HRM Functions, Workforce Planning, and Employee Relations at LV=

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Human Resources Management (HRM) practices within the context of LV=, a major financial and insurance company in the UK. It begins by defining the core functions of HRM, including recruitment, reward management, maintaining good working conditions, and training and development, and then assesses their relationship to workforce planning and resourcing within LV=. The report evaluates LV='s recruitment and selection processes, critically examining their strengths and weaknesses. It then delves into specific HRM practices, such as person specifications, short-listing applications, and competency-based selection interviews, evaluating their effectiveness in selecting the best candidates. The report further explores learning and development opportunities for staff, and discusses the rewards and benefits from both organizational and employee perspectives. Finally, the report examines employee relations and the impact of employment legislation on HRM within LV=, providing a holistic view of its HR strategies and their implications.

Human Resources
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Activity 1.........................................................................................................................................1
Explaining the purpose and functions of HRM .....................................................................1
(b)Assesses how these functions relate to workforce planning and resourcing within LV and
therefore its importance to the organization as a whole. .......................................................3
(c)Critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of LV=’s approaches to its Recruitment
and Selection..........................................................................................................................3
Activity 2.........................................................................................................................................4
HRM practices in a work- related context .............................................................................4
(a)Person specification...........................................................................................................4
(b)Short-listing of the job application ...................................................................................5
(C)Six competency-based questions to be asked at the selection interview..........................5
Critical evaluation the use of a person specification, short-listing applications using a person
specification and competency-based selection interviews in assisting an organization in
selecting the best person for the Personal Assistant role........................................................5
Activity 3.........................................................................................................................................6
a) Evaluate the learning and development opportunities for staff..........................................6
b) Discuss the rewards and benefits from both an organisation and staff point of view........7
Activity 4.........................................................................................................................................9
(a) Explain employee relations and the importance of employee relations within an
organisation context................................................................................................................9
b) Elements of employment legislation and its impact on HRM.........................................10
CONCLUSION:.............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
The human resources department of any organisation is considered as the management of
those people who works for the company towards the achievement of respective goals and
objective. As the working staff of a company is refereed as the asset and effective resources of
business. In the late 20th century, the HRM emerged as specific tool and department in the field
of organisation management majorly derived by Frederick Winslow Taylor (Berman, E.M. and
et. al). With a view to influence the working people for the attainment of organisational
achievement. The detailed description and assessment of HRM practices is performed in respect
of LV= company which is considered as the largest friendly group in UK. This organisation
majorly deals in all kinds of financial operations and services. Thus also it is leading company in
the sector of insurances in the UK. Established in the year 1843 and primarily owned by the
respective members within.
In this report the major functions and purposes of HRM are defined brief, their role in the
workforce planning and the evaluation of advantages and disadvantages are performed.
Recruitment and selection process of LV= comprising of all factors as person specification,
interview questions, and the justification with respective rational are given. Later on in this
report the learning and development is evaluated in respect of the people of organisation to grab
certain opportunities. This factor will effect both staff and organisation with some benefits and
rewards. Employ relations with the organisation and all the legislations that affects the HRM are
considered in the last portion of this paper.
Activity 1
(a)Explaining the purpose and functions of HRM
LV= a well renowned organisation which efficiently deals in the financial and insurance
sector. The organisation performs its operations within the confines of United Kingdoms. The
organisation has only a service range within the domestic area. It is a medium size enterprise
which has a nature of offering services to the respective customer segment.
HRM functions are placed as per the theoretical practices of management in the LV= to
get the efficient access in all the aspects of operations of business (Ferraris, Erhardt and
Bresciani, 2019.). As the HR manager is complied to manage and control the overall functions of
business to enhance the productivity and effective scale of working.
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Recruitment
The process of selecting the preferred candidate on to the right job is termed a
recruitment process staffing plans and should grade the number of employees they are going to
need. The recruitment process comprises of various steps into it. It is classified in to two major
segments respectively as internal and external recruitment.
Reward management
Any value or subject that is offered in terms of appreciating the individual or a respective
part of the work force. The reward is only provided to the deserving potential candidate. The
reward system in HRM has the purpose of enhancing the working quality and quantity up to the
desired level (Pham, Hoang and Phan, 2019). A financial benefits, promotion, appraisal or any
kind of valuable gifts fall under the category of reward. The effective planning and controlling
the reward system is crucial to maintain the good working environment of the organisation. Thus
it is the most recognised function of the HRM .
