HRM Practices and Employee Relations: Next Plc Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at Next Plc, a British multinational retailer. It begins by outlining the purpose and functions of HRM in workforce planning and resourcing, emphasizing the importance of aligning workforce capabilities with business objectives. The report then examines the strengths and weaknesses of different recruitment and selection approaches, including internal promotions, transfers, advertisements, and employment agencies. It evaluates the benefits of various HRM practices for both employers and employees, focusing on fostering a positive work culture, training and development, employee motivation, and retention. Furthermore, the report assesses the impact of HRM practices on organizational profit and productivity, highlighting the importance of employee relations and the influence of HRM decision-making. Finally, the report identifies key elements of employment legislation and their effects on HRM decisions, illustrating the application of HRM practices in work-related contexts with specific examples. The report concludes by summarizing the critical role of HRM in achieving organizational success at Next Plc.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Explain the purpose and function of HRM applicable to workforce planning and
resourcing an organisation......................................................................................................3
P2 Explain the strength and weakness of different approaches to recruitment and selection.5
Task2................................................................................................................................................8
P3 Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the
employer and employee..........................................................................................................8
P4 Evaluate the different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational profit and
productivity...........................................................................................................................10
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................11
P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing the HRM decision
making..................................................................................................................................11
P6 Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM
decision making....................................................................................................................12
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................13
P7 Illustrate the application of HRM practices in work-related context , using specific
examples...............................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource is term which is used to define a “people” which together form a work
force of an organisation. Human resources management is concerned with effective management
of work force within an organisation to improve the their productivity and performance so that
jointly they can work in a goal-oriented direction(Lee, 2019). Activities of human resource
management majorly focus on recruiting, selecting, orientation,training and development,
performance appraisal, managing rewards and compensation, motivating employees, maintaining
healthy relationship with employees and trade unions, along with ensuring safety and security of
employees. People in the organisation is the most valuable assets and organisation aims success
and growth with the growth and development of its workforce. Next Plc or Next is a British retail
multinational public limited company, headquartered at Enderby, England. Joseph Hepworth laid
the foundation in the year 1864, offering clothing, footwear and home products. This report
covers a purpose, functions of HRM, Strength and weakness of different approaches to
recruitment and selection and benefits of HRM practices and its effectiveness.
Task 1
P1 Explain the purpose and function of HRM applicable to workforce planning and resourcing
an organisation.
Overview of Next Plc
Next PLC was founded in the 1864 by Joseph Hepworth as a tailor under the title of
Joseph Hepworth & Sons. ,with the headquarter in Enderby, England. It is a British multinational
company offering the products majorly in three segments, clothing, home, and footwear. Next is
operating in an around 700 different location all over the world, out of 500 are in United
Kingdom and 200 are across Asia, Europe and middle east. Next Plc have succeeded a giant firm
Marks & Spencer in terms of sales revenue in the year 2012 and 2014. Hepworth & Sons. was in
partnership with James Rhodes but got dissolve in 1872 and emerged as a different entity.
Mission Statement
Next Plc's mission statement is to provide its customers exceptional quality of products
with appealing designs which derive a outstanding value that matches their needs and
expectations.
Meaning of HRM

Human Resource management encompasses acquiring and managing the work force
within an organisation and provide them a proper training and development in order to make
better use of their knowledge, skills, abilities and potentiality, for effectively contributing
towards achievement of business objectives(Han and et. al., 2019).
Objectives of HRM
 Work culture :- One of the main objective of Human Resource management is to
promote a healthy work culture within an organisation. People in a positive environment
works effectively and efficiently. Maintaining and promoting healthy and transparent
relations among the team members is a good approach to adopt.
 Training and development :- Another important aspect of HRM is to conduct and
impart proper training to its employees so as to increase their productivity and
performance within an organisation.
 Employee motivation :- HRM aims at keeping the morale of employees always high and
avoiding negative vibes and distractions. Employee recognition with the help of appraisal
programmes is better approach to keep the workforce motivated.
 Employee Retention :- HRM practices broadly focuses on strengthening the skills and
abilities of an each employee so that satisfaction level among the employees increases.
Employee with high satisfaction level is more likely to stay with company and contribute
towards reducing the employee turnover rate(Ferraris, Erhardt and Bresciani,2019).
Purpose of HRM
 Recruitment & Selection :- The sole purpose of HRM is to fill a work force gap in an
organisation. Managers identify the need to hire and engage people in an organisation to
achieve its objective.
 Compensation Management :- To provide fair and adequate compensation and benefits
to the employees is another main purpose of HRM. HRM ensures that each and every
employee is treated equally(Cooper and et. al., 2019).
 Performance management :- HRM practices ensures that the performance of each
employee is evaluated on a regular basis to check whether their efforts are in align with
organisation objectives or not.
Functions of HRM

