HRM Report: Data Analysis and Recommendations for ABC Fashions

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of human resource management (HRM) practices at ABC Fashions, a UK-based fashion retailer. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining employee records for effective workforce management, particularly in an industry with fluctuating demand. The report delves into the types of HR data ABC Fashions should collect, including personal information, availability, and compensation details, and suggests secure data storage methods such as cloud servers and ERP business suites. It highlights the significance of continuous data input and retrieval for forecasting and decision-making. Furthermore, the report addresses the implications of the Data Protection Act, emphasizing the need for compliance regarding data accuracy, employee awareness, and data retention periods. Through data analysis of employee absence and turnover rates across different stores, the report offers strategic recommendations, such as focusing on employee engagement, addressing high turnover in specific stores, and identifying best practices. The conclusion underscores the value of using HRM information systems for data-driven decision-making to enhance competitiveness.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT – 635844

Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................3
Human resource management...................................................................................................3
ABC Fashions..............................................................................................................................3
Importance of maintaining employee records....................................................................3
Collecting HR information and data....................................................................................4
Method to store data.........................................................................................................5
Storing and retrieving information.....................................................................................5
Data Protection Act............................................................................................................6
Data analysis......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................8
References.........................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Human resource management
Human resource management is an approach that has gained a lot of importance in the past
few decades. The approach basically assists business organisations in the management of
their workforce in the best possible manner and helps employers in establishing better work
relations with their employees. Human resource management uses a number of core and non-
core functions, such as training and development, performance management, career
development, etc. to help business organisations in the management of their workforce and in
optimising their performance levels.
ABC Fashions
ABC Fashions is a company based in UK that operates in the fashion industry. The company
has around 34 stores in the Midlands and South of the United Kingdom and is primarily
selling ladies fashion. The company also offers some lines of men and children fashion but its
primary focus is on ladies’ fashion. The company offers employment opportunities to a
number of people, especially students, during the holiday season as the demand for the
products of the company generally rises during the holiday season and it has to cover up the
increased demand of human resource in its various outlets. This report has been prepared to
gain a deeper insight into the case of this company and also to understand the need for the
company to analyse and maintain data and information related to its human resources.
Importance of maintaining employee records
Management of human resource is not an easy task and requires a complete professional
approach and administration to achieve efficiency and the desired results. To increase the
human resource management competencies, it is important for business organisations to
maintain data and information related to their human resources. From the perspective of ABC
Fashions, it is important to maintain employee records because:
First of all, the company is operating in an industry where the demand for products and
services can largely vary in holiday seasons and come down otherwise. In such organisations,
the managers generally experience a great rise and fall in the human resource demand of all
the stores. In order to cope up with the changes in human resource demands of their retail

stores, it is important for the managers to maintain employee records and use the information
from the past to determine the human resource demand in the near future (Team Synerion,
2016). Further, it would also assist the company in avoiding shortage of staff or keeping the
retail stores overstaffed.
Secondly, maintaining personal information of the employees can also prove to be a huge
plus point for the company. As the company employs a large number of people on a
temporary basis, it can store their information in its information systems so that they can
again be contacted for job opportunities when there is an increase in the human resource
demand (Mitrefinch, 2015).
Therefore, maintaining employee records will help ABC Fashion in planning its human
resources and saving its resources, which would otherwise go in vain for recruiting and
selecting fresh talent from the market.
Collecting HR information and data
There is practically no limit to data and information that can be collected in the business
world, especially related to the human resources. From the view point of a human resource
manager, the employee data and information that should be collected can be related to
demographics, pay scale and benefits, work experience, availability, personal details (Name,
Contact Details, etc.) and much more. The type of employee data that the ABC Fashion
company should collect is discussed below:
First of all, it should be mandatory for the company to collect personal information of the
employees and sort them on the basis of permanent and temporary employees (Johnson,
2015). In simple words, the company should collect the personal details of its permanent and
temporary employees separately (GOV.UK, n.d.).
Secondly, the company should collect information and data related to temporary employees’
availability and compensation. Collecting such information of the temporary employees will
allow the company to easily and quickly identify those employees who are easily available
and would also be cost effective to be re-employed on a temporary basis during the peak
seasons.

