Analysis of HRM Functions, Recruitment and Employee Relations at LV=

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within LV=, a leading UK financial services company. It begins by defining HRM and identifying its core functions, such as recruitment and training, within the context of LV=. The report then examines how these functions relate to workforce planning and resourcing, highlighting their importance to the organization's success. A critical evaluation of LV='s recruitment and selection process is included, exploring its strengths and weaknesses. The report further delves into the creation of a person specification, CV reviews, and competency-based questions for a Personal Assistant role. Additionally, it addresses learning and development opportunities, rewards and benefits, employee relations, leadership's role, and UK employment legislation. The report concludes with a synthesis of the findings and provides relevant references.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ACTIVITY 1....................................................................................................................................1
a) Explains what HRM is and identifies the functions of HRM within LV...........................1
b) Assesses how these functions relate to workforce planning and resourcing within LV and
therefore its importance to the organization...........................................................................2
c) Critically evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of LV=’s Recruitment and Selection
process....................................................................................................................................2
ACTIVITY 2....................................................................................................................................5
a) Create a person specification..............................................................................................5
b) Review the CVs provided from the three job applicants for the role of Personal Assistant6
c) Produce at least six competency-based questions..............................................................7
ACTIVITY 3....................................................................................................................................8
a) Learning and development opportunities for staff, from both an organisation and staff
perspective..............................................................................................................................8
b) Rewards and benefits provided by LV= to its staff, from both an organisation and staff
perspective..............................................................................................................................9
ACTIVITY 4..................................................................................................................................10
a) Explains what is meant by the term employee relations and why is so important for LV= to
have effective employee relations?......................................................................................10
b) Critically evaluates the role of leadership, as defined by LV= on its website, in maintaining
effective employee relations within the organisation...........................................................11
c) Identifies the key elements of UK employment legislation.............................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is considered as the strategic procedures by which
efficacious workforce management is maintained into firm. This mainly aids in developing a
competitive advantage for longer period. It focuses upon managing the individuals in
organisation and also emphasizing upon systems as well as policies (Bamberger, Biron and
Meshoulam, 2014). Moreover, it assists in attaining organisational objectives timely through
developing positive attitude among staff. According to the scenario, the chosen company for this
report LV=, which is the largest friendly society in UK. It is developed in year 1843 and
facilitates board range of financial services such as pensions, life insurance and investment
products. Also, it have above 5.8 million consumers and 5500 employees within 14 offices in all
over UK. This report covers explanation of HRM, its functions, strengths and weaknesses of
recruitment and selection procedures, person specification, CV's, and formulation of competency
based questions. Moreover, learning and development opportunities for staff, benefits and
rewards facilitated through firm, employee relation and its importance and role of leadership are
explained. Apart from this, the key element of UK employment legislation are also discussed in
this report.
ACTIVITY 1
a) Explains what HRM is and identifies the functions of HRM within LV
Definition of HRM
Human resource management is defined as the part of company which is related with the
dimensions of individuals. Moreover, this is concerned with recruiting, encouraging as well as
maintaining personnel within company. It deals with problems associated to staff like hiring,,
training, development communication and others.
Functions and activities of HRM
There are various function and activities of human resource management such as training
a development, managing employee relation and many others. Some of the HRM functions that
are performed in LV= are discussed below:
Recruitment: It is considered as the essential function and activities of HRM as this is the
system of grabbing the attention, assessing and recruiting employees for organisation (Bratton
and Gold, 2017). The main intent of this particular functions is to attract talented and skilful
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applicants and encourage the unqualified one to prefer itself out. With the assistance of this
HRM function, human resource manager of LV=can hire the proficient personnel in efficacious
as well as appropriate manner.
Training and development: It is also known as the one of the significant HRM activities and
functions as training and development assists them to provides sessions as well as programmes
related to this to its workers at continuous basis. This aids LV= to enhance the skills and
knowledge of their staff so that they can able to perform in effective and efficient way fro
attaining organisational objectives.
b) Assesses how these functions relate to workforce planning and resourcing within LV and
therefore its importance to the organization
Workforce Planning
This is defined as the procedures of aligning the requirements of personnel within
company as well as deploying by performing the procedures of recruitment effectively and
efficiently (Cascio, 2015). This aids LV= in filling the vacancy as per the needs of skills and
knowledge required for performing the work into company in efficacious manner.
