Analyzing HRM Problems and Solutions at Westonwich District Council

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) issues within the Westonwich District Council. The study identifies key problems stemming from restricted pay raises, leading to employee dissatisfaction, job stress, high workloads, lack of training and development, limited involvement in decision-making, and concerns about job security. The report categorizes these findings into themes, exploring their negative impacts on employee morale and organizational performance. Two critical issues are highlighted: the management's disregard for employee benefits and the high employee turnover rate coupled with restricted recruitment. The report provides actionable recommendations, emphasizing the importance of competitive salaries, comprehensive employee benefits (including medical, life insurance, and retirement plans), and robust training programs to enhance employee satisfaction, increase retention, and foster a positive work environment. Furthermore, the report stresses the need for addressing the high turnover rate by improving job security, recognizing employee contributions, and streamlining recruitment processes to maintain a skilled and motivated workforce.

Human Resource
Management
(Westonwhich district
council)

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is the practice that helps in managing people in order to
achieve better performance as well as target objectives (Ahmad, 2015). The main objective of
this department is to hire people, work on their development, employee retention, health and
safety etc. The functions of human resource management determine planning, controlling,
organising, directing, organizing and so on. Thus, it can say that, this department basically play
an essential role in an organisation for employee benefits and management practices. This report
is based on Westonwich District Council that provide a range of local government services to its
users who are in the north of England. The pay raise has been restricted to 1% by the firm for
some years now that raise so many issues for the firm results as staff turnover, lack of employee
satisfaction and so on. Thus, this report is going to determine major issues that has been faced by
organisation as well as issues that needs resolve on timely basis. Furthermore, recommendation
to resolve such issues in direct and direct manner.
MAIN BODY
Categorize the findings into themes with a brief discussion of why these are issues or areas for
concern
Westonwich District Council (WDC) is a local government body situated in North
England surrounded by 75,000 people population in nearby village and town. The council
provides some government services to its surroundings. Council Tax collection, refuse collection
and recycling, tourism promotion, administration housing benefit and planning matters are some
of the responsibilities of the council. Council is having 250 employees working for it.
The issues which are occurred in the given case are discussed under:
 Cutting of salary: Cutting of salary is a factor of demotivation to the employees and the
council has restricted the pay rises to 1% as mentioned in the case. The decision of this
restriction may lead the council to experience less dedication of the employees (Albrecht
and et.al., 2015). From the survey it was analysed that out of 81% of respondents only

21% are satisfied with their pay, majority is not satisfied and also these 21% are only
satisfied but not very satisfied.
 Job Stress and high workload: Job stress occurs when the employees are not happy
with their work or with the work allotted by the council. Westonwich is having 89% of
the state jobs which are increasing the stress on its employees. Job stress gives a
demotivation to the employees and hence reduces the efficiency. Employees not only are
experiencing the job stress but are also going through with the work load. 90% of the
employees are feeling work load and which is decreasing the productivity. Due to this
stress and workload 54% employees are seeking for alternative job.
 Lack of Training & Development and Management Change: Training & development
is very important in every organisation for the benefit of employees as well as for the
council. Along with the training &development management should take change steps in
order to go with the environment (Collings, Wood and Szamosi, 2018). Council is neither
focusing on training & development not taking steps to change. Out of the respondents
only 32% are satisfied with their training and development opportunities whereas
majority is not. The council's survey also tells that only 15% were saying that the changes
are well managed by them.
 Lack of involvement in decision making and less amount of discretion: When the
council will involve its employees in the decision making or will listens up their ideas
then they will feel motivated and will bring more efficiency in work. The survey shows
that only 28% people are saying that the council listens to them but the majority is silent
about this. Which means that the council does not involves its employees in the decision
making. Only 37% out of all are satisfied with the amount of discretion which they are
allowed for their job.
 Lack of Job security: The Westonwich District Council is not paying attention to the job
securities of their employees. In the council only 36% employees out of 81% respondents
are happy with their job security and 45% are not. Job security is one factor which every
employees takes care of and are concerned about it. Employees feel happy when the
company or the council thinks for their job security, but here the council is not. In-fact
council is not replacing the posts of those employees who are either leaving the job or are

getting retired from the post. If the council will not take care of the employee’s job
security, then it will take the employees to feel dissatisfied and will not work happily.
 Lack of Job Recognition: Job recognition means getting praised from the employer for
the work done by the employee (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016). Job recognition
is a motivational factor for the employees as everyone needs their hard work to be praised
or be recognized by the company. But when it doesn't happen it demotivated the
employee. The same happens in the council, out of the 81% of the respondents only 27%
employees are saying that their work is recognized but the rest are not in favour of this
statement.
2. Identify two key issues and provide justification for why these are the key issues that must be
addressed first
The Westonwich District Council are facing number of issues but the two key issues that
are addressed from the above listed points are as follows:
The management has totally ignored employee benefits. Westonwich District Council
has restricted the pay rise of the employees to 1%. Pay roll is the major strategy used by the
organisations for retaining their employees. Also only 21% of the total employee responded are
satisfied with their pay roll but no one is very satisfied with the same. There is lack of senior
management support to the employees as only 20% of the employees were satisfied, felt valued
and supported by them. 89% of the employees believed that in the recent times their job has
become more stressful (Delery and Roumpi, 2017). The employees are not satisfied with the
training and development of the organisation as only 32% only felt satisfied with it. 83%
employees believed that their workload has increased. The management do not consider the
employees to be a part of the company because only 28% employees think that they are being
listened and others felt to be ignored.
If an organisation wants to grow and develop and to flourish employees play a crucial
role for it. They are directly linked in achieving the organisation's goal and objectives. It is
extremely important for an organisation to keep its employees happy as it will directly affect the
organisation's vision and mission (Marchington and et,al., 2016). Offering employee welfare is
important for the company because a good employee benefit scheme may attract and retain

