Analyzing Octopus Energy's HR Strategy: Impact on Productivity & Value

This essay critically examines the role of Human Resources (HR) departments in enhancing employee productivity and happiness, using Octopus Energy's unique HR-free approach as a central example. Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, questions the conventional belief that HR departments are essential for employee satisfaction and productivity, opting instead for a decentralized management system where managers handle HR tasks directly. The essay explores the advantages and disadvantages of this approach, weighing the potential for increased managerial autonomy and employee creativity against the risks of bias, over-exploitation, and lack of standardized HR practices. The analysis considers the value of HR in training, development, and ensuring fair treatment of employees, ultimately assessing whether Octopus Energy's model can be a sustainable and effective alternative to traditional HR structures, or if it overlooks crucial aspects of human resource management that contribute to long-term organizational success and employee well-being. Desklib provides this essay as part of its collection of solved assignments for students.

Group Presentation

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
INTRODUCTION
HR department is the task which maximizes the employees productivity and protecting
the company issues. This essay is about the founder of CEO who doesn't believe that HR

departments make the employees happier or productive. This is the reason why Octopus Energy
does not have such HR department. In this project the individual perception of HR is shown as a
transactional bureaucratic and old-fashioned business function. It has been shown in some
modern organization which are cutting edge and agile in their operations have been able to
successful in without an HR department. Greg Jackson once quoted that “drown creative people
in process and bureaucracy”, meaning that for an organization to be successful it is important for
them to hire creative people which will develop their operations and process. This is the reason
why Greg believes that Human Resource department are not the ones which are responsible for
uplifting the organization despite having specialization in hiring of employees. In this essay the
importance of HR in adding the value to the employees of the organization will also be
discussed. This critical analysation of the importance of HR department will utilize
organizational examples for showing the relevancy to the theoretical concepts which will be
discussed the HR department.
MAIN BODY
Greg Jackson the CEO of Octopus Energy explained how he does not believe that the HR
departments are capable in making the employees happier or more productive for the company.
This claim was a very bold one as it is very common phenomenon to have an HR department in
an organization. However, there are reason why certain company would prefer not to have
services of HR. These companies are generally too small or are the one which have made a
choice of not outsourcing these services of HR. For example a company like Octopus which
despite hiring HR team focuses on having a more centralized function (CEO Secrets: 'My billion
pound company has no HR department', 2021). Most of the HR tasks are then dealt with by the
managers which are responsible for their own team. It is a very effective way as the managers are
able to make selective hiring of employees which means creativity and highly productive
employees. This approach increases the work pressure on the managers as they have learned
from the practices of HR department.
Jackson also admits that this method of not having a proper HR department for managing
the people in the organization is a system which will not work because it is considered to be very
reasonable in sizing the organization towards eschewing the traditional HR structure. Greg
believes that in Octopus they give their management exercises which provide experiences in
relation to the management of the peers (Brannon, Higginbotham and Henderson, 2017). It can

be said that the allows them to lead their team without any fear of hierarchy. In this perceptive
belief is that the management isn't need to be told about how to do their jobs by a centralized
team of HR. It can be said as the choice which the organization needs to make for developing
ways of bringing excellence to the duty of different capabilities. The traditional model needs to
have a dedicated HR department which helps the business in looking after all those things.
Having a centralized management that allows the business in field of devotion,
orientation and also taking care of the employees may or may not be so crucial for the business.
The human resource department is considered to be very old-fashioned approach which is
canned easily replaced with the help of other leaders and managers. The hiring and firing of
employees, it is a very essential aspect of an organization. There are organizations which prefer
to often be responsible for making the first contact which is towards the establishment of an
initial interview (Vershinin, 2021). The managers can directly hire employees or make the
decision of terminating a worker if necessary. It has both positives and negatives as the worker
focuses on ways through which the termination of the worker can be bias decision. This is the
reason for which the consultation of high authority is important while making such essential
decision in the organization.
New recruitment in the organization is also very important. This is the reason why hiring
of the new employees are considered to be the introduction of the company in well beyond
practices. Introduction of the company can be very essential for the job responsibility as it helps
them in the collection of the necessary information which is required by the employees to have
better learning opportunities. The members of the managers of the team are considered to be
responsible for communication of the company policies and expectation which is helpful for the
expectations. The relations the organization has with the employees is said to be generally with
the leaders and the managers. However, the modern era the HR management is considered to be
the department which has the relations with organization. This is the reason why referring to the
policy of HR is considered to be outdate and an old fashion way in which the business is able to
develop better relations with the organization.
HR management are known for their influence on the training and development of the
people in the organization (Fenech, Baguant and Ivanov, 2019). However, for an organization
which does not believe in the having a centralized approach training the employees can help
them to increase their productivity. Having the training and development in the organization is

