HRM Report: Workforce Planning and Employee Relations at Amazon

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within Amazon. It begins with an introduction to Amazon and the purpose and functions of HRM, emphasizing its role in identifying job vacancies, employee safety, and conflict resolution. The report then delves into workforce planning, including recruitment, selection, development, and training, followed by an assessment of different recruitment and selection approaches, comparing their strengths and weaknesses. The benefits of various HRM practices for both employers and employees are explored, alongside an evaluation of these practices in terms of profitability and productivity. The report also examines the importance of employee relations in influencing HRM decision-making and the impact of employment legislation. Finally, it discusses the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, offering a detailed overview of Amazon's approach to human resource management.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Purpose and functions of HRM........................................................................................3
The assessment of approaches to workforce planning...........................................................5
P2. Strength and weakness to different approaches of recruitment and selection..................5
TASK2.............................................................................................................................................6
P3. Benefits of HRM practices for employer and employee..................................................6
P4. Evaluation of HRM practices in terms of profitability and productivity.........................7
TASK3.............................................................................................................................................8
P5. Importance of employee relation in respect to influencing HRM decision making........8
P6. Elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision making..............8
TASK4 ...........................................................................................................................................9
P7. Applications of HRM practices in work related context..................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management involves processing and managing programs that are
configured to increase the effectiveness of the organisation or business. Organisation undertaken
here is Amazon which is a E-commerce industry and public organisation which was founded in
1994 by Jeff Bezos in US. In this report, purpose and functions of HRM will be discussed. In this
report, analysis of internal environment of organisation in context with recruitment and selection
will be done. Benefits of different HRM practices for both employee and employer will be
explained and also their effectiveness in terms of organisations productivity will be done.
Importance of employee relations in respect HRM decision and key elements of employment
legislation are explained. Later part of the report will elucidate the various HRM applications.
TASK1
P1. Purpose and functions of HRM.
Overview of company
The Amazon is a multinational e-commerce, artificial intelligence and cloud computing
company. Its has a strong brand equity in the market. The product and services of Amazon are
kindle, Amazon prime, fire stick, Music and many more. Successful human resource planning
creates a bridge between line management and companies workforce (Carbery and Cross, 2015).
HRM is concerned with planning, organising, directing, controlling, development, compensation,
etc. of human resources for accomplishment of individual, organisational and social objectives.
Purpose of human resource management
HRM is essential element in every organisation. It has various purposes which will help
the Amazon in proper planning for managing workplace as well as its employees and they are
discussed below :-
 Identifies the job vacancy:- Its main purpose is to identify job vacancies in Amazon and
find out the right person for particular job, notification will be issued regarding this
which will contain job description and specifications.
 Reinforcement:-Employees will be rewarded for the jobs performed by manager in the
Amazon and they also get negative reinforcement for not performing their duties in the
company.
 Safety of employee:-HR manager of Amazon ensure the safety and security of its
employees as it is the main responsibility of HR manager.
 Conflict resolution:- To avoid conflict between the employee and management of the
company, its the HR manager responsibility to make their relationship healthy by which
Amazon goals and objectives can be achieved effectively as well as efficiently.
Roles and Responsibilities of HR manager
There are so many roles which are played by the HR in an organisation and the duties are
performed for the overall development of its employee. The roles and responsibilities are:-
 Training:- HR Manager role is to provide appropriate training to its employees. This
will help the new hires to understand new working patterns as every have different
working patterns as well as the culture.

 Recruitment:- This is the major responsibility of a HR team. Its their duty to plan and
make a strategic campaign as well as the guild-lines for the appropriate recruitment
category. HR manger is the is mediator between the employee and the company. to make
them understand the organisation polices and condition before the hiring.
 Appraisal:- HR manger is the on who monitor the performance of their employee, on
that basis only employee will be appraised. The amazon use the monetary appraisal and
promote its employee which motivates them towards the heading of achieving the goals
and objectives.
Functions of HRM
HRM is important for appropriate utilization of resources and personnel in an
organisation (Functions of Human Resource Management. 2019). HR manager of Amazon have
to perform various functions for making organisation work effectively. These functions are
discussed below :-
Managerial functions
 Planning : It is a pre determined course of human activity. In this, HR manager of
Amazon will set goals and objectives for the organisation as planning is future oriented.
Forecasting is one of the crucial element of business organisation (Frederick and Sedjo,
2013) .
 Organising : In this, HR manager of Amazon assigns each subordinate with specific
task, delegates the authority to subordinates, establishes channel of communication,
coordinates the work, etc.
 Staffing : HR manager of Amazon will decide which type of people will be hired,
recruiting perspective employees, selecting employees, setting performance standards,
providing training, etc.
Operative function
 Procurement : It involves procuring suitable amount of people in the right place in
Amazon. It is concerned with planning, recruitment, etc. which will help them to achieve
its target.
 Compensation : This involves determining the wages and salaries for the workforce in
Amazon. It assures equitable and fair remuneration for employees in the company.
 Maintenance (Working condition and Welfare): Its very essential to protect the
employees as they are part of the company. Its HR manager function to protect their
employees in Amazon and provide positive working environment. For this purpose
organisation can provide benefits to the employees such as medical, housing, transport
facilities, etc.