 Recruitment: As this is known as the essential function of human resources management
in LV= because with the help of this they can able to attract more number of personnel
and accomplish the vacant post effectively and efficiently.
 Training and development: This functions and activities of human resource
management facilitates their staff an effective knowledge as well as develop their skills in
efficient way. moreover, this aids LV= to retain their workforce for the longer duration
which is crucial for company as they will not lose any proficient employees.
c) Critically evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of LV=’s Recruitment and Selection process
Recruitment: This is the procedures to identify, hire as well as eventually on-board jobs
candidates. Moreover, this involves the whole hiring process from inception to people recruit's
integration into firm. In respect of LV=, they are using the following two process:
Internal: This is considered as the recruitment procedures the staff get hired from inside
organisation (Chelladurai, and Kerwin, 2018). Herein, opportunities are provided to the person
who is the part of company. LV=can recruit candidates from their existing staff through
performing promotion and transfer. Its strengths and weaknesses are discussed below:
Strengths:
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 This help staff to obtain opportunity to acquire higher position which enhance its
morale and make them feel valuable. This inspire them to perform its accountabilities
in efficient way.
 As staff are hired through internal sources so this will save time and money.
Weakness:
 In this recruitment process, there are limited number of candidates that also shows
that there is less talent that leads towards reduced innovation into firm.
External: This is the procedures which is involved in recruitment of apt candidates from
outside company. LV= can recruit staff from external sources through advertising on social
media and newspaper, recruitment and employment agencies and many others. For brining
innovation into operations which are performing through respective organisation will leads
towards profitable outcomes. The strengths and weakness are as follows:
Strength
 With the help of this LV= will has pool of talents as well as they can able to find best
among them according to their job profile requirements. by this, they can obtained
talented as well as proficient staff effectively and efficiently.
Weaknesses:
 This is the essential process but the cost incurred while performing this procedure is
higher. Moreover, this is time consuming as it is tough to select talented candidates
according to requirements.
Selection Methods: This is considered as the procedures of short-listing the proficient
candidates with the crucial qualification as well as skills set for fulfilling the vacancies into
company (Cowling and Mailer, 2013). This procedure varies from company to company as well
as even amongst division of similar organisation. So, some of the methods used in LV= are
discussed below:
 Telephonic Interview: This is considered as the selection method which is often
organised through HR manager at the initial interview round. This allows an employer to
screen candidates on their experiences, knowledge as well as salary expectations
pertaining to the position and firm. In LV= is method is using so that they get to know
about the candidates in better manner by asking few key questions and competency based
questions. its strengths and weakness are:
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Strengths:
 This method is saves time as well as cost effective in comparison to face to face interview
as it can be performed at a single phone call.
 This interview can be conducted across the world without spending more money.
Weaknesses:
 By this methods respective organisation cannot able to observed the candidate’s attitudes
as well as body languages.
 In this methods, candidates answer the call but can hand up any time if they are not
interested.
Face to face interview: This is considered as the data accumulation methods when an
interviewer directly communicates with respondent in accordance with prepared questionnaire
(DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016). It will aid firm to obtain factual information and many
more information that comes out during conversation with candidates. In LV= face to face
interview is included in their selection procedures as this help them to know about the
candidate’s attitudes and their facial expressions. its strengths and weaknesses are mentioned
below:
Strengths:
 With the assistance of this, they can able to know about the body languages as well as
facial expressions in more clear manner.
 Moreover, this aids respective organisation to perform more accurate screening.
Weaknesses:
 Its major weakness is that it is costlier as this needs staff to conduct interviews that means
there will be workforce cost.
 Also, this is more time consuming methods.