Functions of HRM have a broad scope which include the activities ranging from, hiring
of personnel to fulfil the needs of additional staff, to make the final settlement of people leaving
an organisation.
Managerial functions :- Human resource management constitute a large part of management
and it has to perform some of the managerial functions with regards to people. The managerial
functions are planning, organising, directing, and controlling the activities concerned with the
HR department.
 Managerial functions starts with planning which is concerned with identifying the current
and future needs of the personnel required to accomplish organisational goals.
Anticipating vacancies, planning related to job requirement, job description and the
sources of recruitment and selection.
 Organising function is concerned with placing a right candidate in a right job with a right
set of skills and knowledge so as to maximise the productivity. Directing functions in HRM is related with guiding and motivating the workforce at
different level to work willingly and effectively towards the common goal of the Next
Plc.
Operative functions :- Operative functions in the management deals with the employment,
development, integration, compensation and maintenance of people within Next Plc. These
functions are explained below :
 Recruitment and hiring : This functions deals with attracting a pool of prospective
candidates and picking up the right one with required set of skills and abilities.
 Training and development : This aspect is concerned with providing new set of skills and
knowledge to the workforce so as to improve the efficiency of their work.
 Salary administration : HRM is also responsible for determining the fair and adequate
pay to the employees on regular basis along with attractive compensation and benefits.
P2 Explain the strength and weakness of different approaches to recruitment and selection.
Recruitment
Recruitment can be defined as process in which organisation search and encourage
individual to apply for a job to fill a vacant job position. Recruitment is done when a employer
need to develop and maintain adequate number of workforce within an organisation. From a pool

of candidates company choose the one which best suits for a particular job position. While
conducting recruitment Next Plc opt for various sources to hire a suitable candidate.
Internal sources :- Searching a candidate within an organisational structure is termed as
recruitment through internal sources. These can be done by transfers, promotion or employee
referrals(Lee and et. al., 2019).
 Promotions :- This is one of the best method to fill a vacant position at higher level.
Promotion is concerned with changing a job position of an employee with higher pay,
more responsibilities and better prestige. This helps in retaining the potential talent
within an Next Plc.
 Transfers :- Transfers is referred as filling of a vacant job position by transferring a
candidate from one location to another or from one department to another. This method
neither increase the level of pay nor roles and responsibilities.
External Sources :- Attracting a pool of candidate by means of advertisements, educational
institute, employment exchange etcetera (Roscoe and et. al., 2019).
 Advertisement :- Advertisement is the widely used method to attract a talented
workforce. In advertisement Next Plc mention the requisite skills and abilities required
to fill a job position.
 Employment agencies :- The role of employment agencies is to scrutinize the number of
applicants and select and shortlist a suitable candidate for Next Plc. These agencies
maintain a strong data base and plays role of mediator between an applicants and
organisation.
Strength Weakness
 Recruitment with the help of internal
sources doest not incurs a huge amount
of cost.
 Next Plc use this method to encourage
employee's motivation and
performance. Promotion within
organisation is best way of appraising
employee's performance.
 Inability to attract new young talents
who can work even better as compared
to existing workforce.
 Considering candidates from a
employee referral may give rise to the
nepotism which can ruin the image of a
Next Plc.
Selection

