Human Resource Management Report for Squire's Garden Centres

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, focusing on Squire's Garden Centres. It begins with an introduction to HRM functions, including recruitment, training, and performance appraisal. The report then analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of current recruitment and selection methods, such as interviews and recruitment agencies. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to preparing a job description and personal specification for a customer service assistant, along with a sample advertisement for Squire's website. The report also explores the benefits of apprenticeships, various employee benefits and rewards, employee engagement strategies, and the impact of UK employment legislation on HRM. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and recommendations, providing valuable insights into effective HRM strategies for the organization.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................3
a) Purpose and scope of HRM functions................................................................................3
b) Advantage and disadvantage of current requirement and selection methods used by
company.................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
a) Prepare job description and a personal specification for a customer service assistant at
Squire's Garden Centres.........................................................................................................6
b) Prepare an advert for the customer service assistant for Squire's website.......................10
c) Recommend at least one medium which may be appropriate for this vacancy and justify the
recommendation...................................................................................................................11
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................12
a) Benefits of Squires providing Apprenticeship to both organisation as well as to potential
apprentice ...........................................................................................................................12
c) Range of benefits and rewards available to staff..............................................................13
TASK 4 .........................................................................................................................................14
a) Employee engagement and its importance to employee relations...................................14
b) Recommend workers of engaging effectively within Squire's Garden Centres...............14
c) Legislation of the UK and its impact on the human resource management.....................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a complex process which involves different element such as
selecting, recruiting, providing training and development and various other functions. This
department of an organisation handles several aspects of employees such as planning, job
analysis, handling interviews and maintaining discipline. Organisation undertaken under this
report is Squire's Garden Centre which is a medium sized family owned business. It was initially
involved in landscaping then it expanded into garden centres in 1964. This report will enlighten
several function of human resource department along with its purpose. It will also highlight the
advantage and disadvantages of current requirement methods which are being adopted by
organisation currently (Alfes and et. al., 2014). An evaluation of key elements of human resource
management is done under this and several factors that affect the human resource decision
making are also being discussed. Later part of report deals with ways that can be used to increase
the employees engagement in the business and usefulness of employment legislation that effect
the decision making process of company.
TASK1
a) Purpose and scope of HRM functions
Human resource management is the process which involves recruiting, hiring, and
managing a business workforce. It is responsible for conducting development programme for
employees so that they can increase the level of performance in the organisation. A human
resource department is responsible to perform various functions such as operational and
managerial functions (Budhwar and Debrah, 2014). Which is important for organisation as these
involves motivating and directing workforce in right path which is focussed on achieving overall
organisational goals. Different functions of HRM can be elaborated below:
Purposes of HRM functions
 Providing adequate trainings and development programme to the employees. This
business is involved in various activities such as gardening, garden furniture and food and
drinks treat. So, in order to follow these activities employees must be provided with
adequate training programme they must be enlightened with different techniques of
gardening so that they can work more efficiently.

 Recruitment functions of the organisation comprises of full fling the current and future
requirement of workforce in the business. As it has 15 garden centre across different
areas of England (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017). It needs to actively fulfil the
workforce requirement needs of these centres.
 Performance appraisal is the process of analysing the performance level of employees
and reviewing their performance level accordingly. It helps the organisation to provide
salaries and to design promotions as per the performance of different employees.
These functions serve as an important element in the organisation as they help in ensuring the
right amount of workforce and training is enabled in the organisation. It also focuses on ensuring
that the employees are motivated in the workforce by designing effective performance appraisal
methods. Thus, it ensures that employees work are directed towards achieving overall
organisational goals.
b) Advantage and disadvantage of current requirement and selection methods used by company.
The organisation is currently using external sources in order to fulfil the current
workforce needs such as by advertising each vacancy on their Garden centre's websites and also
advertising in local newspapers. Then the applicants are required to answer a series of questions
in order to complete the formal application process after completing the application process and
uploading their CV. Candidates are then reviewed and shortlisted which is based on their
experience and qualifications (Huselid and Becker, 2016). Later part of process comprises of
interviews which is being taken by two mangers. The advantages and disadvantage associated
with interview can be discussed below:
Advantages of interview:
 Face to Face Meeting: In the interview process both the employer and employee get into
an meeting where they face each other. This will help the employer to further get details
from the candidate and will help them to get better understanding of candidates.
 Facilitated Selection of appropriate candidate: As the interviewer have a face to face
direct contact with the candidate he is able to ask different questions and can make
further judgement accordingly. It helps in analysing the candidate and also help in getting
valuable information.
Disadvantages of interview

