Analysis of HRM Practices at Millennium Hotels UK: A Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes HRM practices at Millennium Hotels UK.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICE SECTOR
1

Executive Summary
The report has been documented from the perspective of HR Management Trainee of
Millennium Hotel managing a number of midscale hotel properties in UK. Hotel Millennium
financial heads announced that the year 2017 witnessed great increase in revenue collection
from 2016 due to effective operational services. The report helps in assessing the present
state of employment relations within hospitality service sector of UK. In addition to this,
various employment laws that are affecting the human resources management in UK within
hospitality sector services have been studied in the report. Various selection and recruitment
procedures of employees for different organizations have been studied in this report.
Moreover, assessment of the training programs for betterment of employee efficiency of
Millennium Hotel has been examined in this report. From the report conducted it can be
summarized that HRM unit of Millennium Hotel has effective training programs to make the
employee skillful.
2

Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................4
LO1: Task 1..............................................................................................................................6
P1.1 Importance of human resource management (HRM) and analysis of roles and
purpose of human resource management in Hotel Millennium............................................6
P1.2 Development and Justification of HR plan based on supply-demand ratio of Hotel
Millennium Business.............................................................................................................8
LO2: Task 2............................................................................................................................10
P2.1 Assessment of present state of employment relations within service sector of UK...10
P2.2 Affect of Employment Laws on human resources management in UK......................11
LO3: Task 3............................................................................................................................12
P3.1 Identification of Job Title along with its role responsibilities and person specifications
............................................................................................................................................12
P3.2 Different selection and recruitment procedure of various services providing
organizations......................................................................................................................14
LO4: Task 4............................................................................................................................15
P4.1 Assessment of training and development function of Millennium Hotel along with its
contribution to effective business operations......................................................................15
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................17
Reference List........................................................................................................................18
Appendices............................................................................................................................19
3

Introduction
The report focuses on the importance of human resource management and the role it plays
in improving business strategies and activities of a hospitality company. Millennium Hotel is
a global hospitality service sector management business organization and a real estate
group with 120 hotels located all over Asia, Europe, Middle East, Australasia, and North
America. Millennium Hotel and resorts was established in the year 1972 based on the vision
of its Chairman, Kwek Leng Beng (Millenniumhotels.com, 2017). The headquarter of the
company is in London, UK and has found itself as a constituent of FTSE 250 Index and has
been named within the London Stock Exchange. At first, the company came into existence
as a Hong Leong subsidiary and CDL Hotels acquired its first 6 Asian Hotels. It entered into
the growth phase and to survive in the maturity and post-maturity phase bought Millennium
Gloucester Hotel London with 548 rooms in the year 1993. It later also acquired 13 hotel
chain in New Zealand and in 1996, it also bought Millennium Hotel London from
InterContinental. It also extended business venture into France and Germany in the year
1996 (Millenniumhotels.com, 2017).
The year 2011 marked two important events of asset management transactions that Hotel
Millennium performed and it involves selling and leasing of Studio M to CDLHT along with
selling of land properties. The revenue collection statistics show that Millennium Hotel
earned £ 1,008 million in the year 2017 that increased by 8.9% approximately from the year
2016 (Millenniumhotels.com, 2018). £ 926 was the annual revenue collection of the Hotel in
the year 2016 that also increased from £ 847 in the year 2015 (Millenniumhotels.com, 2017).
Hence, this shows that Hotel Millennium improved its service sector business services over
the years. The business model that Hotel adapts is that of expansion business strategy by
engaging in merging and acquisition of hotels.
4