Selection is a method to choose a suitable candidate with requisite set of skills and
knowledge to perform a job. There are various methods through which Next Plc carry a selection
process(Barrena-Martinez, López-Fernández and Romero-Fernández, 2019).
 Interviews :- In order to select appropriate candidate Next Plc conduct a face to face
interview during which a series of questions are asked by a interviewer to have better
understanding of individual abilities and capabilities. This is the most appropriate method
widely used in order to evaluate the knowledge and expertise of an individual. HR
manager pose a series of question which is related with the education and family
background, work experience, communication ability, social skills, mental ability and
personality.
 Testing :- This method is commonly used by Next Plc in order to select a suitable
candidate from a diverse pool of applicants. These test may be a psychometric or aptitude
test to check one's abilities and which delivers a immediate results. These tests are useful
in measuring the skills, ability, knowledge and other aspects including personality
features of an individual. Cognitive tests, personal test, drug test, integrity test and
physical tests are distinct types of tests which is conduced by Next Plc for evaluating
strength and weakness, in various aspects.
 Gathering information : This method of selection process deals with collecting and
evaluating the information of a prospective candidate from different sources like
biographical data, checking references, application forms and curriculum vitae. This
method is essential in having a clear sight of the skills, capabilities, education
background and work experience in order to fill a vacant job position.
Strength Weakness
 Selection process helps in identifying
and acquiring a right talent.
 With the help of various test
preliminary screening can be done
which can result in save in money and
time.
 Online tests are less beneficial as
compared to personal interviews as the
candidate sometimes are not honest
with the test.
 Personal interview should not be basis
to identify one's abilities and skills as
not everyone is perfect.
Approaches to recruitment and selection :

Majorly there are two types approaches which are followed by Next Plc in recruitment
and selection which are mentioned below : Competency based approach :Under this kind of approach Next Plc put emphasis on the
core competencies required by an individual along with importance of each competency
required in order to perform a task or job role. The purpose of Next Plc through this kind
of approach is to have a flexible worker who can perform task based on their skills and
abilities rather than a having a job specified work. Unlike the traditional one,
Competency based approach gives an insight about the roles, responsibilities and
functions of associate with the task or job an individual need to perform.
 Traditional based approach : The traditional approach of recruitment and selection is
based on using job description and job specification. Here with this approach Next Plc
identifies the candidate which suits best to these criteria. Job specifications states the
minimum education, experience, and other requirements required to be an eligible
candidate for the job. Whereas job descriptions states the duties and responsibilities
needed to execute work activities. Selection and recruitment process of Next Plc through
this approach focus on the knowledge and personal skills of an candidate rather than a
competencies and professional skills.
Task2
P3 Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organisation for both the employer
and employee.
Human Resource Management practices
Recruitment and selection :- One of the major practice of HRM is recruitment and selection
apart from employee development, employee engagement and data management. Recruitment is
concerned with attracting a pool of candidates with required knowledge, skills, abilities and
experience to execute a particular job within an organisation. Next Plc adopt a various ways in
order to get application from a potential candidate(Pham, Tučková and Jabbour, 2019).
Company can opt for the internal source which are transfers, promotions to higher-level position,
and employee's referral. This method is useful for the company as it reduces the employee
turnover rate. Another source is external which includes advertisements, employment agencies,
educational institutes or government institutions. After getting a pool of candidates selection

process starts in which a screening of a eligible and desired candidate is conducted. Selection
process will determine which employees are eligible and can join hands with the company to
work for the success and growth of both, employers and employees.
 Benefits to employees:- Effectiveness of recruitment and selection will determine the
overall productivity of a work force. Getting a right candidate with a certain skills and
knowledge help employee in executing its work with ease and convenience(Singh and
et. al., 2020) (Yong, and et. al., 2020).
 Benefits to employers:- Selecting right candidate for the Next Plc helps in developing
the effective workforce. Well planned and skilled workforce puts their efforts
collectively in increasing the performance and profitability of an organisation.
Compensation and benefits :- Compensation and benefits is one of the important practice in
Human resource management of Next Plc. Next Plc pay a fair and adequate compensation to its
employee considering the responsibilities of their job which boosts the satisfaction level among
the employees. Compliance with minimum wages helps the Next Inc in getting competitive edge
over others(Yong and et. al., 2019). Designing and development of attractive compensation and
benefit plans stimulates the workforce of an organisation to work towards increasing the
performance of an organisation. Employee want their efforts to be recognised and appraised at
each and every level which helps them to understand their weakness and strengths. Next plc
praise and applaud the efforts of their employees with the help of employee recognition
programmes which is conducted on a regular basis.
 Benefits to employees :- Awards, recognition, benefits and fair remuneration helps to
boosts the employee's motivation and encourage them for further learning and
development.
 Benefits to employers :- Employers decide and pay to their employees based on their
performance and skills. Next Plc have designed and implemented the employee's
appraisal programmed with the help of which performance of work force is evaluated
and on the basis of their performance required training and compensation is provided.
This contribute in increasing profitability and productivity of employees.