Method to store data
Collection and analysis of data or information is not just the only concerns for business
organisations. Storing the data and information collected is equally important from the view
point of a business as storing data can prove to be helpful at later stages or in the time of great
needs. There are a number of strategies that can help ABC Fashion in storing their data and
keeping it secure. Some of the strategies are discussed below:
First of all, the most obvious way for the company to store its data can be a cloud server,
which are easily available in the market. The company can purchase a cloud server, such as
Google OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. and can store all its important data in its accounts. Further,
the company can also limit the access of the cloud server to the concerned personnel only,
which will also help in securing the data from unknown entities (NT, 2014).
Secondly, if the company can allocate a greater budget towards the storage of information
and data related to its human resources, it can opt for an ERP business suite that would assist
it in creating, storing and analysing data and information altogether. The company can get a
software designed according to its own need and can also use it to store and analyse the data
at the same time (Any Time Student Information, n.d.).
Storing and retrieving information
Using human resource information is not an easy task. For an organisation to achieve
maximum and efficient results, it is important that it is able to create, store and retrieve
information and data on a continuous basis as the overall results are dependent on the amount
of information and data available.
In all portability, the sole purpose of using human resource management information and
systems is to forecast the human resource conditions that a company is likely going to
experience in the near future. In order to forecast the required information and also to ensure
higher accuracy of the forecast, it is important that sufficient data and information from the
past and the present is available to the users. As a result, it is very important for ABC
Fashions to continuously input and retrieve all the information and data that is related to the
human resources working in its retail outlets.

Data Protection Act
The Data Protection Act, introduced in 1998 by the Parliament of United Kingdom, is a legal
binding that was designed to protect personal data stored on computers or maintained on an
organised paper filing system. The three aspects of data storage, in accordance with the Data
Protection Act, that should be addressed by the ABC Fashion company are discussed below:
First of all, as the company wants to maintain and store employee information and data, it
should ensure that it is strictly done according to the law and Data Protection Act can provide
a legal framework to the company (Knowhownonprofit, 2017). The act also makes it
compulsory for the companies to identify and ensure the accuracy of the stored data.
Secondly, under the Data Protection Act, it is necessary that ABC Fashion keeps accurate
data related to the employees and that the employees are aware about all the information and
data (related to themselves) that the company is maintaining. The company will also have to
ensure that it maintains sensitive personal data of the employees, such as racial or ethnic
origin, trade union membership, etc. only if it has taken the consent from the employees to do
so (ico.org.uk, n.d.).
Thirdly, in accordance to the Data Protection Act, ABC Fashion will also have to ensure that
it maintains employee information and data only for a specified period of time and update,
archive or securely delete the information or data once it has fulfilled its purpose.

Data analysis
Store 1 Store 2 Store 3 Store 4 Store 5 Store 6 Store 7 Store 8
0
5
10
15
20
25
Absenteeism and Turnover
Absence Rate Staff Turnover Rate
From the above graph, it can be clearly seen that the 4th Store has the highest absence rate,
which is 7.2% in the past 12 months. The 3rd store has the lowest absence rate, which is 1.8%.
The 3rd Store also has the highest staff turnover rate, which is 21% and the 6th store has the
lowest staff turnover rate, which is 10%.
This data can be used by the human resource managers of the ABC Fashion company to draw
important conclusions and to take important decisions related to the management of human
resources working in the company.
First of all, the human resource managers working in the company should divert their focus
towards the 4th store where the absence rate is relatively higher than the other stores. The
human resource managers should start taking measures and implementing strategies that
would help them in keeping the employees working in the 4th store motivated and engaged.
The managers can also conduct a survey to find the problems that the workforce of the 4th
store is facing, such as the problems related to work conditions, work environment, etc. Such
measures will help the management of the company in bringing down the absence rate in the
4th store.
Secondly, the data from the third store reveals that the staff turnover rates in the store are the
highest even when the absence rate is lowest. This is an indicator that the employees working