Maintaining Good Working Conditions
A major responsibility of human resource management for the preferred working
conditions for its employees to make them like the environment of organisation It is the
fundamental duty of the HR department to motivate the employees (Baldwin, 2016). The study
has been found that employees don’t contribute to the goals of the organization as much as they
can. This is because of the lack of motivation.
Training and Development
Training and development are the two integral parts of selection that helps an individual
job seeker to transform into a skilled and valuable human resource. As it also affects the
organisation in positive way to attain the goals and objectives in performing the operations of its
workers. The perfect training and development program enables a company to increase its
productivity and decrease the time and cost rate of operations.
The training and development has the strategic approach which is pointed towards the
desired goals of organisation. T&D can be in a consistent place of practice as when it is
conducted on the bigger scale and quantity, for the organisation like LV= there would be short
chances for the intensive and bigger scale trainings. The purpose behind conducting the training
and development is to set up a balanced structure in the organisation.
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(b)Assesses how these functions relate to workforce planning and resourcing within LV and
therefore its importance to the organization as a whole.
The planning and controlling of the work force consists of effective staffing, making good
environment of the organisation. The functions of human resources management as the
recruitment and selections, training and development, maintaining good working conditions and
reward management helps the managers of LV= to curate their each and every step in more
efficient way as possible. Practice of recruitment and selection enables a manager to bring the
new and potential workforce, to fulfil the demand of the human resources of organisation as they
also contribute in the effective selection of new employees. Maintaining the working conditions
helps the organisation to work smoothly and enforces the HR MANAGER to forecast the
scenarios of internal aspects and to determine the need of the organisational operations in the
near future.
The functions of HRM such as the reward management in LV= helps in attaining the
maximum growth of organisation and its people, providing them a motivational boost on a
timely basis. This significantly affects the operations of company which are performed better by
high moral work force. By the function training and development it enables the workers to make
them aware about policies and regulations of the organisation, providing them enough aids to
perform better, giving the training according to their nature of operations. This segment will help
the manager to do the effective staffing while forming the workforce plan. Thus these all factors
help an employee to grow with the balanced composition of value and skills. The LV=
corporation does also gets certain magnificent benefits of these functions of HRM as they
emphasise more on the growth of business as well as of its people. It maintains the balance
between the operations and management effectively.
(c)Critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of LV=’s approaches to its Recruitment
and Selection
The approaches of recruitment and selection of LV= are classified accordingly into 4
major steps as step one comprises of research, then the online application, third step involves the
overall selection process which has two parts as telephone interview and face to face interview.
The last and foremost step is the outcome which determines the conclusive results of the overall
process. The major strengths and disadvantages of Recruitment process of LV= are as follows:
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Strengths – The process of research is dynamic and the online application provides an
ease to the employer as well as to the job applicant. It helps in reaching to the large portion of
job seeking candidate.
Weakness - The major disadvantage of having all these functions into the process are as
the research process can take too much time and decrease the efficiency in the organisational
productivity. The online application attracts less compatible contestants, also arises the chances
of fraudulent personnel for the job.
With a coverage of all the essential steps the Selection process of LV= involves some great
strengths and weaknesses these are as follows :
Strengths – The process of selection is flexible as it involves the telephonic interview and
the face to face interview helps the interviewer to judge the aptitude and person's characteristics.
Thus it becomes the most efficient way to do the recruitment and selection
Weakness - It consumes too much of time to evaluate the characteristics of right person it
increases the chances of loss of the resources of organisation at the time when selected candidate
urges to leave the job. The outcome process is quite slow as compared to the other operations of
HRM.
Activity 2
HRM practices in a work- related context
(a)Person specification
It is a brief document which is prepared according to the desired and essential criteria. A
person specification provides all the crucial information about the job and operations (Basharat,
2020). It is an important tool for the job applicant to determine the required skills and standard of
the particular job.
Job Title Personal Assistant
Report to Retirement Advice Director and Commercial Finance Director
Job purpose Providing the effectual personal assistance and secretarial advice to the two
directors in a rapid flowing environment.
organisation LV=
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Skills Essential Desired
Responsibility Effective balance in responsibility and
accountability with respective superior
and subordinates.
Managing the secretarial and advisory
terms with senior bosses
Coordination Perfect coordination with external and
internal resources.
Handling the outer forces with
making contacts and with them
Assistance Quick assistance in all the department Having knowledge of various
operations in the organisation.
