HSBC HRM Case Study: Recruitment, Training, and Compensation Analysis

This case study critically analyzes HSBC's human resource management strategies, focusing on challenges such as talent scarcity, compensation issues, and managing existing staff in a rapidly changing financial landscape. The report examines HSBC's approach to recruitment and selection, highlighting the need for qualified bankers and technological expertise, along with its global talent management process. The study also assesses the training and development programs implemented by HSBC, including management skill and advanced courses, as well as online learning platforms. Furthermore, the report evaluates HSBC's compensation and reward strategies, particularly its ethnocentric approach, and recommends the use of non-financial incentives and localization strategies to address the challenges. The analysis provides valuable insights into contemporary HRM practices within a global banking context and offers recommendations for improvement.

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Contemporary HRM
Contemporary HRM of HSBC
3/31/2020
student name

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Question 1: HR challenges.........................................................................................................3
Question 2: Recruitment & Selection........................................................................................5
Question 3: Training..................................................................................................................7
Question 4: Compensation.........................................................................................................8
Question 5: Diversity and Inclusion...........................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................12

Introduction
The purpose of this report is to critically analyse a case study in order to better understand the
human resource management strategies. Contemporary HRM of HSBC, reflect various HRM
aspects and challenges faced by the company which will be critically evaluated in the report
further. HSBC is one of the popular and world’s largest banking groups with 71 nation’s
network coverage and territories like Asia, Africa, and Middle East , Europe, Latin America
and North America. There are various forces that have impacted financial institutions and
global industry which reflect noticeable changes in the organisations like the regulation,
emergence of new players, mergers and acquisitions and use of modern technology. These
changes have reflected increased competition in the industry along with the rapid changes in
industry which reflected HR and challenges for the company. Some of the HRM areas that
will be focus through the case include rewards, recruitment and training and development.
Human resources are some of the crucial assets of the company which are difficult to manage
due to changing behaviour of individual and organisation (Armstrong, 2017). However
human resource management is largely dependent on the culture, leadership and
organisational structure or HR policies that may impact the way an individual is being
performing in an organisation. Therefore the challenges identified for HSBC along with
relevant and suitable recommendations will be included as part of discussion in report.
Question 1: HR challenges
Some of the HR challenges that have been identified for HSBC included scarcity of talent. As
the case reflect all the financial services institutions across the globe are looking for similar
talent competencies and skills set in human resource which reflect scarcity of talent in the
industry. Other than this the sudden changes or elevation has reflected new skill sets which

were difficult to search among individuals. The members of the organisation were looking for
compliance officers that are knowledgeable reflecting technical advances at leadership level.
This challenge reflect that the company is major mistake was to search for talent outside the
organisation rather than considering talent management and identify the gap among the skill
set available and required. Considering this appropriate training and development program
could be considered by the organisation to enhance skill set of the existing employees rather
than only searching for the employees externally (Davis et al., 2016).
Another challenge that has been identified through case is compensation crunch. As
identified that the skill set was scarce, this reflect drive in market prices. There are various
sizes of organisations that are considering candidates with highly transferable skills; however
the salary banding considering the corporate grades were found to be major challenge. The
company must consider other employee retention strategies rather than focusing only on
financial compensation, this may increase motivation among the employees to stay with the
organisation and also attract new customers (Hicks, 2019).
Another challenges identified include dealing with existing staff. Managing the existing staff
has also become a major challenge for the organisation as upgrading is one of the major
aspects to be implemented where compliance functions were considered. The company have
been considered to higher long-standing staff which may not be capable enough to cope up
with modern regulatory environment. The rapid change in financial services institution
reflected re-structuring of the organisation where some of the staff were found to be retrained
and capable enough to be trained or needed to be replaced based on their skill compliance and
talent. This was the major challenge which states the organisation at a place of vulnerable to
poaching (Hicks, 2019).
From analysis of the challenges identified some of the recommendations included

