LSC UoS HRM Report: Employee Retention through Development at BA

This report critically evaluates the concept that employee retention is directly proportional to employee development and talent leveraging, using British Airways as a case study. It begins by discussing the reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with this concept and provides a literature review on the importance of employee development, including examples from Johnson & Johnson, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and Amazon. The report then examines British Airways' internal HR policies and management practices, including selection, recruitment, and reward systems, that contribute to employee retention. The report concludes with recommendations based on the analysis.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary:
The aim of the report is to put forward a critical evaluation on a concept where employee
retention rate is directly proportional to the employee development and leveraging of the
employee talent. The company chosen here is British Airways. The report commences with
reasons supporting the agreement or disagreement with the concept. It also puts forward a
literature review on the power of employee development along with a mention of examples. The
report also puts across the internal HR and management policies of British Airways that
contributed towards employee retention at the company. The report however ends with necessary
recommendations.

2MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Discussions:.....................................................................................................................................4
Reasons for Agreement or Disagreement with the Statement:........................................................4
Literature Review of Employee Development with Examples:......................................................6
Internal HR Policies and Management Practice of British Airways:..............................................8
Selection and Recruitment of Employees:.......................................................................................8
Categories of Departments..............................................................................................................9
Rewards and Payments:.................................................................................................................12
Recommendations and Conclusion................................................................................................12
References:....................................................................................................................................13

3MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
The report aims at providing a critically evaluation of the concept put forward by William
Egbe which mentioned that ‘when the employees are allowed to develop and their talent is
leveraged it results in higher employee retention rate’. The evaluation is done in context of a
chosen company, British Airways, the flag carrier airline of United Kingdom
(britishairways.com 2019). Based on the number of passengers carried and the fleet size, it is the
second largest of all the airlines in United Kingdom. In a year, the airline serves close to 95
million passengers across 86 countries and around 441 airports. The key actions of British
Airways is the domestic and the international charter services and scheduled operations for
carrying mail and freight, passengers and additional services.
As far as the employees are concerned, British Airways boasts of having lovely and
talented people that have helped the company in sailing through turbulent times. The company
employs diverse team from various backgrounds and countries (careers.ba.com 2019). The
company offers rewards that go beyond the competitive salary through total reward packaging
that features benefits including attractive pension, employee travel and the discounted shopping.
The goal of becoming the premium airline encourages British Airways to concentrate on the
customer service at each level of the journey of the passengers. Thus, the company divided its
goal into global, premium and the airline. The global goal appeals to the passengers either for
leisure or business travel for creating repeat customers while the premium goals ensure that the
passengers receive the highest level of service. The goal related to airline refers to maintaining
focus on the aviation with latest product, service and equipment. The report gives a detailed

4MANAGEMENT
overview of the internal HR policies and the management practices thereby providing a
justification of the concept put forward by William Egbe
Discussions:
Reasons for Agreement or Disagreement with the Statement:
It is a fact that the employees have a higher retention rate when the employees are
developed and their talent gets leveraged. It is found that in various organizations work is
considered pretty predictable and consistent implying going to the office, performing the
required task and getting back home. There are various people who spend the years without any
kind of advancement or career development. In this regard, many people can argue saying that an
individual can continue learning on job irrespective of the training programs or the any other
kind of employee development that is being offered. There exist various advantages in
proactively offering the employees with an ongoing development and training that could benefit
both the organization and the employees.
According to Noe et al. (2014), employee development has been considered as the key
aspect for the continuous success and growth. While the aspect is incorporated in the business
plans it is bypassed and overlooked in pursuit of the other priorities. It has been found that
smaller business owners shies away from the idea of implementation of a stronger employee
training and retention program for most of the part since they are afraid that employee
development is a cost effective procedure. In practicality, it is one such rare business investment
that ends up paying over the time. Whether the concerned business recruits salaried or hourly
staffs, investing in the employee development program is worth the price. Although the fear of