P4 Evaluate the different HRM practices in terms of raising organisational profit and
productivity.
HRM plays a significant role in Next Plc in various aspects ranging from planning to
building its image. Human resource is the face of an organisation and it is imperative to conduct
a efficient HRM practices (Armstrong and Taylor, S., 2020). As discussed above one of the most
important HRM practice are :
Recruitment & Selection. Recruitment is done when there is lack of workforce in Next Plc in
order to maintain a sufficient number of employees to carry out the operational activities. Hiring
a talented and skilled workforce help Next Plc in aligning the abilities and potentialities of the
work force with organisational objective which leads to the enhancement of productivity of the
employees. Selecting and hiring a appropriate candidate with desired set of skills and expertise
gives its cent percent to the work, therefore highly productive and satisfied employee is more
likely to stay with the company. However, getting an candidate from external sources result in a
huge amount of investment as Next plc makes an investment in conducting orientation, training
and development programme to help the new employee get acquainted with working
environment, policies and norms. One of major advantage of having best HR practices is that it
increases the ability of Next Plc to innovate through skills, expertise and efforts of an employees.
Compensation and benefits plays a huge role in motivating the employees and improves its
performance. Next plc provides fair and equitable remuneration to its employees which helps the
company to maintain and build strong image (Rahmanniyay and Yu, 2019). Adhering with the
minimum wages and working conditions, Next plc can have a competitive edge over other and as
a result of this employees are satisfied and contribute their efforts in increasing the profitability
and productivity of a company.
Next Plc also conduct a employee recognition programme which gives a sense to its employees
that their efforts are being recognised and appreciated. An effective HRM practice of Next plc
designs and develop a attractive benefit and compensation plans for the efforts of their
employees. Compensation and benefits acts as a motivational factor for encouraging the
employees to work towards the attainment of organisational goals. Having said that, in order to
have a well structured compensation plan Next Plc have to evaluate the performance of
employees on a regular basis which help the Next Plc in identifying the strengths and weakness
of an employee that in turn contribute towards increasing the productivity. Unstructured and

inefficient employee appraisal programmes have a impact over productivity and profitability of a
company as weakness of an employees are unaddressed and they tend to work same amount of
inefficiency.
Task 3
P5 Analyse the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing the HRM decision
making.
Human resource managements also deals with managing healthy and transparent relations
with the employees. Employees talk, engage, share ideas, opinions, feelings with each other
which is essential for working in a team. A isolated person feels demotivated and less confident,
therefore unable to perform this work in a productive manner. Next Plc focuses on developing
and maintaining a healthy work relation with their employees so that a individual doesn't feel
alone and keeps their morale high.
Importance Of employee relations :- Increases productivity :- An individual can not do everything on his own therefore
distribution of work among the team members helps in reducing the work load and
contribute in increasing the productivity of a employees. Good and healthy relations with
the fellow member encourages team spirit. If a employee is aware about his roles and
responsibilities, with the aid of continuous feedback Next Plc can direct their activities in
achieving organisational goals(Sabiu, Kura and Reni, 2019).
 Better work environment :- Employee relations helps in creating and better and positive
work environment which is essential to increase the confidence and satisfaction level of
an employee. Better relation develops trust and unity among the team member and they
acts as a members of family(Ferraris, Erhardt and Bresciani,2019).
 Reducing conflicts :- Healthy and transparent relationship within an Next plc encourages
better understanding therefore the chances of fights and conflicts among the team
members is negligible. People with better relation tend to adjust themselves in every
situation which avoid the chance of silly fights and misunderstanding.
 Employee indiscipline :- Absenteeism, rude and harsh behaviour, low level of
productivity, grievances are a part of employee indiscipline. Next plc address the sources