Figure 1: Revenue Collection of Millennium Hotel
(Source: https://investors.millenniumhotels.com/~/media/Files/M/MillenniumHotels-IR/
documents/annual-reports/2017%20Annual%20Report.pdf)
In addition to this, Hotel Millennium also manages the assets profitably over a long period of
time. It focused on acquiring assets and make strategies that provide its shareholders with
maximum returns. The strategies in action for the year 2017 of Hotel Millennium were to
manage the change effectively that has been transforming the global hospitality service
sector. Hence, it is important for Hotel Millennium to manage its human resource effectively
5

as efficiency of hotels depends on their service staff effectivity (Millenniumhotels.com, 2018).
In order to manage the human resources, it is important to have a strong Human Resource
Management (HRM) team along with all effective training p[program in place to make the
employee skillful. Total equity of Hotel Millennium is £ 3,249m and it increased from
£3,170m earned in the year 2016. In the year 2017, Hotel Millennium invested in around 136
hotels on a global basis accounting to 39,402 rooms (Millenniumhotels.com, 2018).
LO1: Task 1
P1.1 Importance of human resource management (HRM) and analysis of roles
and purpose of human resource management in Hotel Millennium
The importance of HRM and the role they play with business setup of Hotel Millennium can
be stated in following manner:
Management of Work Schedule
The importance of human resource management unit (HRM) is immense within hospitality
industry as in accordance to The International Society of Hospitality Consultants, shortage of
skilled employees is one of major issues of hospitality industry. Hence, HRM unit needs to
manage the employees and service staffs of hotels in such a way that they get rest in
between long shifts, especially before taking overnight shifts. According to SHARMA and
Gursoy (2018), HRM unit manages satisfaction level of staff members of hotels such as that
of Millennium Hotel by providing flexible working hour shifts (Researchgate.net, 2014). This
is important to keep the service staffs free of fatigue and work stress as growth of hotel
service business depend son service efficiency and approach of hotel employees towards
their guests. Thus, HR managers play the role of managing the work schedule and allocating
service tasks of Hotel Millennium in such way that it does not stresses out any individual
staff so that his efficiency level drops.
Performance Assessment
HRM section of hotel business such as that of Millennium hotel plays an important role in
assessing the performance of hotel staffs. It helps in identification of weak links so that
proper training programs can be designed to improve certain skill sets. It also helps in
unbiased assessment of the staff members of Millennium Hotel for a promotion referral from
HR section as it based on merit, skill set, and performance appraisals.
Recruitment and Retention
One of the important functions of HRM team of a company is to identify workforce
requirements and conduct recruitment of human resources. It is also the concern of HRM
6

team of a company to formulate policies and initiate strategies to retain employees and
create a loyal employee base (Researchgate.net, 2013). This helps in decreasing the
absenteeism and employee turnover rate and it can be done by designing certain
performance and attendance incentives. HR managers have to think of strategies so that
employees get retained as a loyal human resource contributes to business growth. Similarly,
it is important for the HRM team of Millennium Hotel to design incentive structure so that
staffs remain satisfied as their services are required to give guests a soothing experience. It
is also the role of HRM team of Millennium Hotel to make the employees go through the
change process initiated by the hotel while acquiring hotels. According to SHARMA and
Gursoy (2018), this is of utmost essence since employees need to be communicated of such
business expansion policy and requirements of certain changes.
Formation of Pay Structure
HR individuals are bestowed with the responsibility of designing pay structure of an
organization. The HR team of the hotel performs responsibility of ensuring that employees
get payments in accordance with their skill sets and experience level. This helps in restoring
balance in between employee input and output they expect from the service business, Hotel
Millennium. An appropriate pay structure is important to maintain the workplace hygiene
factor in accordance with dual factor theory.
Liabilities
HRM unit along with its managers must ensure that Hotel Millennium abides by State and
Federal Employment Laws and to make sure that noncompliant employers face penalties
and lawsuits. In the opinion of Al-Tit (2016), HR team must ensure that in a hazardous
working condition such as that for hotel industry, staff members must be provided with
proper safety kit from certain fire. HRM of Millennium Hotel must take care that the
hospitality service business follows by principles of Occupational Safety and Health
Administration standards. HR team of the hotel makes sure that employers of the hotel
follow by National Labour Relations Act. [Refer to Appendix 1]
7