 Time consuming: The entire process of conducting interviews and preparing for it
involves large amount of time investment as the process needs proper planning which
will require the department conducting it to plan and execute it so that it can be
conducted with ease.
 No record: This process requires physical process of both interviewer and interviewee
No record is being collected and stored in case if there are any further consequences. It
does not comprise of keeping evidences of discussion which were done during the entire
process.
Recruitment agency methods is composed of agencies that help businesses in the recruitment
process by charging a fees in return (López-Nicolás, and Meroño-Cerdán, 2015). The
comparison between interview and recruitment agency method can be elaborated below:
Interview method Recruitment agency method
This requires both interviewer and interviewee
physically present in a meeting and then
selection is done
This involves an intermediary who serve a link
between the both business and employees. A
Recruitment agency help the company to fulfil
its workforce need and they are responsible for
selection as well.
It is a slow as well as time consuming process. It requires less time in comparison as the
process is being assist by agency which
reduces the entire time involved in the process.
It involves less cost as compared to the agency
recruitment method.
As a mediator is involved in the entire process
it results in adding up in the cost as
organisation needs to pay the fee of
Recruitment agency in respect of the services
being provide by them.

TASK 2
a) Prepare job description and a personal specification for a customer service assistant at Squire's
Garden Centres
HR Manger of the Squire Garden centre who is conducting the recruitment and selection
process
in order to fulfil the vacancy for customer service assistant needs to prepare job description as
well as personal specification in accordance with the vacancy.
Job Description:- It is a document which contains the details about the job duties and
responsibilities which are required to be performed by the candidate applying for the job in the
workplace. It defines certain details about the profile such as salary range, department,
qualification, geographic location and qualification that are required as per the job profile. It is
basically a short summary of the job analysis (Marchington and et. al., 2016). The job
description for the post of Customer service assistant done by Squire's Garden can be elaborated
below:
JOB DESCRIPTION
Company:- Squire's Garden Centre
Job Details:
Job Title:- Customer Services Assistant
Reporting To:- Head of Customer Service Department
Department:- Customer Service
Salary:- £22,000 per annum
Job Type:- Full Type
Location:- England
Job Purpose:
 Creating and maintaining positive environment that can facilitates high level of
motivation and can also boost team spirit.

 Assist in implementation of customer service strategies across different areas of
business.
 Ensuring that the customer orders are being processed and delivered in the agreed time
period only.
 Representing customer service functions as a member of management team.
Responsibilities:
 Communicating with customers through different channels.
 Maintaining positive and professional attitude towards the customers throughout service.
 Recording the different transactions, complaints and customer interaction in a proper
format.
 Responding and solving customer enquiries.
 Providing customer support and ensuring customer satisfaction level.
 Assisting and monitoring services in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
different processes which are involved in delivering of product and services to
customers.
Interested Candidates are requested to send their resume at [e-mail]
Thanks & Regards,
XYZ,
HR Manager,
Squire's Garden Centre, England
Person Specification: - It comprises of the specification of different personal attribute that are
desired in a candidate. It involves description of certain factors such as qualification, experience
and knowledge which are required to be possessed by the potential candidate so that they can
perform their job responsibilities. It serves a foundation for the entire recruitment process. The
job profile created by company in respect of the given profile can be elaborated below:
PERSONAL SPECIFICATION
JOB TITLE:- CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSISTANT
Experience Necessary Demanding

Prior work experience as an
Customer service Assistant.
1-2 years (Approx) of 1 Years
Skills/knowledge/cognition Necessary Demanding
 Knowledge about
product and services.
 Effective
Communication Skills
 Interpersonal skills
 Good Listing Skills
 Basic computer
Knowledge
Diploma or certificate course
in relevant sector.
A Grade
Qualifications needed in
educational sector
Necessary Demanding
 Bachelor’s degree in a
related field
Past experience of working in
company providing customer
service.
A Grade
Personal skills Necessary Demanding
 Flexible working
attitude that can tackle
different situation.
 Able to solve customer
query
 Good communication
skills
 Able to maintain
positive environment
enabling effective team
work
Should posses knowledge of
Different language in order to
interact with different types of
customers. So that they can
offer product and services and
also can solve their problem
accordingly.
French, Spanish and English
(UK)