in the third store are engaged but are not able to continue their jobs. An important conclusion
that can be drawn from the data is that the third store might have been employing more
temporary workers and students in the peak season, which leads to high turnover rates. The
management of the company can undertake strategies, such as offering overtime to
permanent workers, etc. that would help them in bringing down the employee turnover rates
in the third store.
Thirdly, the 6th store can be seen to have the lowest staff turnover rates, which implies that
the work conditions in the store are favourable and that the employees are engaged in their
jobs. The management of the company can use this data as an advantage and can carry out
surveys in the 6th store to check the conditions that are favourable to the employees and what
is keeping them engaged. The information that the management receives from the survey can
then be used to formulate strategies for other stores that have not been performing well in
terms of absence rates and staff turnover rates so that their absence and staff turnover rates
can be controlled. Furthermore, the management can also identify store leaders who have
been able to contribute towards the success of the organisation through the information
available above and can transfer them to other stores where the leaders have been failing in
meeting the performance objectives.
Conclusion
ABC Fashion is a large enterprise that is running 32 retail stores in different parts of the
United Kingdom. The company also has a large workforce employed in its retail stores for
serving its customers, which increases the need for proper management of human resources.
For a company operating at such a scale, it is important to maintain human resource
information and data as it can be of a great help to its human resource management team.
Therefore, in order to remain competitive in the market, it is important that the company uses
human resource information systems to create, store, retrieve and analyse data and
information related to its workforce and use the retrieved information in its decision making
process. In doing so, the company should also ensure that the human resource information
and personal data that it collects is strictly done by adhering to the guidelines provided in the
Data Protection Act so that it can avoid legal troubles.

References
Knowhownonprofit, 2017. KEEPING EMPLOYEE RECORDS. [Online]
Available at: https://knowhownonprofit.org/people/employment-law-and-hr/law-and-hr-
basics/copy_of_records[Accessed 30 September 2017].
ico.org.uk, n.d. Retaining personal data (Principle 5). [Online]
Available at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/principle-5-
retention/[Accessed 30 September 2017].
Team Synerion, 2016. Why It's Important to Keep Accurate Employee Records. [Online]
Available at: http://blog.synerion.com/why-its-important-to-keep-accurate-employee-records
[Accessed 30 September 2017].
Mitrefinch, 2015. The importance of keeping accurate employee records. [Online]
Available at: http://www.mitrefinch.co.uk/blog/the-importance-of-keeping-accurate-
employee-records/[Accessed 30 September 2017].
Johnson, Z., 2015. Tracking These 6 Types of Data Can Help You Recruit and Retain Star
Employees Read more at http://www.business2community.com/big-data/tracking-6-types-
data-can-help-recruit-retain-star-employees-01314652#SYZ1oSCZjh9Wkw6t.99. [Online]
Available at: http://www.business2community.com/big-data/tracking-6-types-data-can-help-
recruit-retain-star-employees-01314652#6eV4LTQer9JZleyv.97[Accessed 30 September
2017].
GOV.UK, n.d. Personal data an employer can keep about an employee. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/personal-data-my-employer-can-keep-about-me
[Accessed 30 September 2017].
NT, B., 2014. 5 advantages and disadvantages of Cloud Storage. [Online]
Available at: http://bigdata-madesimple.com/5-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-cloud-
storage/[Accessed 30 September 2017].

Any Time Student Information, n.d. A.T.S.I. [Online] Available at:
https://www.atsi.in/atsi/employee-payroll-system.html[Accessed 30 September 2017].