Evaluating HRM: Workforce Planning, Employee Relations at WHSmith

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at WHSmith, a leading UK retailer. It explores the purpose and functions of HRM in workforce planning and resource allocation, examining the strengths and weaknesses of different recruitment and selection approaches, including employee referrals, campus recruitment, and social media. The report details how various HRM practices benefit both management and employees, focusing on talent management, employee retention, efficiency, and succession planning. It also assesses the effectiveness of these practices in raising organizational profit and productivity at WHSmith. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision-making and highlights key elements of employment legislation and their impact on HRM. Finally, it presents a work-related context application of HRM practices at WHSmith, illustrating the complete recruitment process. This assignment is available on Desklib, where students can find more solved assignments and past papers.

HUMAN RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
LO1...................................................................................................................................................5
P1 & M1 PURPOSE AND THE FUNCTIONS OF HRM, APPLICABLE TO WORKFORCE PLANNING
AND RESOURCES..........................................................................................................................5
P2 & M2 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION....................................................................................................................................8
LO2.................................................................................................................................................11
P3 & M3 EXPLAINATION OF HOW DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES BENEFIT THE MANAGEMENT
AND EMPLOYEES........................................................................................................................11
P4 EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES IN WHSMITH IN TERMS OF
RAISINGORGANISATIONAL PROFIT AND PRODUCTIVITY..........................................................14
LO3.................................................................................................................................................16
P5 IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INFLUENCING HRM DECISION
MAKING.....................................................................................................................................16
P6 KEY ELEMENTS OF EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION AND THE IMPACT IT HAS ON HRM
DECISION MAKING.....................................................................................................................18
M4 IDENTIFY THE KEY ASPECTS OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYMENT
LEGISLATIONS............................................................................................................................20
LO4.................................................................................................................................................21
P7 & M5 APPLICATION OF HRM PRACTICES IN A WORK-RELATED CONTEXT AT WHSMITH....21
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................25
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................26
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource department in an organisation has the responsibility to recruit and train the
employees and design rewards and bonus policies to improve employee retention. In current
assignment, various functions of human resource department at WHSmith will be studied,
along with methods of recruitment and the strength and weakness of each. In the next part of
the assignment, a study will be made on the effectiveness of different HRM practices and how
these practices improve the profit ratios and productivity of the company. The report also
discussed the benefits of different HRM practices to the employees and to the company. Next,
the assignment will discuss the importance of sound employee relations in a company and the
factors which improve or impair this relationship. The assignment will also highlight different
legislation which is in place to ensure the wellbeing of the employees and equality in the
workplace. In the final part of the assignment, the recruitment and selection practice of
WHSmith is studied in a work-related context. This will include complete recruitment process of
WHSmith from providing job specification to conducting interviews and giving offer letter to the
selected candidates.
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OVERVIEW OF WHSMITH
WHSmith is one of the UK's leading retailers and is headquartered in Wiltshire, UK. The
company was established in the year 1792 and at present, it is serving in 1300 location all over
the world. The company has opened its stores at railway stations, airports, hotels, and in high
street areas in Europe, Australia, Middle East and Asian countries (WHSmith, 2018). The
company is a household name in selling books, newspaper and stationery in the UK. WHSmith
employs over 14000 staff at its stores. In the current article, a discussion will be made on the
HRM policies of the company and factors that make an impact on the employee relations at
WHSmith.
FIGURE 1: WHSMITH STORE AT LONDON
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LO1
P1 & M1 PURPOSE AND THE FUNCTIONS OF HRM, APPLICABLE TO
WORKFORCE PLANNING AND RESOURCES
PURPOSE OF HRM IN WHSMITH
WHSmith is a 226 old organisation and employs over 1400 people at its various stores. The
human resource of the company is an important asset which ensures the smooth running of the
company. The purpose of Human resource management at WHSmith is explained below:
 One of the most important purposes of HRM is to recruit the best talent for the
company by following exhaustive recruitment and selection policy of WHSmith which
includes publishing job advertisement. Resume short listing, interview and candidate
selection (Hendry, 2012).
 After the selection of a candidate, HRM communicates work policies of the company
and provisions of leaves and overtime compensation to the employees.
 HRM also does the workforce planning in which employees are designated various tasks
on the basis of their expertise level.
 HRM department at WHSmith evaluates the performance of each employee and designs
the reward and bonus schemes to keep the employees motivated.
 HRM department also handles legal issues related to the recruitment and termination of
the employees at WHSmith.
FUNCTIONS OF HRM
Human resource department designs a formal system to manage the workforce of WHSmith.
Following are the functions of HRM at WHSmith:
Recruiting and staffing
Recruitment of the right candidate is the primary responsibility of HRM managers at WHSmith.
For this purpose, an assessment of the workforce requirements at the various department is
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done and based on the human resource needs of each department, the salary structure of the
employees is also finalised according to the budget of the company. After all these
assessments, job advertisements are published through different mediums.
Training, education and development
Technology is changing the way of operations in the companies and new systems need to adapt
to satisfy the customer needs and improve services. These new systems require an employee to
be trained in operating computers and other sophisticated machines. For this purpose, HRM
conducts a number of training and education programmes for the employees at WHSmith
which help them to learn new skills as well as polish their existing skills. These training and
development programmes are designed according to the individual needs of the employees and
the level of expertise for performing a certain task (Griepentrog, et al. 2012).
