: Employee relations’ present condition in airline industry
The current condition of the employee’s relations in British airways is far much better as
compared to the conditions in the past years. According to Zheng (2016), there were some
disagreements of staffs as well employees with the management of British airlines. The
situations have however been controlled by the means of ‘unionization’. At present, British
airways is a leading brand in its industry. There is a trade union in the British airways, which
comprise of the representative for each of the employees, recruited in the organisation. As
opined by Davis (2016), few of trade unions like BALPA and BASSA represent the pilots
and cabin crewmembers of the British airways respectively. These trade unions are mainly
responsible for developing relations between the employees and management of the British
airways.
In the past few years of British airways, the relations between the employees and managers of
British airways were not good. This was because of the restrictions and communication
barriers amidst the management and employees base of the organisation. As reflected by Asai
(2014), certain programs and schemes were launched in British airways in order to bring
down these barriers and facilitate effective communication and interaction among the
employees and management of the airline organisation. One of such program was industrial
relations change programme. Seminar was also conducted in BA in which, around more than
200 of trade unions participated among with 1800 of management personnel. Because of this
seminar, both the parties reached a final decision of signing a partnership agreement. As
referred by Chrimes and Cook (2017), back in 2009, a major stroke occurrence against the
management of British airways due to changes made by the management in contracts of the
employees and staffs. However, with the help of trade union and the agreements, the
movement was somehow handled and no such kind of incident has occurred in the
organisation.
In this way, trade unions have helped in developing and maintaining the relations of the staffs
and employees with the management of British airways. This has in turn raised the bar of
employees’ performance and management of the organisation. Thus, it is clearly observed
that unionisation has enhanced the relations of staffs and management in British airways.

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AC2.2: Effect of employment law over HRM
Human resource management in British airways is aligned with the various employment
laws, which are applicable in airline industries. According to Reid et al. (2018), the civil
aviation authority, which is shortly known as CAA, is an independent committee responsible
for regulating the policies regarding airspace safety and protection of customers. This board
regulates the laws and legislations related to aviation and airspace. The health and safety at
work act 1974 is concerned with the health status and safety of the employees at workplace.
As argued by Reihill et al. (2016), by abiding with this act, HR managers in BA ensure that
the staffs and employees are properly aware of the health and safety procedure. The managers
of BA provide a safe and healthy working environment to the employees and maintenance of
the working site is taken care for preventing any rather misshapen or accidents at the working
site. Apart from this, employees or their representative is consulted and a record of their
health is kept for arranging in case of any urgent requirement of emergency.
According to Grundy and Moxon (2013), the data protection act of 1998 is also complied in
the British airways, which is concerned with the activities of British airways regarding the
data and information of the customers and guests. This act or law focuses over the activities
like transfer of data, storing of data and use of data for illegal purpose. Misuse of this data is
illegal and penalty is to be fined for crossing the legal barriers regarding data of customers
and employees of the organisation. In case of any kind of breach or leak of data, the company
will be held responsible and will be required to compensate the victims of the data breach.
Rast and Tourani (2012) have stated that another law i.e. equal pay act obeyed in British
airways facilitates proper distribution of payment regardless of any type of discrimination
based on various resources. The sex or gender discrimination act prevents any kind of
discrimination regarding working hours, pay rate, wages, etc. is based on gender of the
employees. This act is for preventing the miss conducts like lower wages to female works or
employees as compare to the make workers. These kinds of elements are discarded from the
working culture of the organisation by the means of gender discrimination act.
According to Crossland and Hambrick (2011), the Employer’s liability insurance act of 1969
mentions that the employer is liable of assuring the safety of the employee and is required to
cover the liability of the employee if any kind of misshapen occurs with the employee at
working site. Apart from this act, the licence act 1964 states that the airline is required to
carry licence for offering alcohol and this licence needs to be carried by each crewmember of
the airline. In this manner, there are many such employee laws, which are essential for

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regulating various areas of airlines and making improvements in them. These laws and
regulations needs to be abided by British airways and thus are encompassed within the human
resource management of British airlines.
Task 3 (LO3)
AC.3.1: Job description and personal specification
Foster and Wass (2013) have stated that the human resource managers in British airways
focus on the process of recruitments and selection of the employees to enable the
development of skilled and advanced workforce for the organisation. The recruitment and
selection process of cabin crew is one of the crucial and major recruitment processes for BA.
The candidates are made aware of the vacancy via online portals and webpage of British
airways. The job description and personal specification are well known significant parts of
the recruitment program. The specifications and few of the details regarding the candidates
are acquired through the online questions designed for assessing the basic details of the
candidate. As argued by Hassan (2014), for being crewmembers in British airways, it is
mandatory to provide proper administration and instructions to the clients in order to
facilitate guaranteed comfort and wellbeing of the guests and customer. The members of crew
are also required to provide guidance and assistance regarding hardware, which may help the
customers and guests while getting on the flight to Madeira. Along with this, the hardware
and equipment are also needs to be necessarily checked by the crewmembers before being
used by the clients or the customers. This will help in assuring safety and comfort to the
customers during their journey.
As reflected by Pandit and Cook (2011), these members of crew are required be adhered to
all the legislations and regulations of British airways while serving the organisation. The
crewmembers are to perform according to the standards set by the British airways. The main
concern of the members should always be the maintenance and provision of safety to the
customers by simultaneously sticking to the uniform standards developed by the organisation.
They are expected to deliver the best possible services to the customers as well as to follow
all the policies and regulations made by the British airways. They might be paid 14 to 15
dollars per hour and might get 22 dollars per hour in residency experience.
Personal specifications