of these problems and discuss with the employees to overcome these situation. With the
help of this employee's behaviour and performance can be improved.
P6 Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM
decision making
Employment legislation are the laws and rules which covers the rights of workers both at
the time of hiring and firing. These legislations also determine the relationship between
employers and employees. Next Plc make sure that the company strictly abide by theses
regulations so as to ensure smooth functioning of business operations.
 The national minimum wage act, 1998 :- This legislation ensures that the workers at
their workplace gets at least minimum wages. Minimum wage is a amount that is defined
by a government, on the basis of economic stability of a country, needed for the survival
and meeting the basic needs. Next Plc revise and update its minimum wage structure
which increases every year as the cost of living increase. Fair and equal pay to the
employees of Next Plc boosts the satisfaction and confidence which in turn increases the
productivity of employees (Cooper and et. al., 2019).
 Sex discrimination act, 1975 :- This act prevents the discrimination of workforce on
the basis of sexual orientation, relationship status, gender identity and others. Next plc
ensures that their workforce is not based on any specific gender rather they focus on a
skills and abilities. Everyone must get the equal opportunities, equal pay under the same
working condition and equal respect irrespective of their gender, nationality or
demographic features.
 Civil rights act, 1964 :- Civil right act, 1964 was enacted with the purpose of preserving
people at workplace who face the discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, origin,
gender, colour and religion. Next plc strictly adhere to these laws and aims to create and
develop a unique and diverse workforce which will contribute in enhancing the
performance and productivity of a company.
 Equal pay Act, 1963 : Equal pay act, 1963 work in the benefits of the party, that is for
employees and organisation which states that the business firm must foster equal pay out
to the workforce without creating a difference in a remuneration on the basis of gender.
Next plc does not promote chauvinism or feminism in the workplace and treat everyone
equal with the equal pay and working conditions.

Task 4
P7 Illustrate the application of HRM practices in work-related context , using specific examples.
Job description
Job title : Digital Marketing Executive
Reported to : Marketing Manager
Job Summary : Develop and promote marketing campaign on social media
platform to increase the customer base. Conduct a detailed research on the
effectiveness of marketing campaign and use of other promotional techniques.
Responsibility :
 Design a captivating message to attract a large customer base.
 Use of creative and innovative methods for promotion.
 Maintain and develop a customer feedback and suggestion.
Qualification :
 MBA in Marketing and diploma or certified course in digital marketing.
 Minimum experience of at least 1 year in relevant field.
 Age must should not exceed 28 years
Personal specification
 Essential skills : Creativity and writing skills.
Designing and developing marketing campaign.
Promotional activities
Communication and networking ability
 Required skills : Managing campaign on social media.
Organising events and promotional activities.
Preparatory notes for interview : These notes will help further to the HR manager in
conducting a selection process with ease and comfort. Selection process is a difficult task which
requires a detailed preparation for selecting a suitable candidate from a pool of prospect
candidates.
Interviews : Interview in a selection process can be defined as a process of face to face
interaction between two or more people where the one asks question to another and on the basis

of this HR manager predicts the suitability and performance of a candidate. The series of
question are posed by HR manager of Next plc along with marketing manager are :
 What do you understand by digital marketing?
 What strategies could be adopted to grab huge customer attention?
 Difference between digital marketing and social media marketing? Why do you think you fit for the job position?
Evaluation of selection process: By having face to face interaction Next plc evaluate the
creative aspect of a candidate which will be required to execute a task. Asking series of questions
to the interviewee helps marketing manager to develop a brief knowledge about a candidate
regarding their skills, expertise, attitude and career planning. Use of interview in selection
process helps to find a suitable candidate so that their energy,skills and knowledge can be used to
achieve a common objective.
Offer Letter
March,08
XYZ
Next Plc
England
United Kingdom
Dear XYZ,
We are pleased to announce you that you have been selected for the position of
“Marketing-Executive” at Next Plc. We acknowledge that with your skills and abilities Next Plc
will make a one step forward in a competitive market.
As per our discussion, date of joining will be on 10th March 2021, additional details along with
remuneration and benefits are mentioned in a attached file. We request you to download and go
through this.
We want you to write us back along with a letter of acknowledgement of accepting the job offer
with a valid signature
Sincerely