Compensation and rewards
Employees at all levels wish to be recognised for their good work. The HRM department has the
responsibility to assess the work of each employee and decide appropriate rewards and benefit
for each employee. These rewards must be provided according to the merit of the employee,
however, some facilities like healthcare and employee insurance can be provided to all the
employees equally. Appropriate reward and bonus policies improve employee retention and
attract new talent to the organisation.
Maintaining good working conditions
Good working conditions at the workplace include factors like safety and security provisions at
the workplace, an arrangement of proper ventilation, light and air. The workplace should be
free from any kind of pollution and unnecessary noises. Good working conditions also include
an environment of equality at the workplace and fair recruitment and promotion policies. All
these efforts by the HRM to improve the work satisfaction of the employees resulting in
improved efficiencies and better work-life balance for employees (Grohmann and Kauffeld,
2013).
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Figure 2: HRM
[Source: https://www.hrpayrollsystems.net/hrm/]
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P2 & M2 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
The recruitment and selection policy of WHSmith makes sure that right candidate is selected for
the company. Following are the strength and weakness of different methods used by WHSmith
for recruitment and selection.
EMPLOYEE REFERRALS
This method of recruitment uses referrals of existing employees of WHSmith. Employees can
suggest eligible candidates from their friend circle or family. Companies also provide incentives
for such referrals by current employees.
Strengths
 Employee referral is a cost-effective method of recruitment since it saves expenses of
job posting on different platforms.
 Through employee referrals, the process of recruitment speeds up because some of the
initial steps of recruitment are eliminated (Purce, 2014).
 The current employee can help his referred employee to understand the work culture of
the company better.
Weaknesses
 The numbers of options for the company are limited to the employee referral programs.
 When companies rely completely on employee referrals, it lacks in diversity in
employees, because the current staff refers candidates mostly from similar
backgrounds.
CAMPUS RECRUITMENT
In campus recruitment method, candidates are selected from the university campuses. The
process includes taking general aptitude test and interview. The selected candidates are taken
as an intern for some time and then they are inducted as a permanent employee after
completion of probation period.
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Strengths
 The candidates recruited through campus recruitment are young graduates and
often come up with new innovative solutions to a problem.
 Small firms may get an opportunity of hiring highly talented employees with the
means of campus recruitments.
 As compared to traditional methods the campus recruitment method reduces the
recruitment cost to almost half (Bratton and Gold, 2012).
 Campus recruitment increases the brand awareness of the company.
Weaknesses
 This recruitment method is not effective when a company needs recruitment urgently.
 The candidates recruited through this medium do not have any experience for a certain
job which increases the cost of the company in arranging training programmes.
RECRUITMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Millions of people use different social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Posting the job on these platforms can easily connect the HR recruiters at WHSmith with
millions of people.
Strengths
 A large number of people use these social media platforms and HR managers can get a
wide pool of candidates to select from
 The candidates respond to these job postings by using the emailing facility in their
smartphones which makes the recruitment process quick
 These recruitment methods are cost-effective and the job posting can be shared with a
wide audience in minimum time.
Weaknesses
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 The chances of forging the documents and fraud are high in recruiting through digital
mediums; therefore HR managers should follow the policy of cross-checking all the
documents before final recruitment (Böhmová andMalinová, 2013).
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LO2
P3 & M3 EXPLAINATION OF HOW DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES BENEFIT THE
MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEES
The human resource department at WHSmith applies the principle of HRM and design such
policies which can improve the working condition of the employees and motivate them to
improve their efficiency. The benefits of implementing these policies are discussed below:
BENEFITS OF THE HRM PRACTICES FOR WHSmith
Better talent management
HRM practices at WHSmith focus on retaining the top talent in the company with the help of
reward and appraisal policies. Talented employees are like an asset for the company and help
the company to device better customer services by providing innovative ideas (Perrons, 2017).
To keep these employees motivated, regular bonus and rewards schemes are designed by the
HR managers.
Employee retention
HR managers design different programmes to improve communication with the employees and
improve the safety and security systems. Regular bonus and promotions, promoting equality
and diversity in the workplace, all the programs increase the employee satisfaction which
results in employee retention. High employee retention develops a positive work environment
and also saves expenses of the company in recruitment and selection process.
Increase in efficiency
Regular training programmes organised by HRM department ensure that the employees are
learning new skills and improving their existing skills. These training programmes are helpful in
increasing the efficiency level of the employees and keep them abreast of the current
technological changes in the industry.
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Succession planning
Succession planning is a function of HRM which aims in pro-active planning to prepare a reserve
workforce for the company, in case the existing key employee of the company leaves or get
retired. Succession planning benefits WHSmith because employees at a lower level get a fair
opportunity to move to the higher levels and it develops a feeling of competitiveness in the
employees to move up in their carrier.
BENEFITS OF THE HRM PRACTICES FOR THE EMPLOYEES
Equal employment opportunities
The HRM policies at WHSmith ensure that employees are treated in an equal manner and there
is no discrimination in the workplace on the basis of age, gender, religion or ethnicity of the
employee. The recruitment policy of the company also ensures that employees are selected in a
fair way and all eligible candidates are getting equal opportunities for getting recruited (Awadh,
and Alyahya, 2013).
Better work environment
Applying the basic principles of human resource management helps in creating a positive work
environment and different activities organised by HRM department, such as going for a picnic
or a movie, improves the interaction between employees and creates a better work
environment at the company.
Rewards and benefits
Rewards and bonuses are given to the employees when they achieve a particular milestone.
During festivals, bonuses are also paid to the employees as a goodwill gesture which boosts the
morale of the employee and improves retention.
Health and safety
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