Responsibility All the duties of working area are
needed to be fulfilled by the candidate
The candidate must follow and
perform all the roles and
responsibilities given to him in all the
business activities
Strong
interrelationshi
p
Maintaining effective relationship with
the all business factors
Managing the overall factors such as
booking rooms, travel management,
documentation, and informative
(b)Short-listing of the job application
The person specification includes various qualifications which are required by them for
efficiently performing the role. The document for the role personal assistant has been given with
the help of which the abilities of the candidate applying for the job can be analysed by the human
resource managers. Upon receiving of the candidatures they can evaluate the candidates by
comparing their skills and abilities as per the requirement of the job and accordingly they can be
short listed for the further section process. The use of the person specification will enable the
managers of the organisation in ensuring that the candidates that have been shortlisted are as per
the requirement of the profile. As per person specification so developed for the LV all the
essential and desired skills which are required by the employer of LV= for the job of personal
assistant. The second candidate would be suitable for the selection as a personal assistant as the
abilities of the candidate matches with the required skills for the job role.
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(C)Six competency-based questions to be asked at the selection interview
For the job opening of personal assistant there will be many steps in the process of
selection of suitable candidate. The HR manager selected the second candidate and there will be
a typical round of interview, that would help the manager to assess the personal and professional
skills, behavioural standards, stability conditions and the attitude of the respective candidate
(Chaudhry, And et. al., 2019). While at the time of interview the interview can ask these
following questions to get acknowledged of the overall scenario and conditions with the
interviewee:
Q1 State your behavioural strengths in an adverse condition?
Q2 What was the highest potential level of performance at your previous work ?
Q3 How you can be productive for the organisation at the same time of assisting the superiors ?
Q4 What should be the basic strategies of a PA towards managing the work schedule of
director ?
Q5 What are the qualities which makes you suitable for this job ?
Q6 Describe any previous situation where you helped your superiors to resolve the departmental
issues ?
(d) Rationale to support the answers given in a b and c.
All the answers that are provided in the above context are the most preferable selection
for them. In personal specification, it allows the employer to identify the skills and traits which
are essential and desirable for the organisational operations. This specification also helps to clear
certain doubts of job applicant (L'Écuyer and et . al., 2019.). The other answer where the second
candidate has been selected has typical justifications to support the judgement of HR. the
qualities and skills that were mentioned in the CV matched with almost all the criteria of the
person specification. The selection of the respective candidate should comprise of all the factors
which can determine the competence level of candidate. These aspects are efficiently covered
within the 6 questions of interview, that will enable the HR to countering the efficient working
abilities of the job applicant
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(e)Critical evaluation the use of a person specification, short-listing applications using a person
specification and competency-based selection interviews in assisting an organization in
selecting the best person for the Personal Assistant role
As per the given summary of the selection process of the second candidate for the job. It
is essential to get a clear image of the personnel to qualify for the job. By making the person
specification for the personal assistant job position, it cleared the perspective of the potential
candidates about the skill and knowledge which is required for the respective job (Westerman,
and et. al., 2020). As well as the defined specifications helped the recruiter to identify the most
perfect candidate for the job. At the time of selection, the candidate everything is needed to be
made sure about the details and information which are provisioned in the CV of the job
applicant. These assurances are done by taking interview of the selected individual. A number of
effective questions are needed to be asked by the interviewer in terms of making the selection
process a successful and efficient process. These questions are based on the posts requirement
for the overall analyses of the candidate. Such questions are asked to monitor and identify the
state of mind of the personnel.
The person specification enables to develop an understanding of the required level of
knowledge and skills for a particular job role. Mast of the human resource department within the
organisation uses this method for attracting the suitable candidate as per their requirement. The
managers of LV= must consider the pros and cons of person specification as this enables them to
manage its influences.
Pros:
 It reflects all the specific requirement of the job in details so that the job can be
performed efficiently
 It enables the managers to keep the document as the benchmark for evaluating the
employees and the required level of trainings to be provided to any particular candidate
Cons:
 The documents can be used for a specific time period as the requirement of the job
gradually changes with the change in the technology and the challenges which are faced
by the employees
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 With this only emotional characteristics as well as personality traits can be considered but
the level of experience is not considered for the candidate
Once this document will be prepared by the managers of LV= then they can easily perform
the screening of the resumes of the candidates which will save their time consumed for analysing
the multiple applications. Further the selection with the help of competence based interview is
effective as with the help of this the interviewer can efficiently analyses the mindset of the
candidate as well as actions taken by them in different situations such as the candidate can be
asked situational question to identify their competency. This will facilitate to determine the
suitable candidate for the post of personal assistant. Also selection through competency based
questions enables to modify the question of interview for testing the capability of the candidates
as per their responses with which suitability can efficiently be tested.
