Analysis of the effects of recruitment

This Report will analyse and reflect different aspect of recruiting, training, motivating and rewarding staff in Marks and Spencer. One of the Biggest challenge in any business is recruiting, motivating and retaining employees. This is also true for Marks and Spencer’s recruitment procedure. To analyse the recruiting, training, motivating and rewarding staff in Marks and Spencer the following points are discussed in this report.

Method use by Marks and Spencer for Staff recruitment, training, motivation and reward system.

Marks and Spencer’s strategic fit with its current HR practices in the design and delivery of its staff rewarding system.

Identifying the current practice at Marks and Spencer regarding HRM strategy and theory.

Cost implications for Marks and Spencer’s current HRM policies particularly in relation to recruitment, training, reward system and their impact on stakeholder.

Recommendation for most appropriate and effective motivational and reward system strategy for Marks and Spencer.

Suggested budget and evaluation method deploy the new and improved motivational and rewarding system at Marks and Spencer.

Table of content

Executive summary 1

Table of content 2

Information Gathering 3

Introduction 4

Marks and Spencer’s Organizational Background 5

Approach to Recruitment Planning 5

Recruitment and Selection Methods 6

Marks and Spencer Recruitment 6

Training and development 7

Reward and Performance Management 8

Discussion and Comment on Current HRM strategy and Practice 8

Cost Implication of current HRM policies 10

Recommendation and Budget suggestion 11

Conclusions 12

Appendix 13

Brief Background of Marks and Spencer 13

Structure 14

Culture 15

References 16

Information Gathering:

To prepare this report several resources, tools, technique, and methods are used. Resources used in this report are from newspaper articles, reports, organizations accounts, charts, financial documents and many others. Primary information gathered from libraries as well as world wide web resources.

The steps and methods used while gathering information to produce this report are:

Interviews

Analysing organizational charts

Document overview

Website surveys

Research

Documentation

The primary document used to create this report is mainly the annual reports of Marks and Spencer. History and background of the company are gathered from world wide web and several other resources.

Introduction:

In this report I will be discussing Marks and Spencer’s general approach to employee recruitment procedure. In particular its approach to human resource planning, its recruitment and selection methods, and its rewards and performance management practices and how issues of employment diversity are managed.

Firstly, I will be discussing the company’s brief background, HRM strategy, culture and structure.

Then I will discuss the Method use by Marks and Spencer for Staff recruitment, training, motivation and reward system, strategic fit with its current HR practices in the design and delivery of its staff rewarding system, Identifying the current practices regarding HRM strategy and theory, cost implications of current HRM policies particularly in relation to recruitment, training, reward system and their impact on stakeholder.

Finally I will give some recommendation for most appropriate and effective motivational and reward system strategy and suggested budget and evaluation method deploy the new and improved motivational and rewarding system.

Marks and Spencer’s Organizational Background:

With over 120 years of strong heritage, Marks and Spencer is one of the best retailers in the United Kingdom. The organization has over 450 stores within the UK and have more than 65,000 people working for them in store and management. It also runs its business outside the United Kingdom border where it has a widespread business in places as far as Hong Kong. Now a days, the UK’s retailing market has been identified by its super intense competitions. Customers are becoming more and more conscious of where and how they want to shop. They also understand what kind of shopping experience they like. This idea has made it much more difficult for retailers to survive. The end result of this was that M and S had to invent a new business plan and strategy which focused on the their business values, quality, and services.

(www.thetimes100.co.uk)

Approach to Recruitment Planning:

Marks and Spencer use a systematic approach known as strategic planning to their human resource planning which determines its plan of action based upon the values, culture and mission of the company. It is important to Marks and Spencer’s employees as it helps them to understand the process of the strategic planning to see how their work objectives and individual responsibilities directly affect the companies’ mission. The systematic approach has six steps which are, to remember the mission, identify the opportunities and threats of the company, to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the company by evaluating employee’s skills, facilities and organisation structure, to forecast capabilities and opportunities by evaluating any upcoming changes before forecasting future opportunities, to develop goals and objectives and to implement the goals by evaluating the results and revising the plan as they move forward.