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ACTIVITY 2
a) Create a person specification
Person Specification: A detailed description of the education and qualifications, knowledge,
skills, experience and other attributes according to the selection criteria that an applicant must
have to perform the job responsibilities is known as Personal specification (Haslberger, Brewster
and Hippler, 2013). The specification should be derived from the job description and forms the
foundation for the recruitment process. A person specification for the job of personal assistant in
LV= company is as given below:
Education and Qualification:
 The person must be able to present an excellent level of general education of GCSE
standards in English and Mathematics.
 The person must have the advance knowledge of IT skills in Micro Soft Office and RSA
word processing.
 The applicant should have NVQ level 3 knowledge or equivalent or must have
willingness to learn and get trained.
Experience and Knowledge:
 The individual should have at least 1 year of previous experience of personal assistance.
 He/she should acquire appropriate level of security awareness, confidentiality awareness
and data protection.
Ability and Skills:
 The person must be effective and courteous when handling with people, able to
communicate effectively at all levels and exchanges information in a tactful and
diplomatic manner.
 Regularly demonstrates a positive attitude and is customer focused ensuring that the
needs of our customers are maintained and managed appropriately.
 Have the ability to arrange the meetings and conferences, inviting people, contribute
positively in meeting and handle the pressure.
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b) Review the CVs provided from the three job applicants for the role of Personal Assistant
After deciding the person specification and analysing job description, the HR management is
able to design and placing a job advertisement which is given below:
Personal Assistant Job Ref. 7584
LV= organization, one of the leading company of the nation in insurance sector, is looking for
dynamic Personal assistant for the president of London office.
An experienced Personal Assistant, you will have to ensure that president has excellent support
that enable him to concentrate on high-level administrative issues and business development.
You should have the flexibility of working in dynamic environment and multi-tasking ability,
friendly attitude and excellent communication skills.
You must have:
1 year experience in the field
Exceptional computer literacy
highly developed organizational skills
Ability to work in tight deadlines
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
With an effective job advertisement, the HR of the selected company is able to publish this
advertisement and attract the candidates with the help of technology and advance platforms
(Hoye and et. al., 2018). Management is able to develop an effective management information
system and recruit the people on a huge base by utilizing current social media, online resources
and digital platform. The process that has been followed by the HR management to recruit the
applicants is mentioned below:
Step 1: Identify the hiring needs: the company needs support and assistance for the
president at London office to reduce his work load.
Step 2: Prepare a job description: According to the work requirement and working
environment, a detailed job description was developed.
Step 3: Talent search: The HR management takes the help of online and offline resources
to find out the potential candidates for the respective job.
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Step 4: Screening and short listing: Screening and short listing is the most difficult stage
of recruitment. On the basis of job description and personal specification, management have
short listed 3 applicants' C.V. For the next step.
Step 5: Interviewing: The shortlisted candidates are called for the interview in which their
interpersonal skills, qualification and competency has been checked. Some of the questions that
has been asked from the applicants are:
Step 6: Selection and offer of employment: with the help of the interview and other
selection processes, management decided to select the person named 'Sandra Besgrove' because
the applicant is having adequate work experience, appropriate educational qualifications and
required skills. In the interview, the individual has also shown the competency required for
handling the work pressure and excellent communication skills
c) Produce at least six competency-based questions
Competency based questions are considered as the interview questions which needs candidates to
facilitates real examples as the basis of its answer. in this candidates have to describe why they
formulated certain decisions, how they executed these decisions as well as why certain results
take place (Meyers, Van Woerkom and Dries, 2013). As in LV= interview is conducted for the
personal assistance so some competency based question are asked in its face to face interview
that are discussed below:
1. What has been your most crucial achievements till now?
2. Can you give an example about any positive changes which you have done into
previous company?
3. How to you handle the multiple priorities with an example?
4. Can you give me an example of a time that you had worked with difficult individuals
as well as also tell me how you deal with that situation?
5. Will you give me an example of tough task you have performed and how you achive
success?
6. Can you give me an example yours great consumer services at previous in yours
previous time?
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ACTIVITY 3
a) Learning and development opportunities for staff, from both an organisation and staff
perspective
Difference between training and development
Staff training and development is considered as an indispensable part of human resource
management. both are intent at developing worker’s productivity as well as performance.
training is considered as the session conducted through company for developing skills as well as
knowledge according to job requirements (Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez, 2018). whereas
development is defined as an organised activity where the personnel of firm learn and grow as
well. The difference are discussed below:
Basis Training Development
Definition It is considered as the learning
procedures where workers
obtain an opportunity to
improve ist competencies and
skills according to job profile.