5MANAGEMENT
taking such step is completely understandable but given the tough time for running the business
it is necessary to make each dollar count. Nevertheless setting aside funds for the employee
development is something that should be part of the budget (Jehanzeb and Bashir 2013).
In contrast to the above argument, Nda and Fard (2013) stated that although there are
benefits of providing development and training to the employees, however the actual
implementation of the program remains quite daunting. Development of the employees is not at
all an easy task as most of the times the employees get derailed due to the priorities. Hence, the
importance of leveraging talent of the team for attaining success could not be overstated.
Nelissen, Forrier and Verbruggen (2017) however stated that if a company invests in its
employees then it would be able to retain higher talents, improve the culture of the company,
improve the ability of the teen and draw the blueprint of the succession plan.
Employee turnover has been the biggest means through which small businesses are losing
money each year. According to study conducted by Dale Carnegie Training Center closer to 40
percent of the poorly trained employees ends up leaving the company with the first year on job
(Elnaga and Imran 2013). Most of the employees put forward a clear statement stating that
general dissatisfaction and poor training within the company have been the key reasons for the
departures. The study also estimated that the cost of employee turnover have raised cost up to
$11 billion each year for the US business. According to Shucke et al. (2014), the statistics
however supports the claim that investment in employee development and leveraging the talent
actually pays off since it is cheaper to train the employees and retain them on job rather than
replace them.

6MANAGEMENT
Shahid and Azhar (2013) stated that if there is a development program most of the staff
members are able to see the benefit. This might also become a part of the hiring package that
would inspire the workers in staying with the company since it portrays that the company cares
about the professional development that a major portion of the employees particularly the
millennial finds importance. Showing the employees even while on boarding that the company is
willing to invest in the future helps in building loyalty
According to the study conducted by Kronos and Future Workplace, close to 87 percent
of the human resource professionals is found to consider retention as a critical and higher priority
aspect over the coming five years (Selesho and Naile 2014). The best means of doing this lie in
allowing the employees to feel supported, fulfilled and satisfied in the role offered thereby
leaving room for growth. If fostering positive work environment of the employees does not
provide enough motivation, it is to be remembered that on an average close 200 percent of the
annual salary of the skilled employees lies in attracting and training newer individuals.
Literature Review of Employee Development with Examples:
According to Cascio (2014), employee development is one of the sought after benefits in
present day’s market for the talent. Latif, Jan and Shaheen (2013) discovered that the Millennial
who drives the employee market considers that jobs are opportunities of growing and learning. It
has been found that close to 59 percent of the Millennials puts across the importance of
opportunities of learning while applying a job. The numbers are however lower for the other
generations with 44 percent of GenX and 41 percent of the baby boomers have the similar
viewpoints regarding the opportunities. Besides, 87 percent of the Millennials and 69 percent of
the non- Millennials rates the development opportunities and the career growth as a key aspect of

7MANAGEMENT
the job(Rana 2015). Based on the demand, it makes a sense that the learning programs are
believed to enhance the employee engagement through retention, extension and productivity.
Employee retention is closer to 25 percent when the employees engaged in the company are
sponsored coaching and mentoring (Das and Baruah 2013). A survey conducted on closer to
2000 employees mostly comprising of the managers uncovered remarkable insight into the
power of the employee development in context of retention and engagement. Participants having
access to these programs have been 15 percent more involved in the jobs compared to the ones
without the similar opportunities. The survey however made it clear that there exist over 34
percent of employees is highly retained on being exposed to the development opportunities. 75
percent of the employees having the opportunities put across that they believe in staying with the
employees for an additional five years in comparison to the ones without the facilities (Aruna
and Anitha 2015). The report provides an example of three companies which have successfully
integrated the training and the development for the employee benefit.
1. Johnson & Johnson (J&J): J&J considered the top talent as one of the critical assets
of the organization. Therefore, it introduced the LeAD program which acted as greater examples
for the general managers in taking responsibilities for the development of the higher potential
(Ray, Williams and Wellins 2019). As the part of the J&J’s talent and organizational review
process, the company selects those managers who possess the capability of running the business
for the coming three years. The nine month long program aids the participants with the necessary
advice and a regular assessment put forward by the external coaches. During program the
participants the participants can be part of a growth project that includes newer product, business
model or service that would create value for the separate business units. The program evaluates