(Source : Importance of Human Resource Management, 2018)
The assessment of approaches to workforce planning.
The work force planning refers to the continuous process in which the manager align the
needs & requirement of the company. According to this, the company hires the employee which
help them in meeting the legislative, organisational objectives, regulation etc. it can be done
through:
 Recruitment & Selection:- In this the employees are recruit through the internal &
external process according to the need of the organisation. Then selection of employee is
done on the basis of interview, panel discuss etc.
 Development & training:- After the recruitment & selection company need develop the
qualities of employee who are internally recruited as well as provide appropriate training
to the new employee who are recruited externally.
 Performance management:- Then manager will evaluate or measure the performance of
the employee. That work should done according to the plan.
 Rewards system:- The HR manager rewards its employee if they are doing work
according to the plan and the standards which are set.
P2. Strength and weakness to different approaches of recruitment and selection.
Recruitment method helps organisation to reach to the potential suitable candidate for the
job. HR manager of Amazon is responsible for attracting, short listing, selecting and appointing
suitable candidates for jobs. It has various approaches and they are discussed below :-
 Internal recruitment :- It is the process of attracting candidates from within the
organisation to take new job in the same organisation and Amazon can recruit through
promotions, transfer, etc. The internal recruitment examples are which amazon use to
recruit internally through references, as candidates are refer by the employees who are
working with them.
 External recruitment :- It is the process of identifying and selecting suitable candidates
for a job from outside the organisation (Harris, 2012). These are examples of external
Illustration 1: Importance of Human Resource Management

recruitment which Amazon can use to hire the candidates through advertisements in
newspapers, radio, television, magazines, internet, campus placement etc.
Strength and weakness of recruitment approaches
Strength Weakness
When recruitment is done externally it
increases the chances of employing the right
person for appropriate job from large pool of
candidates.
Recruitment from external sources include high
cost for advertisement and there is no surety of
success.
When recruitment is done internally, it
minimises the cost incurred for this process
and also manager will have the knowledge of
skill and competencies of employees.
Internally recruited candidates lacks the
innovation and creative factor which can harm
the organisation growth in long run.
Selection:- Selection is the process of selecting the right candidate for a vacant job
position in an organisation (Herriot, 2013). It is the process of interviewing the candidates,
evaluating their skills and competencies which are required for specific jobs (Effective Employee
Selection Methods. 2019). Different approaches which can be used by HR manager of Amazon
are skill test, personality test, panel interview,etc. The Amazon can use these approaches of
selection by which appropriate candidate will be hired:
 Structured interview:- In structured selection interview, the interviewer is going to ask
the predetermined, specific, job related question to its candidates. In this panel interview
is conducted by the 3-4 trained manger.
 Situation judgement test:- In this interviewer ask the candidate how they are going to
handle the hypothetical situation in the defined job position. They ask multiple questions
related to different situation which can arise in the organisation.
Strength and weakness of selection approaches
Strength Weakness
Helpful in eliminating the candidate who lacks
the required qualification, skill and knowledge.
Candidates may not be honest and some test
may be ambiguous which will impact the
results.
Provides guidelines to evaluate the candidates
by strict verifications and reference checking.
Times consuming and expensive process.
TASK2
P3. Benefits of HRM practices for employer and employee.
Human resource manager of Amazon have numerous responsibilities within an
organisation to protect the interest of employer and employee (Hewitt, 2014). For this purpose,
Amazon can provide various benefits to their employer and employees.
HRM Practice Benefit
Employer Employee