Activity 3
a) Evaluate the learning and development opportunities for staff
Learning and development opportunities help the employees to increase the knowledge
base of employees as it provides various opportunities to employees (Sinclair and et. al., 2016).
It is one of the important function of Human resource management as they are provided
according to the type of employee, their goals and their job profile. Different training is given to
employees so as to increases the productivity of an organisation. If employees are well
developed, then they can handle complex issues that provide comfort in the workplace.
the learning and development opportunities which are available by LV= to their staff are
given below:
Continuing Education: It help employees to enhance the practical skills and providing
effective training to them by providing comfort working environment that enhance the
productivity (Presbitero, Roxas, and Chadee, 2016). In firm LV=, the manager conducts
workshops and seminars and various certificate programs to enhance the constant learning
among the subordinates.
To adopt new technology: the capacity of employees increases by providing specialised
training to them that they can achieve their task in an appropriate time. They are familiar of new
and innovative technology during training that increases the effectiveness of employees. In the
context of LV=, the employees are aware of the changes takes place in a dynamic environment
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that accelerate the development of an organisation. The manager of concerned firm provide
effective training to employees to handle sophisticated machines to resolve complex issues. The
company provide rewards and recognition to employees so that they can contribute their best
beyond a level to increase the output.
the learning and development opportunities which are available by LV= from the point of
view of organisation are given below:
Proper Research: The manager of LV= perform a market research to know about the
competitors and new customer trends in order to satisfy their demand. The respective firm also
get acquainted with work of employees so that they can provide perks and promotion according
to their skills that builds confidence and trust in them.
Participation in Professional events: With reference to LV=, the top manager provide
sponsorship in order to gain competitive advantage within the market. The manager of firm
attend regional and international meetings and conferences to gain strong knowledge base and
improves the overall performance.
Increased duties and responsibilities: The high level authority of LV= takes new
challenges in current position and assignments or projects(Nazir and et. al., 2016). By investing
huge amount on training, the workforce would become innovative and creative that increases the
skills and helps in development of an employee.
Skilled based training: By providing effective training to employees so that they can
complete their project before the deadline of a project. With reference to LV=, the employees
are well trained and they can work in an efficient manner that provide the growth to a company
that increase the reputation of a business across the globe.
LV= is one of the leading firm in UK that deal with range of financial services like life
insurance, pensions and many more and its aim is to satisfy the needs of customers that increase
the profitability of a business. The manager of concerned firm provides best and efficient
services to customers in order to increase the productivity and profitability of a business. The
manager can assign task according to their skills to achieve the goals effectively and efficiently.
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b) Discuss the rewards and benefits from both an organisation and staff point of view
Rewards and benefits are very important to increase the morale of employees. The
manager of LV= recognise the work of employees so that they could achieve the goals
efficiently. This results in improving the overall performance of organisation and builds
confidence and loyalty among them.
Rewards and benefits provided to employees
Pension Plan: It is one of the valuable plan provided by LV= to its employees in which
employee invest at least 3% of their pay from their account and then at the age of 55 they get the
amount doubled. This is one of the benefit the is provided to employees.
Gym flex: The employees of LV= gets gym membership at discounted corporates from
wide range of health clubs, gym and so on.
Annual Bonus Scheme: In the context of LV=, the bonus is provided based on the
performance of employees and department. The company provide monetary incentive based on
their work done by employees with extra skills.
Shared Parental Leave: This scheme is available to pregnant persons to pay at future
date and it is one of the opted scheme used by employees that provide pay of 37 weeks.
Health Cash Plan: This scheme is provided to employees to cover wide range of
everyday health services like dental, physiotherapy and optical. This plan is most common in a
LV= firm.
Loyalty Rewards: Under this scheme, this reward is provided to those who have spent
more than five years with LV=. This reward is provided to loyal customers that ensure
continuous growth of a business.
Rewards and benefits from an organisation point of view
Good Cash-flows: The LV= have good financial position in the market and it has
positive cash flows that increases the output and goodwill within the market. This is the plus
point for a company as more of the investors would invest that provide growth opportunities to a
firm.
Stimulates Development: When employees are recognized for their work, they tends to
do more beyond their potential. The rewards and recognition is provided to employees to
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