Figure 2: Role of HR Unit
(Source: Created by Author)
P1.2 Development and Justification of HR plan based on supply-demand ratio
of Hotel Millennium Business
The supply-demand chain of the hotel Millennium consists of requirements of hotel staffs in
order to provide hospitality services to its guests. HRM department of the hotel is bestowed
with the responsibility of knowing the number of staffs required in various operational
functions and business activities of Millennium. In the opinion of Al-Tit (2016), HR Manager
keeps a track of the performance of staff members and give promotion to them which
demand of supply of employee for filling a void created in the organizational structure.
The four stages of HRM planning involves forecasting of resources available, setting goals
and planning strategies, implementing the programs and evaluating the impact of these
plans on the organization. This requires formation of certain specific HR plans according to
which organization will work. The evaluation process of the employees and to determine
which employees to be promoted requires a definite HR plan. In addition to this, the plan
also requires estimating the number of hospitality staff members that will be required to
serve the guests on a regular basis. HR plan of Hotel Millennium can be developed in
following manner along with its justification:
8
Management
of Wok
Schedule
Performance
Assessment
Formation of
Pay Structure
Recruitment
and
Retention
Performance
Assessment
Liabilities

HR Plans Activities Justification
Increase Employee
Productivity
This can be done by giving
training to the employees
of Millennium Hotel to
increase their skill sets.
Training has to be given
after assessing the weak
links in operational units of
Millennium Hotel.
Employee productivity
needs to be assessed by
HR unit of a company and
design training sessions in
accordance with it. This
helps in maintaining
employee efficiency
Hire Resources This is done by designing
appropriate recruitment
process
Recruitment process of a
business organization must
be so designed that it
examines the skill sets of
the candidates and recruit
able applicants based on
merit
Reduce Employee
Turnover and Absenteeism
rate
This is achieved by
designing appropriate pay
structure and
compensation. HR team
needs to assess
performance and reward
staffs of Millennium Hotel
Employee Turnover Rate
and Absenteeism have to
reduced and this can be
done by satisfying
employees through
incorporating Dual Factor
Theory
Managing Resources in
accordance with demand
and supply
HR team of Millennium
Hotel must recruit staff
members in accordance
with requirements of
specific operational section
of the hotel so that
additional employee cost
can be avoided
Resources need to be
managed in accordance
with the requirements of
each section of the
company. This helps in
maintaining the overhead
charges required in running
business activities.
Provide suitable work
environment
This can be done by
developing a two-way
communication process in
This is required within a
hotel business such as that
of Millennium Hotel and
9

between different
operational hierarchy of
Millennium Hotel
can be provided through
encouraging employees
and staff members to share
their ideas and business
plans.
Table 1: Development and Justification of HR Plan for Millennium Hotel
(Source: Created by Author)
LO2: Task 2
P2.1 Assessment of present state of employment relations within service
sector of UK
It has been assessed that size of hotel establishments in UK have been an influential factor
in considering the employee relations that they tend to maintain. It has observed within
hospitality service sector of UK that larger hotels such as Millennium Hotel recruit managers
in HR department with specific roles and responsibilities of maintaining personnel and
employment issues. The state of employment relations has changed over the pan of 30
years as previously there are no rigid HRM structure governing employee relations. the This
has been seen in between 80% of the service sector establishments having more than 75
rooms and the rate of maintaining an effective employee relation decreases to 20% for
hotels with rooms less than 75. In accordance with Noe et al. (2017), it has been seen that
large size hotels are also concerned with skill shortages of employees and tends to interact
with them in a two-way communication process. This helps them to assess the shortcomings
in skill sets of employees and arrange training sessions so that they can be improved. It
helps in increasing employee confidence and leads to a better management of employee
relations for service sectors of UK.
It has been seen as a trend in large size hotels of UK that they use numerical flexibility in
order to manage the labor supply and employ part-time working style. This is unlike casual
employment and helps in maintaining flexibility mode as per requirements of the staff
members. This proves the fact that service sectors of UK are making efforts to maintain
healthy employee relationship through having a permanent workforce that is flexible in
nature. Within the hospitality service sectors of UK, it has been observed that managerial
heads adapt informal style of communication for employees. In accordance with Noe et al.
(2017), they tend to do it following ad hoc mode of communication and hence indicated that
there exists low degree of authoritarianism in hotel management sector of UK. This tends to
10