Recruitment and Selection Methods:

To match it business strategy, Marks and Spencer develops existing staff within the organisation. It also recruits managers at three different levels:

Trainee managers with A-Levels undertake twenty-four months of training

Graduates who join the organisation form university have twelve months of training

Experienced managers who have retail experience undertake up to three months of training when they join Marks and Spencer to help them understand how Marks and Spencer operates.

Marks and Spencer Recruitment:

Internally by recruiting within the company which includes advertising media on notice boards either paper or electronic for example via their corporate intranet, in-house journals, memoranda to supervisors/managers soliciting recommendations and observation and word of mouth. Most of these methods they use incur little extra cost, being based on existing or easily accessible information about the candidate’s abilities, attitudes and so on.

Externally by recruiting people from outside the organisation. Marks and Spencer use agencies for graduates of schools and training institutions such as job centres and career services. Employment agencies are another method of recruitment they use which provides temporary workers for one-off requirements and short-term cover. The Internet is a major external method used by Marks and Spencer, through online recruitment agencies. Marks and Spencer’s website enables people to apply online via their online application form. Marks and Spencer’s online application form is very convenient for a disabled person or an immigrant who would find it difficult to find work. This is because Marks and Spencer takes pride in creating jobs under the Equal Opportunities policy which makes the jobs available to everybody, whatever their ethnic origin, race, sex, age, etc. The Marks and Spencer personnel staff can use the information on the application form to create a short list of people to invite to the interview. This form can be very useful once the candidates have been short listed too.

Training and development:

Once the new employee has been selected for the job, they will probably need an induction training in order to help them settle into the new job. This training at marks and Spencer goes with the basics of the employee’s task, as well as some background details for example the history of the business and number of employees and the range of different goods and services produced by the business. At Marks and Spencer training is not just for the new employees. Training courses at Marks and Spencer are targeted at all employees in the business at different stages in their career for example management training courses, training on how to use new machinery and technology. There are many reasons for the huge amount of training used for the employees in Marks and Spencer:

To improve employee productivity.

To create more efficient and flexible workforce.

To increase job satisfaction and motivation of the employees.

And training employees increases their chances of promotion as well.

Reward and Performance Management:

Marks and Spencer use reward management within their company through rewarding their employees for their efforts towards the company. Marks and Spencer has a benefits package to help attract and retain staff by the generosity of benefits offered and by facilitating career longevity and work-life balance. The benefits package includes everything from subsided healthcare and performance-related pay rewards to their employee discount. The benefits package encourages commitment to the companies own products and demonstrates corporate social responsibility by giving above statutory levels of sick pay, paternity leave, pension provisions, employee assistance and so on.

Discussion and Comment on Current HRM strategy and Practice:

Marks and Spencer use the theory of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, they ask their workers to rank their needs in order of importance using a points system and then analyse their current situation against the points system. Marks and Spencer through performance management carry out regular interviews with employees to assess them for further training or promotion. This is a major motivating factor for Marks and Spencer workers and the company need to be aware that this is a possible area for conflict and de-motivation. According to Maslow, Marks and Spencer’s workers are at the basic or safety needs level, the aim is to make more workers want to achieve a higher level of needs such as social or esteem needs. Marks and Spencer therefore train workers every now and then to keep these workers motivated. The personnel department find out which workers need more training by keeping track records on each employee, Marks and Spencer do this to increase their skills of the workforce in general but to increase the skills of the de-motivated employees more to increase motivation.