Educational program
In order to search for fresh talent it is important for the organisation to consider talent
management and it has been identified that with the new skill set, The students studying in
the business schools could be considered as part of the training program by the organisation.
This may include having session with scholars so as to offer those internships and training
with banking sector considering modern technological change and know-how (Heap & Singh,
2016).
Non-financial incentives
In order to manage the compensation challenge of the company the company could have
considered non-financial incentive and rewarding system. As discussed, salary banding has
been found which the challenge was for the Company, in the industry every organisation may
be looking for compensation to increase employment recruitment and acquiring new set of
skills. However, the company may consider to offer non-financial incentives that maybe more
valuable to the employees than that of only salary or compensation. Therefore this could be
used as a tool to gain advantage over other institutions and retain the employees while also
attracting new skilled employees (Raban & Ritcher, 2015).
Question 2: Recruitment & Selection
Recruitment is one of the process in human resource management that initiate from
identification of the human skill set demand in the organisation, attracting relevant applicants
and acquiring skill set talent and eventually joining of the recruited employees in the
organisation. This is a crucial activity or responsibility of human resource manager as this
may reflect the success factor and productivity of the organisation. Considering the rapid
change it was very difficult or challenging for the organisation to search for new skill set

employees in the local market. The major skill set that was required by HSBC include
qualified bankers, technological knowledge, use of online portal, and other technology
advancement related activities to be performed in banking sector. The major skill set that will
be helpful for the organisation to attain cooperative objective our innovative skills,
technological know-how, financial knowledge and experience and also inclusive of
leadership skills. The reason for selection of the skills as part of the recruited employees as
the company is looking for employees at the leadership level in order to fulfil the position
which has to be replaced due to technical innovation and changes in the industry (Allen,
2017).
Considering the strategy used by HSBC in order to recruit appropriate human resource the
company plans to expand business and increase the number of branches in China so as to
look for labour market. It has been analysed that China has large number of availability when
it comes to labour however this may be a non-skilled employees or lower skilled employees.
Along with this the company implemented another human resource process that is global
talent management process which was used to attract and retain the employees (Gakovic &
Yardley, 2007). The company HR team was able to visit various nations so as to evaluate
major nomination and principal guidelines pertaining to talent assessment. Through this thing
is sure the selection process and recruited employees is considering various sources of data,
conduct of interview, all global talent nominees were analysed efficiently. To the strategy the
company was able to fill the future position is considering a list of potential leaders. From the
strategy analyse through the case it can be said that the company have increase the number of
branches in China, for which the company recruited globally. This could be one of the
challenges as China culture, difference in language and various other business customers are
different. Therefore the company may need to consider cross cultural differences and provide
cross-cultural training to the employees selected as potential leaders (Davis et al., 2016).

Question 3: Training
From HSBC case it has been identified that the company has come through training and
development programmes in order to train or increase the competencies of existing
employees along with the new employees. Training and development is one of the important
activities to be performed by human resource manager as this may enhance employees skill
sets, competencies and keep the know-how of the employees up to date. Considering change
and innovative culture of the organisation and rapid change in the industry it was found
important to have training programmes within the organisation so as to improve the company
and cheese and skill set of the employees currently working in the organisation. Other than
this the new employees need to have orientation training along with various other training
that is applicable to accomplish tasks or the assigned job duties which may be different from
that of the previous experience (Loewenberger et al., 2013).
Considering the training provided by the organisation it has been identified that there were
various training programmes organised by HSBC considering regional training teams which
were launched and implemented by local offices. There were two types of training conducted
that is management skill training which were given to the managers with experience of one or
two years in the organisation and the another training was advanced courses training which
were provided to the experience employees of the organisation that is the employees working
from 3 to 5 years (Edelman, 2017). Other than this the company also consider online training
programs and learning centres in order to reach out to the employees who were
geographically dispersed, in order to provide access to packages and learning materials.
Online mode is one of the better modes to reach out to large population at once which reflect
help to the employees in training and development methods making it more flexible to access
by the employees and gain opportunities (Abdulraheem Sal, 2016).