It is an educational procedures
that is related with whole staff
improvement.
Aim The main aim of this to
develop the working
performance of its staff.
The main aim of this to
prepare staff for the future
challenges.
Types of training
There are various types of training which is provided to the staff members for their
development as well as growth. some kinds of training that is provided by LV= are discussed
below:
Induction or orientation training: In this training, new employees are introduced with
company’s environment comprising regular operations rules, policies, regulation as well as the
product and services they are dealing with. the main objective of this particular training is to
minimise nervousness of new staff through making them accustom to work atmosphere. This is
also called the orientation training that means providing fair knowledge to new joinee regarding
what he is supposed to perform within company (Noe and et. al., 2017). This help LV= new staff
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to understand the company’s culture, system and other in effective and efficient manner so that
they can able to perform in profitable way for attaining organisational objectives.
 Job Training: This training considered as the job specific as well as is provided to staff
who have to perform that work. Within this training, the information regarding the
product as well as services they are dealing with and other are described. With the help of
this LV=, the staff improve the confidence as well as crucial skills which allows them to
do their job in effective and efficient way.
Flexible working option
In modern organisation like LV=, flexible working option is considered as the working
programmes that allows workers to have more changeable schedule against standards working
timings. Moreover, this provides an alternative approach to getting work done by non-traditional
working hours, areas or job frameworks (Nyberg and et. al., 2014). Organisation facilitates this
options to accomplish the task while promoting balance among work as well as personal
commitments and can outcomes in more productive and healthy working environment. It will be
beneficial for respective organisation and employees and it leads towards maximisation of job
satisfaction within staff members. few types of flexible working options are work from home,
flex time, compressed work week and others.
Benefits for LV= Benefits for staff
 This help company to leads towards
profit as well as productivity of
company.
 This aids respective organisation to
cultivate long term staff that develop an
maximising skills about their
enterprises.
 It aids employees to reduce its
overheads expenditures.
 This assists them to feel relaxed as well
as do the task with full efficiencies.
b) Rewards and benefits provided by LV= to its staff, from both an organisation and staff
perspective
Reward is considered as an incentive plan to reinforce the expected behaviours of staff or
employers as well as in return of its services to the company. The aim of providing rewards is to
grab the attention, maintain as well as retain talented, high performed as well as motivated staff.
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Benefits are defined as the perks provided to staff other than salary. the rewards and benefits
provided by LV= are Health insurance, life insurance, pension plan, performance bonus, family
medical leave, reduced or flexible hours, GYM membership, free lunch or snacks and many
others. Thus, this will be beneficial for both company and staff as well that are discussed below:
Benefits for LV= Benefits for staff
 This helps respective organisation to
keep their employees satisfied perform
so that they will perform in profitable
manner and attain productivity.
 Also, this aids them to retain talent
employees effectively and efficiently.
 This is beneficial for staff as it makes
them feel motivated and encouraged.
 lso, this enhance staff morale and
career growth.
ACTIVITY 4
a) Explains what is meant by the term employee relations and why is so important for LV= to
have effective employee relations?
Employee relation
This is defined as an efforts of company in order to develop as well as maintaining
positive relation among staff and mangers at work area. Moreover, this can be also referring that
firm develop healthy staff relationships at job then they will facilitate fair treatment to whole
personnel that maximises its satisfaction as well as loyalty level (Schmoldt and et. al., 2013). In
context of LV=, this can be considered that it is important for their human resource manager of
respective organisation to concentrate upon maintaining healthy performance can be developed
at job area. This have been examined that positive staff relationship is crucial for organisational
growth. It is so, this provides advantages to firm by which its objectives can be accomplished in
faster way that maximises its profit in effectual at work area. Also, this influence the decision
making of company appropriately and properly.
Strategies for building and improving employee relation and engagement
Some strategies that LV= can used for building as well as developing staff relation and
engagement are discussed below:
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