Herzberg (1957) devised his motivation hygiene’ theory which stated that two groups of factors affect employee motivation. Herzberg said that certain elements in a job motivate people to do better; he called these elements, ‘satisfiers’. Herzberg suggested that satisfier’s such as achievement and recognition motivate employees rather than hygiene factors such as pay and working conditions. Marks and Spencer agree with this and have introduced performance related pay within the last few years. Employees who work hard receive a higher wage than those who do not which encourages all employees to work as hard as possible in order to gain extra pay. They also use appraisals as a form of performance management to analyse which areas the employees need to be motivated on. In many companies, appraisal takes place once or twice a year but Marks and Spencer carry it out every three months, the more frequently appraisals are carried out, the better. Performance management allows Marks and Spencer to ensure that all of their employees are properly trained as a properly trained employee will be more confident in their job and will be better motivated to perform more efficiently.

Marks and Spencer’s selection is based purely on talent screening, they recruit suitable individuals regardless of their age. Individuals apply online and are screened initially on a number of killer questions such as, ‘do you have a permit to work in the UK’. Those that are successful at this stage are then screened using online talent screening, this test assesses their skills and experiences against that required for the role they are applying for. Those who pass this test are then invited for an interview. They analyse data from the online recruitment process to ensure that the use of the internet does not discriminate against any particular age group. The company runs training for recruiters about new legislations; the training is designed to ensure that those individuals who conduct selection interviews do not discriminate on the grounds of age. They also ensure that the chairs of assessor teams in assessment centres are well informed about the legislations. An examination of Marks and Spencer’s criterion-based selection processes shows not only the use of criterion-based selection but also the use of online selections for initial screenings; this ensures that age is not a factor, as this screening is conducted electronically without reference to the candidate’s age. Those candidates who are selected for interview have therefore satisfied a number of criteria for the job without their age being known. The use of trained assessors and the provision of training on age for recruiters also minimises the likelihood of age being used as a factor in the selection process at interview or assessment centre stages.

Cost Implication of current HRM policies:

Marks and Spencer has a diverse range of employees committed to an active Equal Opportunities Policy. This covers their recruitment and selection procedures as well as its training and development, appraisal, promotion opportunities and retirement. They promote an environment free from discrimination, harassment and victimisation which they work hard to ensure everyone receives equal treatment. All the decisions they make relating to employment practices are objective, free from bias and based solely upon work criteria and individual merit. Not only are they responsive to the needs of their employees and customers but also take pride in the role they play in the community because of this they value diversity highly and it is important to them that they recognise and make full use of the wealth of talent they have within their organisation. Marks and Spencer places a lot of emphasis on developing initiatives and procedures that ensure equality for every member of the Marks and Spencer team.

Marks and Spencer has a responsibility under UK domestic and European legislation to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all employees, customers and contractors on their premises. Managers have a responsibility to ensure that employees are aware of health and safety regulations and the requirement to report all accidents and dangerous occurrences to the appropriate person/department. Marks and Spencer operates a system that ensures workplace health and safety is safeguarded and they provide a range of occupational health services to their employees.

Marks and Spencer abide by the legal framework on selection. The legal framework on selection states that application forms should not include questions which are not work-related (such as marital or domestic details) unless they are asked of all applicants. Marks and Spencer’s application form only asks questions based on what is needed for the job.

Recommendation and Budget suggestion:

Marks and Spencer deploys a systematic steps to their human resource planning known as strategic planning which set forth its plan of action based upon the values, culture and mission of the company. It is very important to Marks and Spencer’s employees as it helps determine them to understand the process of the strategic planning to see how their work objectives and individual responsibilities directly affect the companies’ mission.

The systematic approach has six steps which are-

To remember the mission,

Identify the opportunities and threats of the company,

To determine the strengths and weaknesses of the company by evaluating employee’s skills,

Facilities and organisation structure,

To forecast capabilities and opportunities by evaluating any upcoming changes before forecasting future opportunities,

To develop goals and objectives and to implement the goals by evaluating the results and revising the plan as they move forward.

