Unilever HRM: A Report on Recruitment and Employee Relations

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANIZATION...............................................................................................4
LO1.................................................................................................................................................5
LO2.................................................................................................................................................8
LO3............................................................................................................................................... 10
LO4............................................................................................................................................... 12
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 17
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
HRM is the procedure that makes the HR plan and develops the HR policies. It is mainly related
with the effective use of the human resources that brings good results into the organization. It
also put efforts for maintaining the good relationship between the employers and employees
(Noe et al., 2017).
This report is prepared to have the understanding of the purpose of the function of HR and
their responsibilities and roles of the HR function. This also includes the assessment of the
different approaches and it includes their evaluation. This report has also analyzed to have the
understanding of the evaluation of the effectiveness of the key elements of the HR in the
organization. Further the report also provides the understanding of the application of the HRM
practices in the organization.

OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANIZATION
Unilever is the big organization that deals with the transactional consumer goods. Headquarter
of the organization is in London. The products of the organization include beverages and foods,
cleaning agents, personal care products, and beauty products. It comes under the most
valuable company in Europe. It is one of the oldest multinational companies and its products
are available in more than 190 counties. The organization owns more than 400 brands.

LO1
HRM is the practice that aims for the maximization of the employee productivity of the
organization. It also focuses for meeting the planned objectives and goals within the
association.
Unilever is the famous and reputed business where HR department is the key part of the
organization. The staffs follow the procedures and also are engaged in the motivation of
employee (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
Function and aim of HRM
Below are function and aim of HRM:
HRM is associated with the growth of both individual and organization in the business
environment. Thus the aims and function of HR manager are as follows:
1. HR planning: Unilever aims to plan the required number of workforce in the business
and the main HR purpose is to plan and manage the required staff in the Unilever. The
HR team also aims to identify the staff needs as per the vacancy and to make final
decision for the recruitment process.
2. Recruitment: this is the main function of the HR department where the HR team focuses
on the procedure of recruitment and filling the job roles places. Unilever also make
efforts to select the right kind of the hiring. Unilever also prefers the internal, campus
recruitments etc. (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
3. Training: This is the other main function of the HR where Unilever focuses on the
providing the training to the people of the organization. It also includes the training to
the new employees who join the organization. Development process in the organization
is adopted when the employees need to develop for increasing their knowledge and
shaping their skills.
4. Analysis of the job and work design: It is the procedures by which the HR managers
identifies the job role and specify the competencies of the HR. It includes the
preparation of the person specification and job description. It aids Unilever to measure

the responsibilities and duties of staffs and appoint and recruit employee’s real
knowledge and skills.
5. Performance management: It is also the procedure that is accountable for the
reviewing and monitoring the employee actions at the work. The organization evaluates
the current position of employees.
6. Relations with employees: The HR must ensure to have the good relations with the
employees that improve the performance of employee. . HRM at Unilever must aim to
focus on the employee relations maintenance (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
Strengths and weakness of different approaches to selection and recruitment
Being a large organization, Unilever need a large and multiple numbers of staff for the
achievement of the organizational objectives and goals. Unilever uses internal and external
foundation method for the selection and recruitment of the employees and which are as
follows:
Internal source:
This type of method includes hiring employees from the organization and it does not include
hiring from the external environment (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
Strengths
 Organization can this selection and recruitment easily within the short period of time
 It also does not need to take the long and deep interview for the employees and it also
do not need so much time.
 Employees selected by this method and approach are more effective and competent.
 There is also low risk to hire unqualified employees.
Weakness:
 This method can increase discourage the staff.
 It may also develop the partiality
 It also limits the opportunity to hire innovative and new employees
External source approach:

This method hires the staff from the methods which are not from the organization. This method
helps in attracting the new and young talent. It is very time consuming and compel and it brings
good outcome for the organization.
Strengths:
 It enables the Unilever to select and recruit new young, innovative and creative
employees.
 It also enables to promote brand externally
 Here there is the availability of the huge pool of candidates
 It also enable’s for ensuring the higher productivity (Cascio, 2018)
Weakness:
 It need high time
 It also nee high cost
 It is at the high risk of not being feet in the role
Functions of HR for meeting objective of business
The HR functions indirectly help to meet the target. It helps to meet of the organization. HR
objectives are directed to meet the goals. The objective of the organization is to increase the
base of the customer and for this there will be the need of the higher talent and staff and it will
be fulfilled by the HR team. The training is also provided by the HR team that helps the
employees to perform in an effective manner. It helps to achieve the goals of the business
(Cascio, 2018).

LO2
DIFFERENT METHODS USED IN HRM PRACTICES AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS TO RAISE
ORGANIZATION PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFIT
Workforce planning: This is the approach that is adopted by Unilever and that includes the
making the decision making for planning the workforce. It also includes taking the decision
which is deciding the required number of employees etc (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
Recruitment and selection: This is the basic work of the HR team that includes recruiting and
selecting the right number of the employees in the organization. It also includes filling the
vacant place that increases the employees in the organization. The profit of the organization is
also increases due to the increased in the number of employees.
Development and training: This is also the key activity of the HR that addresses the providing
the training to the employees and go for the development process to the employees and staff.
This all ensures to increase the performance and productivity in the organization.
Performance management: It is the system that ensures the monitoring and evaluating the
employee performance in each department on the basis of the work. For the management of
the employee performance the HR needs to ensure maintain the record and tracking for the
same. It automatically increases the productivity in the organization (Das and Ahmed, 2014).
Reward systems: HR need to plan the reward system for every staff and employee of the
organization. This provides the reward to the employees on the good work done by the
employees. This also includes employee motivation. For the retention of the employees it is
very crucial to have the proper reward system for the people of the organization. This increases
the motivation of the employees and ultimately it increases the productivity in the organization.
BENEFIT OF DIFFERENT HRM PRACTICES TO THE EMPLOYEES AND MANAGEMENT OF
UNILEVER:
The different approaches adopted by the Unilever provided benefit to the organization in a
direct and indirect manner.
Benefit to employees: The recruitment and hiring process enables to get a job in the reputed
organization. It boost the inspiration level of the organization. This boost the revenue for the