considered to be very effective way of increasing the productivity of the organization. This is the
reason why training and development is so essential for any modern organization. However,
company's like Octopus are able to train their employees with the help of their managers and the
team leaders which allows the business in increasing employee productivity.
The costs which are incurred by the human resource planning is considered to be an
additional cost which according to the views of Jackson and which helps in the providing the
employees with diversion of the direct increase of incoming. This way of managing the
employees is said to be the very effective in the resource planning which likes the business to
increase the profits (Makedon and et.al., 2019). It can be said that the unpredictability of the
human resource planning is said to be the potential of how the business helps the organization
with a greater degree of stability which is helpful for skills of the workforce. There is no
guarantee about the workers on they ability of being trained. It can be said that the benefits of
Human resource as per this view is very few in comparison to the down sides. That is essential
for the business to considered for ensuring the effectiveness of the organization.
This approach of Greg Jackson has certain flaws which can be identified in many ways. It
can be said that this is a very bold approach which lack the adaptability which is essential for the
following the general plans and protocols in the standardized way of the business. The managers
in this method may believe that the employees are machine and make them work harder than
they actually should (Sołek-Borowska, 2019). It can create an over exploitation of the employees
that is very negative aspect to the personnel management of the human resource. It can be said
that the expenses of the organization which they make in the short run is seen to be the very
effective way though which the organization is able to adapt to the personnel systems which is
the following of plans and protocols that standardizes the ways in which the business and the
managers approach the people for spending of the activities that are directly bringing revenues to
the short-staffed which is urgent business matter for resolving the human resource program. This
system of managers managing the hiring and recruiting practices of the organization makes the
business operations very expensive and is seen to be a negative impact which create effective
ways through which the humans. Illusion of certainty in the human resource planning can be the
reason why the personal management of the employees in the organization is considered to be
the way through which the business is able to develop effectiveness (LI and HUANG, 2021).

Even though the Human resource management is heavily criticized in this blog however,
there are areas in which that can be considered to be somewhat useful for the organization. The
HR department is known for having the ability of building their skills which helps the staff to do
a better job. It can be a reason which also allows the organization in the developing the skills
with training. This is how the organization using high-quality of work is known for people using
a separate team for human resource management. It saves the time for the managers of different
managers. It can be said that HR department of an organization are able to show their employees
value and time for investing in their resources through better growth and influences the
employees through different motivational techniques to stay longer in the organization. It is said
that making the jobs of the organization more interesting helps the business in showing the value
of their work on the tenure of the organization (Berber, Đorđević and Milanović, 2018). Through
the application of the human resource management an organization is able to influence the
practices of the business towards the different sorts of uncertainty which is crucial for the
development of planning and giving the employees better opportunities for their future. There are
different ways in which the extra degree of the business is needed to be essential certainty of
better scheduling, staffing and handling of the ongoing workload. This avoids the situation of
employees exploitations in the business.
The Human resource management which is not used by the Octopus organization is can
use it as a key feature which will be helpful for the business in seeking the same aspects of
human resource management present challenges for the company. There are different pros and
cons which the human resource management has this allows them to adapt to the different types
of responsibilities and execute the process themselves (Ipsen and et.al., 2021). The time and
expense of the training and effective communication in the organization can be mitigated with
the help of HR management. This is because of the coordination of the proactive scheduling of
staff and communicating with the managers. There is always a lack of flexibility present in the
organization when there is not HR management to guide and motivate the employees. The
approach of Greg Jackson is said to very limited to a certain mentality which is considered to be
effective only during the urgency of work. In order to be very beneficial for the business in the
management of the effective human resource management. This helps them to invest more in
their building skills as well as their way of turning the weakness of the organization into ways of
strengthening.

CONCLUSION
With the help of this blog it has been understood that the effectiveness the management
of the people in Octopus has been very effective due to the leadership quality of Greg Jackson. In
this blog the ways in which the human resource management are not as effective they once were
has been shown. It can be said that the management of the different process in Octopus is
considered to be the ways through which it has been able to bring new ways of organization of
management practices. This blog contains the different type's criticism related to the human
resource management which allows the individual in understanding the ways in which they can
develop the organization with the practices of the business this can be said as the ways in which
the human resource management allows the business in better investment of the building their
skills which allows the organization to have different types of weakness.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Berber, N., Đorđević, B. and Milanović, S., 2018. Electronic Human Resource Management (e-
HRM): А New Concept for Digital Age. Strategic Management-International Journal of
Strategic Management and Decision Support Systems in Strategic Management. 23(2).
Brannon, T.N., Higginbotham, G.D. and Henderson, K., 2017. Class advantages and
disadvantages are not so Black and White: Intersectionality impacts rank and selves.
Current Opinion in Psychology. 18. pp.117-122.
Fenech, R., Baguant, P. and Ivanov, D., 2019. The changing role of human resource
management in an era of digital transformation. Journal of Management Information and
Decision Sciences. 22(2). pp.1-10.
Ipsen, C., and et.al., 2021. Six key advantages and disadvantages of working from home in
Europe during COVID-19. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public
Health. 18(4). p.1826.
LI, L. and HUANG, G., 2021. “Advantages and disadvantages” of individual proactive behavior
in organizations. Advances in Psychological Science. 29(8). p.1484.
Makedon, V., and et.al., 2019. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR SECURE AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. Journal of Security & Sustainability Issues. 8(3).
Sołek-Borowska, C., 2019. Benefits and disadvantages of adopting video recruitment.
Humanities and Social Sciences. 26(4). pp.157-166.
Vershinin, I., 2021. Disadvantages of Patent Performance Indicators in Performance-Based
Research Funding Systems. Scientific Papers of the University of Pardubice. Series D:
Faculty of Economics and Administration. 29(2). p.1341.
Online
CEO Secrets: 'My billion pound company has no HR department', 2021.[Online]. Available
through: <https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56130187>