Because of these Special HR planning approach used by Marks and Spencer, their recruiting, training and rewarding system is very highly effective. That’s why I think there is not much of recommendation left for Marks and Spencer to implement. The most effective approach they can take is to tweak the online recruitment methods and the advanced training facility upgrade.

Because of their efficient HR planning and recruitment policy Marks and Spencer do not have to increase that much of their budget to recruit, train and motivate their human resources. So the even if they deploy new strategy for HR recruitment policy Marks and Spencer will be evaluate these thing within limited budget.

Conclusion:

In conclusion Marks and Spencer’s overall approach to employee resourcing is one that focuses on attracting and retaining the right people they need to be successful by offering employees competitive rewards and benefits and providing their employees with guidance and information about their values. Also focusing on attracting and retaining people from a culturally and socially diverse workforce that allows them to recruit the best people from a wide pool of talent, marks and Spencer also is concerned with ensuring that the health and safety of their employees and people are protected by well managed systems in all their places of work which all these concerns reflecting within their companies strategy.

Appendix:

Brief Background of Marks and Spencer:

With over 120 years of strong heritage, Marks and Spencer is one of the best retailers in the United Kingdom. The organization has over 450 stores within the UK and have more than 65,000 people working for them in store and management. It also runs its business outside the United Kingdom border where it has a widespread business in places as far as Hong Kong. Now a days, the UK’s retailing market has been identified by its super intense competitions. Customers are becoming more and more conscious of where and how they want to shop. They also understand what kind of shopping experience they like. This idea has made it much more difficult for retailers to survive. The end result of this was that M and S had to invent a new business plan and strategy which focused on the their business values, quality, and services.

(www.thetimes100.co.uk)

Marks and Spencer invented a promotional campaign that stated “Your M&S”. This helped the organization to connect with the customer and the heritage of the organization. It also connected the business in the minds of buyers with 2 other values, trust and innovation. Their revamped and new business policy focuses on 3 main areas:

Ensuring value for money products that consumers want. Development and Training brought new skill sets which help to add more value to its services and products, for example by reducing costs of products, this ensures Marks and Spencer to keep prices very low to really benefit the consumer.

Improving the work environment within the organization, by having improved skills in sales and stock management means that staff can use the store to better advantage resulting in higher sales and profitability.

Ensuring good customer experience, to look after customers if staff have improved communication skills, this can have a profound impact on customer experience.

These simple changes have established a business environment with more challenges for M&S Staffs. Managers had to prepare Staffs for whatever role they play in this new environment. The answer was to create new career paths for member of staff through training and development at Marks and Spencer to help staffs cope with the challenges they faced and build a career path for them.

It is an important part of the Marks and Spencer’s business plan to attract, train, develop and retain a greater pool of talented individuals in all levels within the organization. The level of rewards and benefits they are able to offer is a key factor in successfully achieving this objective. The organization sets out to provide highly competitive salaries and benefits for all its employees consistent with its growth, strategy and increasingly international territories.

Structure:

Marks and Spencer’s has a “flat” organisational structure. The business lost a number of layers of authority through decentralizing which means that staff throughout the business have more responsibility. This enables them to make quick decisions and justifying actions that have been taken.

(www.thetimes100.co.uk)

The new structure led to a need in more training. In a flatter organisational structure, many employees have bigger jobs. There are higher expectations that staff can contribute more to its organisation. Marks and Spencer keeps its staff well-trained and able to respond to the businesses needs. There is also a need for succession management, when individuals either retire or move from one job to another Marks and Spencer management plans their replacements so that experienced staff with the right skills and competencies are selected.

Culture:

Marks and Spencer has a “theory Z” approach to its culture environment. The main aspect of a theory “Z” organisation is the test of collaboration between employees and managers. Businesses that successfully implement a theory Z approach to its culture find that employees have a sense of belonging and involvement. Views are shared across the organisation and from this shared norms and values emerge, which help the organisation to improve and move forward. (Ouchi’s theory Z culture)