Human Resource Management Report: H&M Practices and Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices at H&M. It begins with an introduction to HRM, outlining its purpose, key roles, and responsibilities within the organization, and emphasizes the significance of HRM in acquiring talent to meet business objectives. The report then delves into the strengths and weaknesses of recruitment methods, and the benefits of various HRM practices. It explores different methods used in HR, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, and rewards management, along with their benefits for the organization. Additionally, the report covers approaches to workforce planning, employee relations, and engagement, as well as the key aspects of employment legislation relevant to H&M. The report concludes with a job description and person specification for a Customer Service Assistant at H&M, providing a detailed overview of the company's HRM strategies and their impact on its operations.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1). Purpose of HR function and key roles and responsibilities of the HR function.............1
P2 strength and weakness of recruitment...............................................................................3
P3 Benefits of HRM practices................................................................................................4
P4 different methods used in HR practices and its benefit for organsiton.............................5
P5). Approach and effectiveness of employee relations and employee engagement.............7
P6). Key aspects of employment legislation within which the organisation must work......10
P7). Job description and person specification of Customer Service Assistant at H&M......12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management is a broad system of managing the workforce by strategic
planning and measures. The report will be based on H&M which is a fashion retail company
established in 1947 with approximately 1.5 million employees till now. Report includes roles and
responsibilities of HR as well as its significance in talent acquisition to meet business objectives.
It will also include an assessment related to basic functions of human resource management. The
study will cover approaches and effectiveness of employee’s relations and engagement with key
aspect of employment legislation necessary for organizations. Along with it, the study will cover
an evaluation for use of technology for recruitment and selection process. It will also include Job
description and person specifications related to specific job role. It will also cover basic
description to importance of technologies in HR practices.
TASK 1
P1). Purpose of HR function and key roles and responsibilities of the HR function
The success of every organization lies within its basic HR functions and strategies
implemented by it. All the functions of Human Resource Management share a common
objective, goal and approach. Basic purpose of HR practices includes:
Motivating employees: The main purpose of these HR procedures is to motivate
employees of organization by providing them adequate compensatory, monetary rewards and
effective bonus depending upon their designations and work.
To attract talent pools: It is the strategic purpose of HR function that every organization
conduct or implement with effective planning (Bailey, Kelliher and Garavan, 2018). To attract
the talent pools by highlighting organizations' flexible working conditions.
To develop the workforce: Developing employees of organizations by implementing
different training and career development programs is another major objective of HR
department.
KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF HR FUNCTIONS
Role of HR functions
It varies with the organizational size, structure and number of employees.
Recruiting and Selection: Basic of role of this function is to choose right candidates for
right job. Effective recruitment and selection improves productivity of organization. H&M does
its recruitment processes effectively by directly posting the job vacancies to its official website
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and different recruitment agencies. This has provided H&M variant of talent pools and large
number of expertise for executing its services.
Training and development: It is another responsibility of HR team that to improve
ongoing performance and professional growth of employees. H&M has significant IT, Business
and Management training programs for its workforce as well as outsiders (Bakker, 2017). This
provides sufficient knowledge to and attracts different skilled persons from outside organization.
Performance management: Its purpose is to handle and evaluate the job performance of
employees within organization and improve their productivity at workplace. H&M adopts
effective performance management system to evaluate their ongoing performance and way of
managing business activities.
Responsibilities of HR functions
 To provide systematic approach of development to organizations.
 Strategic management of workforce and their performance.
 Continuously align the functions of organization with its goals and objectives.
 To extend its connections with other markets and industries by effective HR plan and
business communication strategies.
Significance of HR in acquiring talent to meet business objectives
Talent acquisition is one of the strategic decisions made by HR authorities of
organizations. Organizations are dependent on acquiring the candidates who can easily align
their performance with industry's objective.
Talent acquisition by H&M is highly confined with different strategies for each of its
functional departments as well as its stores located in different countries. These strategies are
specifically focuses on different skills of applicants that would effectively meet its objectives.
2). Approaches to workforce planning, recruitment and selection, development and training,
performance management and reward systems.