8MANAGEMENT
the progress of each candidate during leadership session held in the emerging markets of India,
China or Brazil for enhancing the global knowledge of the participants.
The graduates leave the LeAD with individual development plans for multi-year which
are reviewed periodically by the senior human resource leaders for additional development and
also ensure reassignment across corporation.
2. Hyatt Hotels Corporation: Hyatt has completely embraced the training of the
employees for a longer term. The company developed program through identification of the
potential leadership of the candidates from the existing workforce. The company put forward an
updated training program known as the “Change the Conversation” based on the principles that
emphasizes the aspect of listening. In this particular program, employees have been encouraged
in finding newer and creative ways of solving the problem and accomplishing the task on a day
to day basis.
Hyatt had immense trust in their own employees to the extent to which the source of the
newer hires comes from the recommendations posted through Employee Referral Program
(Nassar 2018). Its impact on the employee retention has been a remarkable phenomenon. It is to
be noted that an employee in the housekeeping stays on with Hyatt for over 12 years. Therefore,
it has been found that close to 14000 employees have worked with the company for over 10
years.
3. Amazon: This Company provides ample opportunities of development for closer to
closer to 250,000 employees across the world (Norberg 2017). The company offers month long
intensive and leadership program for hiring. It helps in preparing closer to 95 percent tuition for
the employees at the fulfillment centre for taking courses on the in-demand fields. The company

9MANAGEMENT
also has Virtual Contact Centre that trains the employees in working from home. This allows the
employees to remotely work and have better flexibility in the work life while ensuring that they
contribute to the growth of the organization.
Internal HR Policies and Management Practice of British Airways:
Selection and Recruitment of Employees:
British Airways closely monitors the recruitment for ensuring that it remains only
authorized when the company remains confident about the critical needs (Karatepe and
Vatankhah 2014). It can thus be concluded that British Airways follows balanced combination of
both the models for maintaining cost effectiveness and efficiency through careful hiring and the
training of the employees. The company however maintains self satisfaction and the benefit of
the workers through humanistic approach. According to the company’s fact book, it has been
claimed that British Airways places greater stress on the investment of the people. This
investment is considerable due to the effectiveness and might result in unjustifiable
consequences when not made as per the requirements.
The airline company focuses on the establishment of the effective recruitments and the
selection methods by particularly focusing on the development and training of the employees
which would result in a 5 percent increase in the labor cost. Bratton and Gold (2017) put forward
an argument that the organization increasingly focuses on the general values and the attributes
compared to the task based criteria. On the other hand, Lange et al. (2015) put across that the
fitness of the organization is often expressed in terms of flexibility, attributes, goals and
commitment instead of the ability of doing a particular job for which he or she has been

10MANAGEMENT
recruited. The general but the valuable attributes are considered as the organizational criteria.
The choice of the attributes depends on nature of the firm. In the case of British Airways, the
expanding nature and the massiveness of the organization requires the candidates with
adoptability, flexibility and an utmost professionalism.
Categories of Departments
To become accurate , the recruitment of the employees has been categorized functionally
across following departments:
Customer service: This department is responsible for the delivery of the on board
services for the customers. The employees of the department remained divided as the passenger
service and the cabin service. British Airways looks for the candidates who are over 18 years of
age and have experience in the customer service. In addition to this the candidates should also
have a warm and calm personality, effective ability of communication with the people from the
diverse cultures and the ability of working under the stress.
Commercial department: This department recruits people for alliance, sales, strategy
and marketing. The organization looks forward to the candidates having the ability of working in
dynamic and fast moving ambience with brilliant communication, planning, and organizational
skills for working in this particular sector. This department also looks forward to the experience
of the customer service as desired by selectors.
Technical Department: IT and E-business and the operations and the technical
department takes into account e-commerce, IT, e-procurement, e-working, pilots, flight training
and engineering that are working for the organization for coping with the technological

11MANAGEMENT
requirements for attaining success. The employees should therefore have creative and innovative
thinking with the ability of thinking beyond technology. Problem solving, negotiation and the
required qualification and experience in job are required.
Corporate Services: This includes the legal and health services, HR finance,
communication and PR, environment and secured community. This department is known for
committing and motivating the personnel having similar interest as objectives of the
organization. Standard qualification and experience is often required in the field.
Development and Career Management: At a time when a talent is a rare quality with
plentiful of external opportunities, the airline company believe that employees would stay in a
company provided there is a valuation for contribution. They would remain in the company till
the time they are able to give performance and does useful work in stimulating and challenging
the environment. Managers also hold the responsibility for the development of the subordinates
at the British Airways. Concern has been raised about the growth of the company. The process is
not working as fast as it requires especially around the development of the competencies for
various types of team within the company.
Kirton and Greene (2015) put forward that British Airways is able to develop lots of
courses for the employees and the staff. This involves providing with the opportunities of going
outside for learning. All the training and the development program depends on the dedication of
the firm for releasing and maximizing the potential of staffs belonging to the British Airways.
However, the presence of jobs across company it becomes harder in describing that every
initiative of development have been detailed below.