HR Manager
Conclusion
From the above stated information it can be derived that human resource management apart from
hiring and selection also deals in various within an organisation like maintaining better and
healthy relations, complying with a labour legislations and providing compensation and benefits.
Through effective and efficient management practices Next plc creates and maintains healthy
working environment which is helpful in stimulating employees behaviour. Confident and
satisfied employee works enthusiastically in an organisation which helps in increasing the
productivity of an employees and directly benefits the company in terms of profitability and
performance.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2020. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice.
Barrena-Martinez, J., López-Fernández, M. and Romero-Fernández, P.M., 2019. Towards a
configuration of socially responsible human resource management policies and
practices: Findings from an academic consensus. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management. 30(17). pp.2544-2580.
Cooper and et. al., 2019. Well‐being‐oriented human resource management practices and
employee performance in the Chinese banking sector: The role of social climate and
resilience. Human Resource Management. 58(1). pp.85-97.
Ferraris, A., Erhardt, N. and Bresciani, S., 2019. Ambidextrous work in smart city project
alliances: unpacking the role of human resource management systems. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(4), pp.680-701.
Han and et. al., 2019. The goldilocks effect of strategic human resource management?
Optimizing the benefits of a high-performance work system through the dual alignment
of vertical and horizontal fit. Academy of Management Journal. 62(5). pp.1388-1412.
Lee and et. al., 2019. Effects of human resource management systems on employee proactivity
and group innovation. Journal of Management. 45(2). pp.819-846.
Lee, H.W., 2019. How does sustainability-oriented human resource management work?:
Examining mediators on organizational performance. International Journal of Public
Administration. 42(11). pp.974-984.
Pham, N.T., Tučková, Z. and Jabbour, C.J.C., 2019. Greening the hospitality industry: How do
green human resource management practices influence organizational citizenship
behavior in hotels? A mixed-methods study. Tourism Management. 72. pp.386-399.
Rahmanniyay, F. and Yu, A.J., 2019. A multi-objective stochastic programming model for
project-oriented human-resource management optimization. International Journal of
Management Science and Engineering Management. 14(4). pp.231-239.
Roscoe and et. al., 2019. Green human resource management and the enablers of green
organisational culture: Enhancing a firm's environmental performance for sustainable
development. Business Strategy and the Environment. 28(5). pp.737-749.
Sabiu, M.S., Kura, K.M. and Reni, A., 2019, August. Linking human resource management
practices to organizational performance in Nigeria education sector. In 3rd International
Conference on Accounting, Management and Economics 2018 (ICAME 2018) (pp. 247-
257). Atlantis Press.
Singh and et. al., 2020. Green innovation and environmental performance: The role of green
transformational leadership and green human resource management. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change. 150. p.119762.
Yong and et. al., 2019. Nexus between green intellectual capital and green human resource
management. Journal of cleaner production. 215. pp.364-374.
Yong, and et. al., 2020. Pathways towards sustainability in manufacturing organizations:
Empirical evidence on the role of green human resource management. Business Strategy
and the Environment. 29(1). pp.212-228.

Next Plc adopt an internal or external sources to attract a talented human capital. Then comes
the role of selection which is concerned with screening the received applicants and short-listing
the potential candidate. Furthermore, with the help on online tests and personal interviews Next
Plc can get a right candidate with the all skills and knowledge required. Effectiveness of
Recruitment and selection will determine the how efficient and productive the work force Next
Plc is. Positive work environment and well designed organisational structure is the good result of
effective recruitment and selection methods.