Workforce planning: The credibility of these approaches depend upon the systems that
are being used during its implementation (Boon and et.al., 2018). The most basic approaches are
Workload and Competency approach
The above mentioned approaches for HR planning is based on certain models that
depend on statistical analysis of organization such as turnover rate, working hours of employees,
success and development rate of past years etc. In this regard, both methods are descriptive in
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nature and are mainly related to the certain aspects like surveys, feedback by employees and
executives. This will help the management to know about the whereabouts and current
progression of the company's status in the competitive marketplaces.
P2 strength and weakness of recruitment
Recruitment and Selection: Basic approaches to recruitment in any organization are
Internal and external approaches. Internal approach includes the recruitment of employees within
the organization itself (Eldor and Vigoda-Gadot, 2017). External recruitment refers to recruit the
employees from outside or posting the job vacancy on different job portals and agencies.
H&M takes support of internal recruitment as it promotes candidates on higher post and
they work as senior position, in this manner the company hires people on vacant post.
Strength of internal recruitment
 It is cost effective method, as enterprise can save money by hiring existing candidates
because no need to spend money on conducting test and interviews.
 It is time saving method as company is aware with the potential of promoted person
hence no need to give addition training related to company’s policies and practices.
Weakness of internal recruitment
 No fresh talent get entered into business.
 It creates conflicts among employees because their peer group member get promoted and
they not hence few members who are jealousy spread negativity at workplace.
Selection method
H&M takes support of interview method to select the right candidate on the right job.
Strength of interview
 It helps in evaluating capabilities of person effectively as interview committee ask
relevant questions that supports in finding whether person is right for the job or not.
 It is helpful in finding the intension of person to work in organisation.
Weakness of interview
 Huge time is required to be spend in conducting interview
 Money require for managing and arranging interview sessions.
Strength of internal recruitment- Internal recruitment will be filling up job vacancy from
within its existing workforce
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Weakness of internal recruitment- There will be no new talent or qualified person who will be
coming into the company if they are following the process of internal recruitment.
Strength of external recruitment- Availability of pool of job candidates and other staff
members who are skilled and qualified
Weakness of external recruitment- While this will be taking longer time and cost for hiring
within organisation and damaging employee morale due to current employee who are feeling less
chance of promotion.
P3 Benefits of HRM practices
H&M adopts external recruitment approach by posting vacancy on its official website and
also conduct recruitment by different external recruitment agencies.
Development and training: Training approaches that is used by organizations are
“ADDIE model” for systematic implication of training. It is a systematic set of steps that are
helpful in implementing training sessions. It includes Analysis, Designing, developing,
Implementing and evaluating the training process. It is beneficial to raise capabilities of
employees as individual gets more promotion chances and company’s productivity get raised
which is benefit for employer.
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Illustration 1: Elements of training
(Source: The ADDIE Model, 2019)
https://elearningdad.com/addie-model/

Other than this, the development approaches are formal educational approach which is
confined with different tutorials and training aids by presenting logical facts about the topic.
H&M imparts high training and career development opportunities to its employees which
continuously help them to attain specific skills and knowledge related to different functional
areas.
Talent and skills can help the organization in achieving its objectives and goals
 Human Resources: Helping organizations identify the right number and types of
employees to achieve their strategic and operational goals.
 Development of Organizational Climate: Contribute to creating a climate where
employees are encouraged to fully develop and use their skills and improve their skills
and abilities
Performance Management
Some of the most common approaches to performance management include 360 degree
review, Management by Objectives (MBO) (Kobersy and et.al., 2016). Management by
objectives depends upon the objectives of organization and its subjection to employee’s
performance. It helps employer in rectifying mistakes of employees and raising operation
efficiency of firm and also it supports employees in highlighting their good work to get more
promotion opportunities.
Reward systems:
The two basic approaches to reward system is skill-based pay and performance- based
pay. Skill-based reward system depends upon the expertise skills of workers. While performance
based rewards are independent of skills but based on the level performance deliver by taskforce.
It is beneficial for employer as retention of talent get increased and also it gives benefit to
employees because their financial needs get fulfilled.