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According to Harris et al. (2011), the personal specification for being recruited as a
crewmember in British airways mainly comprises of two sections, which are skills required
by the candidate and essential qualifications required by BA. The most basic and significant
criteria is to be an adult at the time of filling the application for recruitment. The candidate
should be able to take care of the safety and security of the customers. Other qualifications
are proper written and verbal English communication skills, which will be required while
working for BA and communicating with the customers of BA. Then, the candidates are
required to have a valid passport along with citizenship of UK. As opined by Baker et al.
(2011), the candidates are required to have clear criminal records for at least five past years,
they are required to have the ability of getting, and retaining an airside pass are some of the
basic qualifications criteria set by BA. The candidates are required to have the ability of
working for long durations being away from home and to perform stand by duties when
required. The candidates are also required to be able to work for whole day around 7 days a
week and almost every day of the year. This willingness is necessary to depict the passion
and dedication towards work and willingness to work and serve for British airways. The
candidates are required to be mentally fit and healthy in both physical as well as in mental
capacities.
According to Kristensen (2011), the requirement of height is between 5.2 ft. to 6.1 ft. the
candidates are also required to be able to deliver CPR by kneeling down astride the individual
within the confined space of around 46 centimetres. The candidates must be able to lift
weights and luggage of 20 pounds from the height of 76 to 78 inches. There are some other
abilities such as ability to swim for 50m, ability to perform aircraft jump and the ability of
performing all the emergency safety procedures with calm and patient mind during
emergencies.
AC.3.2: Comparison between selection process of BA and Transport for London
The selection process of British airways is conducted in 9 steps. The first step is placing the
job vacancies of BA on its online portals and website. Then, in the second step of selection
process, the job aspirants are required to answer several questions provided to the candidates
online. In the next selection step, of the satisfactory response is gained from the candidates,
they are asked to fill an interest form followed by filling up of an online application form in
the next step of the selection procedure. As mentioned by Heracleous and Wirtz (2012), after
this, the candidates are required to attend a psychometric test online which encompasses
several areas like numeric, situational judgment, verbal and spatial reasoning. Those, who

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qualify this test, are required to appear for the next step, which comprises of situational
MCQs, role-play, group exercise and interview. As opined by Ozdemir, Basligil and Karaca
(2011), after clearing all these rounds, the background and medical status of the employees
are checked and they are called for training of safety course for one week followed by six-
week cabin crew training. When the training program is successfully completed by the
candidates, they are positioned in the cabin crew of BA.
Filimonau, Dickinson and Robbins (2014) have stated that, the selection process of TFL i.e.
Transport for London is very much similar to the above selection process. The process of
selection occurs in 8 steps, of which, the first step is regarding the placement of job vacancies
on online website portals and some agencies for recruitment. In the next step of this process,
the candidates are required to login on the vacancy webpage of TFL. On this page, they select
their desired job vacancy and in the next step, they fill an online application form. The
candidates who tend to satisfy all the job requirements are then required to give a situational
judgmental test, which is conducted online. After qualifying this step, the qualifiers appear
for a written assessment. In the next step, the qualifiers of written assent are required to
appear for role-play and interview. In the next steps of the selection process, the medial and
background, check-up along with reference check-up is conducted for the selected
candidates. After successful completion of this step, the candidates are finally selected and
positioned for the job.
In this way, the selection process of both British airways and Travel for London share some
similarities and few differences between them. However, it can be said that the selection
process of British airways is comparatively a long procedure and is of longer time duration.
Task.4 (LO4)
AC.4.1: Guidance notes for the trainee manager for analysing the contribution of
training for BA
Training and development programs have been one of the crucial parts of the success of
brutish airways. This is because training and development programs enhance and develop the
skills of the employees of BA and this helps in attaining better delivery of performance from
the employees.
Various type of training

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According to Gamage (2016), mainly, two different types of training are on job and off job
training. The objective of both the kind of training programs is to facilitate the development
of the employees of the organisation. In BA, the training provided to the employees aims at
facilitating the development of their skills for helping them in delivering better performance
and in building a successful career. The training program may also comprise of induction
programs, which aims at providing ease to adaptation for the newly recruited employees in
BA. As stated by Momin (2018), in induction program, the new employees are introduced
with the other employees of the organisation and the functions that are to be played by him or
her are introduced to the employee. Job training is provided to the employees for enabling
them to perform jobs with the provided job situation, equipment and methods. Trainings are
also provided to the employees for developing soft skills and thus this type so training is
called as soft skills training. Apart from this, training is also provided to newly recruited
employees regarding the products and services offered by the organisation and this type of
training is called as product or services training. Taylor and Moore (2014) have stated that
on-board trainings are also provided to the employees in order to facilitate proper
development of specific skills required for performing certain type of tasks and activities in
the organisation. This type of training helps the employees in adapting the working
environment of the organisation and facilitates proper coordination with other employees.
Training vs. development
According to Madar (2015), training and development are both used for the development of
the employee, but the only key difference between both these processes is regarding the time.
This is because; training is focused on short-term development and prosperity of the
employees and is helpful for the employees for performing specific jobs only. On the other
hand, development is an educational process, which focuses on long-term development and
prosperity of the employees and it facilitates overall growth of the employees. Another
difference between these two processes is that training is job-oriented process whereas
development is a career-oriented process.
Advantages of training
The main advantage gained through training is that it enhances and boosts the morale of the
employees and tends to provide them more job satisfaction. As opined by Lange et al. (2015),
training is a medium through which, the motivation level of the employees can be increased
and employees can successfully carry out the activities and operations of the organisation.