talented workforce. It also helps the company in positioning itself in a better place than that of its
competitors. The benefits or advantages given to the employee has a direct impact on the
employee’s ability to work and perform. If the company ignores such issues this will hamper the
company's performance in the long run. When the efforts of the employees are not appreciated or
acknowledged a sense of dissatisfaction is developed in the mind of the employee and it has an
impact on the working of the employee.
The another key issue to be addressed is high turnover rate of the employees and
restricted recruitment. Turnover rate is the percentage of employees leaving the organisation
over a certain period of time. High turnover rate is not good for any organisation instead it is
costlier for the company. The employees leaving the organisation needs to be replaced
immediately so that it may not hamper the working of the company. It is a time consuming
procedure and involve huge cost on training and recruitment. If the critical positions are left
opened for a longer duration it has a negative impact on the company's position (Mathis, Jackson
and Valentine, 2015). There is a voluntary turnover in the organisation as the employees are
willingly leaving their positions as they are dissatisfied with their jobs, they left it stressful.
There is a lack of proper training and recruitment in the organisation and a sense of lack of job
security and work recognition. It lowers the employee moral which affects the companies
culture. It is challenging for management to attract more new talent.
Also at the same time the company is ignoring new recruitments and is very rigid with
the recruitment. The work pressure on the existing employees will be increased resulting to the
decreased or degraded competencies and knowledge. The company may incur the risk of missing
the opportunities to grow their business due to lack of flexibility. At a time, all the
innovativeness and creativity of the employees will vanish. Also training forms an integral part
for the success of the company. A company lacking with a proper training program can't sustain
a successful business model as the workplace is filled with the workers having only slight
knowledge of how to complete the work assigned to them. It leads to stress in the management
because the manager has a series of tasks to complete every day. The untrained staff does not
know how a task is to be done in an effective way resulting in the poor production. Appropriate
training not only betters results but it also saves the organisation from the danger of rising from
the lack of necessary training.

Inadequate training of employees experiences poor job performance and increases high
work stress among them. The employees feel unhappy and undervalued (Mondy and Martocchio,
2016). This impacts in reduced workplace loyalty, productivity and employee engagement. It
results in careless mistakes and poor performance.
The Westonwich District Council should consider these major key issues and should try
to address them as soon as possible for making the company more profitable.
3. Provide recommendations as to how those two key issues can be addressed
Salary and other employee benefits should be provided to the employees in an adequate
amount so that employees feel motivated and some other benefits should be offered to the
employees in addition to the salary to boost their moral. Benefits are quiet valuable and can
benefit the company in developing a feeling of belongingness among the employees of the
organisation. The few most common benefits are medical, life insurance, retirement benefits and
other fringe benefits. Medical insurance covers cost of consulting doctor, room charges and
drugs prescribed. Life insurance protects the employee's family in case of any uncertainty that
happens with him. The number of employees in the organisation determines if the company will
offer life insurance or not. Retirement benefits are the funds paid by the organisation after
completing the tenure of employment. It is a predetermined amount paid based on the salary and
the number of years served by the employee in an organisation. Fringe Benefits are a variety of
non cash payments used by organisations to attract and retain talented staff. It includes child care
benefits, flexible medical care or tuition assistance. Tuition reimbursement is an important
benefit which gives a great way for advancing the career growth.
It helps in increasing the appeal. It demonstrated that the company believes in its
employees and is willing to invest in them for retaining them for a longer period. It also increases
the moral of the employees. By addressing and understanding the needs of the employees a
dedication among them is developed towards their job and make them, more serious and loyal. It
keeps the employees happy and maintain a healthy work environment. By offering such benefits
a greater productivity and high quality of commitment is seen in the employees. In long term it
will cost low to the organisation and will contribute to its overall success and growth of the
organisation.

Training is an important part for learning and skill development. The key benefits of
training the employees are, it increases job satisfaction. Researches have highlighted that trained
staff are more satisfied with their jobs and it boosts their moral. A motivation is seen in the
employees which make them more productive and completable. It helps in increasing their
loyalty towards the work place and their work commitment increases. It has a significant impact
on the job performance of the employee in a a positive way. It proves to increase the efficiency
and effectiveness of the workforce. It not only helps the company but also the employees to grow
and develop and and make progress.
It ensures the success of the organisation by optimum utilisation of its workforce skills
and knowledge. It helps in boosting the standards of the service quality. The new employees are
trained to match with the strengths of functioning and the abilities with that of the old workforce.
It also improves the organisations reputation as the company pays attention for the skill
development of its employees and maximises their ability of benefiting the company in the long
run. It also helps in reducing the labour turnover rate which will help the company in reducing
their cost of operations as they will be required to spend low on the training and development of
the new staff. Training plays a crucial part in ensuring the employees performance and job
satisfaction at its peak. It is the main reason for the success of an organisation in the corporate
and to gain a competitive advantage over others. It focuses on the skill development and training
of the work force and enjoying the profitability.
As an employee training provides an opportunity to progress and takes promotion over a period
of time and from the employer's prospective it is about building a strong and capable work force
that will benefit the organisation in achieving its goals and being profitable.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been summarised that Human resource management play an
essential role in an organisation that assist in resolving management related issues of firm easily.
In this regard, it is needed for the HR manager to pay their maximum attention towards
monitoring and controlling practices that may assist them in run a smooth functioning of firm.
Thus, it is needed for an organisation and its management level employees to pay their maximum
attention towards the business practices in order to gain desired growth opportunities easily. It is

also essential for them to construct strategic directions that may assist them to evaluate solutions
for the business problems.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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