H&M adopts strategic rewards that help it to retain its staff. It has a different incentive
management process that motivates its employees and increases their productivity.
P4 different methods used in HR practices and its benefit for organsiton
The methods used for implementing HR practices are:
Recruitment and selection: This practice is helpful for the company in getting the most talented
people and eliminating chances of wrong hiring, by this way more talented people can work
better which helps in enhancing production ability and getting more profit.
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Personality tests- These are the set of exams carried out to identify and evaluate certain
attitude and behavior of candidates, it helps in determining whether person is suitable for job role
or not.
Interview- It is the basic assessment of candidates carried out by interviewer. It varies
with the type and level of job role. For instance, H&M recruits the candidates by direct interview
and filtering their personal information through CVs. It undergoes its selection method for
certain panel interviews and aptitude tests for selecting the candidates.
Training and development:
It is beneficial in improving the weakness of person and making them able to work with
high production ability with minimum mistakes. It supports H&M in enhancing production and
raising sales in business unit.
Apprenticeship- It is certain type of on job training methods which is formally given to
the employees to provide additional required knowledge in a particular field or sector.
Organizations like Squire's Garden Center provides different apprenticeship programs for the
development of its employees.
Job rotation- It is a unique type of on job training deliver to the employees by
continuously shifting their job responsibilities in different functional departments of the
organization. H&M delivers advanced training programs to its employees in the field of
Information Technology, Business marketing and different managerial functions by rotating their
job role at regular basis.
Rewards management
H&M gives different types of rewards to its workers, this reward system motivate people
and retain them in business. This minimizes recruitment cost of the firm and supports in
improving production capabilities of business.
Profit sharing- It is an effective method used by organizations to increase employees
participation and loyalty towards workplace (Nankervis and et.al., 2016). It includes sharing of a
fixed amount of industry's profit with employees depending upon their job designation. Various
finance company tends to perform different profit sharing plan for its employees to motivate
them to achieve organizational objectives.
Gratification and Recognition- Employees in the organization are highly motivated by
certain type of recognition given to them by employees (Radi Afsouran and et.al., 2018).
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Gratifying them and addressing their contributions in front of other employees boost their level
of confidence and motivate them to perform further. For example, Virgin group provides high
level of motivation to its employees by providing them high recognition among different
business partners.
Methods used for Career development:
Appraisals- This is method is performed or conducted by top management and executives to
upscale the development graph of employees. Line mangers of H&M performs effective
appraisals of workforce and direct them suitable guidelines for career development.
Development plans- This method includes assessments of various elements related to an
individual's job. It tends to provide related and suitable career options to the individual working
within an organization. H&M provide strategic development plans to its employees at global
level.
Workshops- It is generally designed by experienced leaders on different career development
guidelines. Executives of H&M plan different workshops for employees to give career
development suggestions and strategies on specific field of career. H&M provides extensive of
workshop opportunities to its employees through which The employees tend to learn different
skills (Rompho, 2017). It develops them professionally as well as personally.
Planning defines goals and tasks and the available resources must be a strategy to achieve
goals and tasks. This study focuses on the potential impact of HR practices on worker
productivity and organization profitability.
P5). Approach and effectiveness of employee relations and employee engagement
Basic approaches to employee relations are:
Improved communication- it is very much important that company is improving its
process of communication within organisation so that all employees and employers are
connecting with each other in proper level. Thus this will be improving the relationship within
H&M which essential as well.
Employee participation- for any company it is vital that they are including their
employees into decision making process so that they could feel equality and unity among them.
If employee will participate into decision making process of company then they could put on
their ideas and knowledge regarding to the specified situation.
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Psychological approach: This approach defines fact that staff's relations are highly
influenced by different type of psychology and perceptions of taskforce regarding variant
subjects and matters of organization. At H&M, workers' perceptions and values are strongly
guided to provide them a shared approach of thinking for different business activities. This
increase their healthy collaboration and reduce the chances of disagreements on each others'
decisions.