From this analysis it can be said that the training program for well established by the
organisation and it could be strength for the company and helpful for the employees to
enhance their competencies. This training and development program would have been helpful
for the organisation to keep the employers growth and competency improvement at pace.
Moreover considering the advance training program it was helpful to the leaders to enhance
their leadership skills and leadership development program were also part of strength for the
organisation in such a challenging face. Therefore it can be said that at the higher extend the
company was able to successfully develop their current and new employees.
Question 4: Compensation
Considering the increased competition in the industry the company has implemented
compensation and reward strategies. Compensation is one of the tools to motivate employees
to retain in the organisation or to attract new employees to be acquired by the organisation.
There are various ways to compensate for employee performance and reward them on the
basis of their performance. Considering the approach adopted by HSBC pertaining to reward
and compensation, it was ethnocentric approach. The grading system, salary system and
bonus scheme were considered by is head Office. For examples the company was able to
offer employee share option saving plan among most of the nation or where the branches
have been established by the company. This global bonus scheme was developed in order to
employee’s alignment more closely with the long-term strategic objectives achievement in
Asian market. The analysis reflects various challenges while implementing global bonus
schemes by the company. This reflects the difference in head office HRM approaches and the
actual performance in the local regions.
Other than this the comparison of performance across the nation will also be challenging for
the organisation and this becomes difficult to track the employee’s salary, performance

evaluation scope and have been failed to keep employees motivated. Business culture and
customs are different for every nation especially when whereas nations like China where the
culture is completely different from other nation in Asian markets. The company was paying
5% above the market value to the employees considering with the competitive firms. This
reflected that the major mistake of HSBC is to consider ethnocentric approach in order to
offer compensation and reward system to the employees. Considering the job roles in
different geographical location the company must have considered another system which is
approachable as per the localisation strategy. It is important to consider local performance
evaluation rather than global human resource approach.
Therefore it is recommended to the company to consider more localised export to manage
compensation policies. The reason for this recommendation is that the cultural difference of
USA and China is very use which reflect that in One nation non-incentive policy may be
valuable to the employees whereas not valuable in another nation. Therefore the pay scale
must be considered based on the national culture and value as compare to the competitive
market. Since employees in Chinese market are low skilled, the company may consider lower
salary range to be offered to such employees. However considering the legal system in USA
the salary ranges will be different from that of China therefore it is recommended to the
company to consider localised strategy while applying pay scale or compensation strategy in
the organisation (Zacher & Rosing, 2015).
Question 5: Diversity and Inclusion
Diverse and inclusive workforce reflects full benefits to the organisation while considering it
as part of decision-making process. This reflects inclusive of various cultures within the firm
which reflect diverse employees to be part of the organisation. It has been analysed that
various culture reflect different skill set and expertise, which may be inclusive and integrated

among the organisation in case of hi diversity in the organisation. This reflects that the
company must consider the employees from various parts of the world so as to gain know-
how, expertise from different cultures and nations (Sohal, 2008). The theory reflects that
there are various strategies for creating an inclusive workplace which could be recommended
to the HSBC. Considering the case it has been identified that the company have consider
various steps in order to encourage individuals from various backgrounds and cultures to
apply and attract talented applicants for the job at HSBC. Around the globe there were
various recruitment activities conducted by HSBC in order to enhance diversity including
participating in hosting in professional spheres. Through these fears and initiative taken by
the company the company was able to target various diversified groups that are working with
non-governmental organisation and also groups that are underrepresented in the organisation.
Other than this the company initiate to request gender balance while coming in relation with
the third-party recruitment, and make sure to attract graduate programs and potential
applicants from various backgrounds (Sumukadas & Sawhney, 2004).
In order to create more inclusive work for some of the strategies or measures that HSBC
could have included are practising inclusive leadership. Leaders are responsible for provision
of better environment available for the employees where they can feel welcome, speak
without hesitation and be heard. For this the employees from various cultures and
backgrounds may have difference in opinion but leaders need to foster collaboration,
facilitate constructive arguments, give actionable feedback among diverse staff and also act
towards diverse employees by providing them advice. Another strategy or measure that could
be considered is recognising business. It has been identified that the company initiated to
request gender balance, for this this strategy or measure that could be adopted by the
company is to recognise the biasness. Where the company could have taken steps like
developed a leadership program that reflect high potential employees and targeting

supervisors who will be responsible for the candidates. The De biasing training could have
been provided for the supervisors. Engaging black woman employees and offering better
position for advanced offered opportunity (Soranno, 2014).