Development and training Its essential for an employer to
provide appropriate training &
development to its employee.
This will help them to make
the employees expertise and
skills are also build in them.
After the target can be
achieved by the amazon
employer.
Its important for every new
people to know the new
working pattern and culture for
that they need training and
development. This will
encourage them to improve
their skills as well as motives
them to achieve the target.
Reward Its very important for an
employer to reward their
employee. If they timely
reward their employee this
boost workers motivations
towards the work. They can
reward them in monetary
terms, through promotions or
anything.
The rewards will help the
employee to do better. If they
get reward for preforming well
in job the employee get
motivated as well as they
intended top do the work in the
organisation.
Performance management If regularly the performance of
employee is major by
employer then this will help
them to timely achieve the
target
The employee should evaluate
its performance by themselves
which will help them grow in
the organisation.
P4. Evaluation of HRM practices in terms of profitability and productivity.
HRM practices are important function of organisation starting from strategic planning to
accomplishing organisational goals. These practices are essential for HR manager of Amazon to
increase profitability and productivity. Effective and efficient evaluation of HRM practices are
discussed below :-
 Training and development :- As HR manager is responsible for providing adequate and
proper training to the work force which help them in their personal or professional
development and this will enhance the organisational productivity as well as growth.
When employees will be trained properly, they will work toward the attainment of
organisational objectives which will increase the profitability of the company.
 Performance appraisal :- This HRM practices will inspires people to work toward the
achievement of organisational goals (Medlin, 2013). This enables them to form an
abstract of goals in much clear terms. When performance of employees is appraised on
regular basis, it motivates them to work with full zeal and confidence and thus helps in
organisations productivity and profitability. The Amazon offers the monetary and non-
monetary appraisal to its employees.
 Recruitment and selection:- To increase the productivity & profitability in Amazon.
The HR manager need to recruit more employee according to the work. The selection of
employee is done on the basis their potential by which productivity will increase. If
productivity increase the profit will automatically increase by the company.

TASK3
P5. Importance of employee relation in respect to influencing HRM decision making.
Every individual at the workplace shares certain relationship with their colleagues. The
responsibility of establishing good relation lies with the HRM (Newell and Scarbrough, 2017).
Involving employees in decision making not only empowers them to contribute to the prosperity
of the organisation but also saves company time and money, in increased productivity and
reduced outsourcing. The decision-making of Amazon HR will get influence by the employee
relation in the organisation. So, importance of employee relation while making decision:-
 The conflicts can be resolve easily, if the employee relation is maintained appropriately.
If the working environment is friendly and efficient then conflict can be reduce. As, HR
manager take any decision related to conflict will be followed proper if employee relation
are build strongly.
 If employee relation are strong then decision-making of the HR manger will influence
positively. As, employees are ready to accept any changes that about to implement in the
organisation.
 The decisions related to polices. If polices change related salary, perks or anything will
be acceptable by them because the company build strong relationship with them.
 This will also happen, if relation between employees as well as organisation are not good
then they refuse to accept the decisions and don't work work according to the changes.
Its necessary for Amazon to build appropriate relationship between employee, employer
and management to achieve the targeted goals and objectives. If decisions are mapped according
to the changes they will accept as well as work according to that. So, building strong employee
relations is essential by which decisions can't get effected.
The influence of employee relation & engagement over the flexible organisation, flexible
working and employer of choice:
If organisation structure is flexible in nature then employee relation is build strongly as
they can work according to their choice and they are more engage to the Amazon. The working
hours set by the Amazon manger is flexible like they set that employee need to work 10 hours a
day and they chose their time according to them. Then employee relation can maintain proper as
well as the employee is more engage towards the Amazon. If company offers them chose the
employer, this will also the factor to build employee relation and engagement.
P6. Elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM decision making.
HRM is responsible for conformation of a large number of employment and workplace
related laws (Roche and et. al., 2013). Employment laws are proposed to protect the right of the
employees and exerts some amount of control over employee relation. The most common laws
that affect the HR decisions in Amazon are discussed below :-
The Fair Labour Standard Act (FLSA)
This law includes the minimal wages rate, employee get compensation for doing
overtime and company need to maintain the records of the employee on regular basis. The child
labour standards are also maintain. The Amazon should comply with this law, as it support them
in keeping their customers satisfied with their job that further contribute toward enhancing the
productivity and profitability of company.
The Equal Pay Act
This act was enacted in 1963 and it is legally important for the company to pay equally
top their employee whether its female or male (Equal Pay Act, 2019). If they are at same position

& doing similar work in the organisation then payment needs to be equal. This law impacts the
decision making of HR manager of Amazon in evaluating the wages and salaries, bonuses,
compensation, etc. of the employees.
Occupational Health and Safety Act
This law was enacted in 1970 and are governed by the Occupational Health and Safety
Administration (Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations. 2019). HRM decisions OF
Amazon get highly influenced by this law as company have to comply with various laws that
protects workers from unsafe working environment (Sako and Sato, 2013). HRM decisions are
made on considering the documents of all hazardous materials used, in reporting court or juries,
etc. Their decisions are also influenced on providing proper training for any dangerous jobs at
the work place.
TASK4
P7. Applications of HRM practices in work related context.
Job specification for marketing manager in Amazon is mentioned below:-
Amazon UK
Marketing Manager Job Specification
Qualifications Bachelor's Degree in Marketing
Masters in Business or Marketing
Experience 5 years of experience in Marketing
Experience of managing a team or staff of 8 people
Experience in global market place
Experience managing external PR and communicating consulting firm
Areas of expertise Innovation
Product development
Skills Effective communicator
Expert in the internet and social media strategy
Highly developed, demonstrated team work skills
CURRICULUM VITAE
Name XYZ
Qualifications MBA in Marketing from London University
BBA from London University
Experience Marketing manager with 6 years of experience in cosmetic company
Developed new promotion campaigns by bundling product together
Recruited, trained and hired over 30 marketing and sales specialist
Directed launch of 12 new product lines
Key skills Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft project, team leadership
Language English, French
Achievements Employee of the month award 2018
Best market leader award 2017
Contact (123)456789
xyz @ yahoo . com
Documentation of preparatory notes for interviews