Giri approach: Sir V.V. Giri formulated this approach which is highly depends on
collective bargaining and different arbitration and conciliation for conflicts settlement between
employer and employees.
Pluralistic approach: This approach tends to increase the employees' relations by
drawing a common goal against any malpractice. It settles down the issues in organizations with
the help of forming a significant group of employees against executives or management.
Depending on the above approaches, every organization must adopt a certain approach to
enhance employees' relations (Sáenz, Aramburu and Kianto, 2017). Adoption of these
approaches creates a healthy relation among the employees. H&M adopts a combined system,
psychological approaches for employees' relations which cultivate a shared practice and
objectives within its employees and create a sustainable working environment for the workforce.
EFFECTIVENESS OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
 It delivers standardized communication with improvised productivity within the
employees.
 It cultivates the harmonious environment in the workplace.
 It reduces the turnover rate within the industries. At H&M staff shares friendly bond with
colleagues and this increases their interest of working at organization. Taskforce's relation deliver strategic path to overcome issues and disputes. By strong
relations, employees of H&M are able to create a common decision and inhibits
capability to handle issues collectively.
Approaches to employee’s engagement are:
Communication activities: It is a most common approach to improve employees' engagement.
It utilizes the best possible mode of communication within organization to engage employees.
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Recreational programs: The organizations conduct certain programs for amusement, training
and stress relieving activities (Selection Strategies for HR, 2019). This effectively increase
employee’s participation and engagement within organizational activities.
Team building activities: As it has its link with nine different companies, it ensures to adopt
high employees' engagement strategies.
H&M utilizes strategic employees' engagement activities that strengthen its workplace
and internal culture. It improvises the basic understanding and organizational behavior among its
employees which directly increases their interest in the job and productivity.
EFFECTIVENESS OF EMPLOYEES ENGAGEMENT
 Workforce engagement delivers high performance within organizations
 It creates sustainable and reliable services for the customers with effective engagement
activities.
 It strengthens the communication and enhances the quality of team work among the
employees (Six Drivers of Employee Engagement, 2019).
 Effective engagement among workers thrive profit margins of organizations.
 It increases the exchange of employees' strategies which generates creative and
innovative ideologies for any specific job.
Flexible organization and flexible working practices and ‘employer of choice’
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Illustration 2: Elements of employee’s engagement
(Source: Six Drivers of Employee Engagement,
2019)

Effective employees' engagement and employees relations can be strengthened by
flexible organizations and working practices. A flexible organizational structure with effective
communication and less bureaucratic by nature.
According to Atkinson's model basic flexibility that every organization must adopts to
become employer of choice are: Functional, Numerical and Financial flexibility. By financial
flexibility, organizations enhance the range of its pay systems, raising the employment costs. By
providing numerical flexibility to employees, the company may reduce working hours, extra
shifts, increase holidays. Organizations tend to become more flexible by giving functional
flexibility to staff (Boon and et.al., 2018).
H&M has adopted the policy of flexible working practices for its employees. It delivers
flexible working practices like working hours, work from home facilities, Job sharing etc. This
adaptable and adjustable working pattern and organizations provides it a title of employer of
choice. It has highly approachable team of executives who are efficient enough to guide and
support the employees.
Flexible working practice is very much essential for employers as well as this would
allow them to coordinate and correlate with organizational and individual goal.
P6). Key aspects of employment legislation within which the organisation must work
Employment legislation is the legal framework that every organization needs to adopt for
smooth functioning and strong market image. H&M has strong legislative framework for
employment which helps in dealing with different issues of employers and employees.
Key aspects of employment legislation are:
 Equality at all the levels.
 Non-discrimination on the basis of caste, race, gender, disability and creed.
 Availability of sufficient rights at workplace.
 Availability of basic requirements at the workplace.
 Right to participate in workplace activities.
The mentioned key aspects aligns with different legal employment framework that
generates adequate sustainable working system and secured workplace for the employers and
employees of the organizations (Nankervis and et.al., 2016).
National Minimum Wage, 1998: It increases the interest of employees towards workplace and
attract talent pools. It provides security to workforce from any financial exploitation.
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