improve the employment relations as it involves a consultative approach that increases
participation of employees in essential decision-making process concerning the organization.
However, there exists a ‘crude’ two-tier structure for hotel industry in UK as most of the
small-scale hotels does not seem to pay importance to maintenance of employee relations.
On contrary, larger hotel structure such as that of Millennium Hotel appears to be more
progressive and take initiations in applying employee relations (Researchgate.net, 2014).
This is indicated in the fact that only 5% of independent hotels employs personnel taking
care of employment relations in comparison to 40% of hotels that are part of a larger
organization employing employee relation maintenance personnel. It can be interpreted that
the approach style of a hotel to employee relationship management is a function of the
location in which it is located along with condition of labor market. A formal approach to
maintenance of employee relations exists within the east end of the UK region which is
mainly away from tourism-based sectors of Cornwall and Devon.
P2.2 Affect of Employment Laws on human resources management in UK
The effects of Employment Laws on Human Resources Management in UK can be
summarized in the following manner:
 In accordance to the Employment Rights Act 1996, employers of a business
organization such as that of Millennium Hotel must provide staff member and
employees written statements and contract regarding employability. This
responsibility is bestowed on the HR department of the organization and hence they
need to mention terms and conditions of working hours, parental leave and abide by
the law.
 HR managers takes care of the fact that staff members and labor force of UK receive
the standard national minimum wage on basis of per working hour. This accounts to
GBP 5.80 for age group above 22 years old and apprentices under age of 19 are not
entitled to the condition of minimum wage. Hence, Employment Laws affects HR
section as it has to design the pay scale in accordance with the standard market rate
of UK (Researchgate.net, 2014). HR team has to abide by the National Minimum
Wage Act of 1988 in order to pay minimum wages to staff members on weakly basis.
 HR section of service sectors of UK in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 have to
abide by three fundamental European Union Directives. In the opinion of Nasurdin et
al. (2016), it prohibits any act of discrimination towards staff members during their
employment tenure or in the recruitment process. This Act prevents HR team from
being biased in recruiting, giving promotional or termination letter and also
compensation based on employee performance.
11

 There are other Acts such as Race Relations Act 1976, Disability Discrimination Act
1955 and Equal Pay Act 1970 that governs the steps of HR section and helps in
maintaining proper law and order in service business sector. HR of hospitality and
service sectors have to provide 26 weeks of maternity leave to which employees of
UK are entitled to. Hr section of UK based companies has to show redundancies
when they cannot afford employability of certain staff members. The HR team in
accordance with Working Time Regulations of 1988 have to give employees a 5.6-
week paid holiday on an annual basis.
LO3: Task 3
P3.1 Identification of Job Title along with its role responsibilities and person
specifications
The selected service industry is that of hotel sector and the business organization is
Millennium Hotel. The job title that has been chosen is that of HR Manager and the job
description can be stated in the following manner:
Designing of Recruitment Process
The HR manager requires to design recruitment process for selecting staff members within a
hotel in order to maintain desired organizational productivity. In accordance with Santoro
(2017), the HR manager is bestowed with responsibility of publishing vacancy
advertisements along with designing appropriate recruitment process so that skill sets of the
candidates are examined properly. This is important from the perspective of Hotel
Millennium as it ensures efficient services to guests of the hotel. [Refer to Appendix 2]
12