As interview is the main and only method of selecting a perspective candidates so
documents to be prepared which consist of following points given below :-
 Open questions : These questions starts with “ what, why, how ,etc.” like what
experience do you have of managing team ? , how do you keep yourself up to date with
the latest development ?,etc.
 Behavioural questions : These questions are effective as they provide relevant
information. Questions can be, Please give an example of a complex problem that you
solved in minimum time ? , etc.
 Probing questions : It ensures maximum information of a candidates. It includes
questions like, what other people were involved in your group ? , How you have
performed to achieve the target of product development? , etc.
Interview notes based on selection criteria
Evaluation and selection of candidate will be based on:-
 What the interviewer experienced the candidate while taking interview.
 Candidate response while answering the questions and information gathered.
 Each panel member will discuss with each other that the candidate can be hired or is
appropriate for the job, etc.
Job Offer Letter
4.01.2019
XYZ
ABC building, London.
Re : Offer of Employment
Mr. XYZ
It is a pleasure to extend to you our written offer of employment for the position of Marketing
Manager at our office in London. This position will report to Mr. PQR ,Executive marketing
manager. Your gross base starting salary will be £300000 per month payable at a gross rate of
£292000.
The position is benefits eligible. Amazon benefits and related information can be found in the
Amazon handbook, which is provided under separate cover.
As a formality we would request you to sign this offer letter below as per your acceptance of
this offer by 10.01.2019. If we do not receive your written acceptance by that date then this
offer will be void.
We are looking forward to you joining our team. Meanwhile if you have any question please
feel free to contact me at (123)987654 or hrmanager @ amazon. in
Yours truly
PQR
HR manager of Amazon
Evaluation and rationale of conducting HR practices
 Safe, healthy and happy workplace : Creating safe and happy workplace ensures that
employees feel like home and stay in organisation for long time.
 Highlight performers : Create profiles of top performers and make these visible through
company intranet, display boards, etc. It will encourage other people to do their best with
full zeal and confidence.

 Rewards : Appreciation is very important both in monitory and non monitory terms. As
this motivates people to do their best for achieving organisational goals and objectives.
CONCLUSION
From the above given report it has been concluded that Human resources are very crucial
part of organisations and perform several functions for effective working of the organisation.
Major function of human resource manager is selection and recruitment that support company to
place high skilled and competent workforce which contribute toward enhancing the productivity
and profitability of company. But in order to make organisation sustain in market place, HR must
ensure that company should comply with several laws and regulations such as Equal pay,
Occupational health & safety Act, Fair labour standard etc.
REFRENCES
Books and Journals

Carbery, R. and Cross, C. eds., 2015. Human Resource Development: A Concise Introduction.
Palgrave.
Frederick, K. D. and Sedjo, R. A., 2013. America's renewable resources: historical trends and
current challenges. RFF Press.
Harris, M. M. ed., 2012. Handbook of research in international human resource management.
Psychology Press.
Herriot, P., 2013. The employment relationship: A psychological perspective. Routledge.
Hewitt, K., 2014. Regions of risk: A geographical introduction to disasters. Routledge.
Lam, A. C., 2012. Women and Japanese management: discrimination and reform. Routledge.
Medlin, B., 2013. Performance management-or lack thereof-at Bella's. Journal of Business
Cases and Applications. 7.p.1.
Newell, H. and Scarbrough, H., 2017. Human resource management in context: A case study
approach. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Roberts, G., 2015. Christian scripture and human resource management: Building a path to
Servant leadership through faith. Springer.
Roche and et. al., 2013. Recession at work: HRM in the Irish crisis. Routledge.
Sako, M. and Sato, H., 2013. Japanese labour and management in transition: Diversity,
flexibility and participation. Routledge.
Online
Functions of Human Resource Management. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.keka.com/5-major-functions-human-resource-management/>./
Effective Employee Selection Methods. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<http://www.scontrino-powell.com/2012/effective-employee-selection-methods/>
Equal Pay Act. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.justia.com/employment/employment-discrimination/equal-pay-act/>
Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/occupational-health-and-safety-act-and-regulations>