 Patient while handling
and communicating
with employees.
Interested Candidates are requested to send their resume at [e-mail]
Time of reporting: 11:00 AM

b) Prepare an advert for the customer service assistant for Squire's website
In order to recruit right people for the required post. The Squire's Garden Centre will
design an advertisement for their website that will help them to attract the suitable candidates for
the position of Customer service assistant. The advertisement created and posted by company
can be given below:
Squire Garden Centre
Position:- Customer Service Assistant
Squire's Garden Centres is a family owned business. It has 15 garden centre based in south East
of England and it is involved in serving local communities. The business is looking for
appropriate candidate that can fit in the position of Customer Service Assistant. The
organisation comprises of a friendly yet dynamic business environment. Candidate with past
experience as Customer Service Assistant are preferred for the job profile.
The skills required by candidate must include:
Skills to work under pressure.
Ability to understand local language and serve customers.
Should posses the skills to solve customer problems.
Ability to revert to the enquiry of customers with proper solution.
Able to peacefully understand the customer needs and providing the same to them.
Ability to mange and control teams.
The package will be based upon the level of experience and knowledge : £22,000 per Annum.
Interested candidates can forward their resume on the mentioned email address or can contact
on the provided number.
HR Manager,
Squire Garden Centre,
Email- [e-mail]
Phone number- 07864456463
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c) Recommend at least one medium which may be appropriate for this vacancy and justify the
recommendation
Organisation can use different methods in order to fulfil the vacancy for the post of
customer service assistant such as it can organise walk in interviews that will help them to attract
a larger number of audience. It will provide an border range of potential employees which will
help the organisation to choose from. If organisation have a wider option to choose from they
can select the best among the available slot. Walk in interview can be promoted by posting it at
the notice board at different centres of the organisation (Renwick, Redman and Maguire, 2014).
It can also be promoted by use of different digital sites. In Walk in interview individual will also
invite their known member who are suitable for the same profile to walk along with them for the
process. It will increase the change of selecting better employees. As there are large number of
member organisation can analyse them on the basis of knowledge and qualifications and choose
the most appropriate candidate among them.
d) provide four question that will be asked by organisation that will help in decision making
process.
In order to select best among the available slot of potential candidates different question
will be raised by the human resource department in order to analyse the potential of each
candidate. Some of the question asked can be elaborated below:
1. Tell me something about yourself?
2. Why do you consider yourself suitable for this job profile?
3. What are the qualities that make you appropriate for the post of “Customer Service
Assistant”
4. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
These questions will help the employer to get an better understanding of potential candidate and
will also help them to rate the candidate communication skills. It will sits the employer in
selecting the best candidate suitable for the same profile.
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TASK 3
a) Benefits of Squires providing Apprenticeship to both organisation as well as to potential
apprentice
The Squire's Garden's is a family owned business. It was established by D.J Squire in the
year 1936. The company provide a long range of products such as Garden furniture, plants,
Sweet and chocolate and cakes and biscuits. Human resource manager establishes various
programme in the organisation for enabling development in the employees performance level. It
is an important element which provide an opportunity to enhance the current skill set. It can be
conducted by enabling two methods such as on the job and off the job. Organisation will adopt
the off the job methods apprenticeship method in order to train their employees. These involves
providing on the job training and instruction to the employees within the workplace so that they
can become experts in their area of work (Rubery and Urwin, 2016). As the employees are able
to increase their performance level they will be able to achieve overall organisational goals.
Where as it will help the organisation to perform at better level. Certain advantage of the same
can be discussed below:
Increasing productivity: Hiring apprentices can help the organisation to increase the
productivity in order to achieve both short and long term profits. Apprenticeship also help an
organisation to achieve competitive advantage over other competitors. Along with it will help
help to attract customer if the employees apprentices within the organisation.
Help in increasing skill set and retaining staff: It help in elimination of major issues
such as issue of skill gap that require proper training in order to reduce or to eliminate the same.
By offering the apprenticeship programme to the current workforce this gap can be reduced. It
also help in creating a sense of loyalty among employees towards employer will motivate them
to work more effectively in the workplace.
Cost effectiveness: This method is cost effective as apprentices will be able to spend
their time in learning new skill sets which they will be using in the workplace which will help
them to reduce the change of mistake and errors. Another benefit is that when employer
organises these programme they pay for apprenticeship, Which involves funding that covers
other expenses of training as well.
b) Development opportunities to employees
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