organization and thus benefit is provided to the employees for the same. The employees also
feel motivated and valued in the organization. This all increases the motivation of the staffs and
ultimately it surges the productivity in the organization. Employees also help to find them
comfortable in the organization. Employees work with high motivation and confidence and it
includes to increases the job satisfaction of the employees (Das and Ahmed, 2014.
Benefit to management of Unilever:
The reward system helps to increases the productivity of the employee and it increases the
performance of the employees. On the other hand it also increases the income of the
organization. Development also helps the staffs to get their work in an effective manner. This
results to the increase in the proficiency in the work. This results to the delivery of the effective
results. Also it upsurges the inspiration among the employees and their performance also. This
helps to increase the profit of the organization. The workforce planning also helps to increase
the management of the workforce in the organization (Bratton and Gold, 2017).

LO3
IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS IN AFFECTING DECISION MAKING OF HRM
Employee relations are the efforts that are made by the organization for maintaining the
relations for the organization and its staff. A hormonal relations will help to increase the
engagement and participation of all staff in the organization (Das and Ahmed, 2014).
The employee relations are the important part that have influence on the decision making of
the people. For improving the employees performance at the workplace the human resource
department ensures the effective employee relations. It also focuses on the maintenance of the
employee relations. It is the key to the success of the organization. The HR need to make the
effective policies and procedures for the welfare of the employees (Shailashree and Shenoy,
2016). The organization also needs to take care of the needs of the employees. To maintain the
effective relation with the employers it is essential to maintain the employee engagement. This
also includes considering themselves as the important asses of the organization and for this the
HR departments need to focuses on the different welfare programs for them. The HR also
needs to take care of the career development opportunities for the employees and they should
also commit the employees on the basis of their performance. Thus the employees will remain
loyal to the company and motivated towards the company (Shailashree and Shenoy, 2016).
Employment legislation
The Equality act 2010: This is the most important act which possesses the primary goals for
providing the equal opportunities to all people at the organization. Unilever also need to
monitors the rules and legislation of this law. If this act will not be followed government can
dismiss the business of the Unilever when the law is at the breach if the law (Snell, et al. 2018).
Data protection act 2018: This act ensures to gain the interest of the people and individual if
the data and the personal information are used in an unethical manner and with a wrong use.
The employees must also be informed for the purpose and the objective of the using of the
data. Unilever also uses the original documents of the employees in a lawful manner and
transparently for the purpose of the verification.

Trade union act 2016: This act was started to have and give freedom for the collective action.
Within it this was enough for the employees to do strike and it requires 12000 casting of vote
for reaching the threshold of the turnout.
Disability discrimination act 2005: Unilever also need to adopt this law to ensure the HR
decisions are made in accordance with it. The employees need not feel demotivated in the
workplace. The concerns of the staff must be considered and they must not be discriminated in
any of the aspects. The employees must not feel differentiated and it will increase employee
performance (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
Employment protection act 1978
This act ensures that het organization must give the particular of the working hours,
remuneration, job salary etc. The manager of the Unilever must be provided with the staff with
the organized salary. In non-adoption of this act the court and organization will declare the
organization as the breach of law.
It affects the decision making of the HR in the Unilever. The recruitment process is the process
that discusses the have the clear specification of the work. The staff must have the clear idea
about the duties and roles that must be met and they must be informed for this (Collings, et al.
2018).
The other aspects are the compensation management and this is also adopted by the Unilever
and they also agree the least required wage plans and age of the employee compensation.
The other dimension are the employment legislation that includes the different laws that tries
to ensure the compensation for the extra work and this boost the motivation and morale of the
employees (Shailashree and Shenoy, 2016).

LO4
Being a HR manager in the HR department in Unilever a report has been prepared that includes
the testing of the process and it includes the small team that will design the job specification for
the job role of sales executive. It will also include the notes, CV and an offer later that will be
assessed for the rationale (Albrecht et al., 2017).
Job specification
It is the summary of the HR qualities and competencies need by the HR for the specific job role.
It also includes the key aspects like experience, qualification, training, etc. that are crucial to
perform the particular job role.
JOB SPECIFICATION Job title
Sales manager
Experience
Minimum two years of experience in the sales
Required knowledge and skills
 Must have the knowledge of the hard
core selling
 Excellent communication skills
 Good leadership qualities
 Deep and pure industry knowledge
 Analytical skills
 Decision making skills
Requirements of Job
 A person and individual with the good
communication skills and the person
with the ability to meet the targets
 Ability to work under high pressure
 Must be ready and able to do field
work and planning the strategies for